Complex Property Division

After your divorce is finalized, you might find it necessary to modify one of the stipulations within the divorce, such as child custody, child support, or property settlement. Changing provisions within your divorce once it is final can be challenging. Your Texas attorney can guide you through the process of filing the necessary motions and providing the needed evidence to support your petition to amend your divorce.

Children grow and circumstances concerning custody and child support may change over time. Your spouse may earn a promotion or you could lose your job, requiring reassessment of child support. Your children may have recently started school or taken up a sport, making your current custody schedule unworkable.

Recognizing the evolving needs of children and their parents, Texas courts allow either parent to petition for a change in the divorce decree regarding children at any time up until the child graduates from high school. Typically, alterations are only considered once a year, but exceptions can be made for urgent issues.

You will need to initiate your requested modification by petitioning the court for a change in support or child custody, also referred to as conservatorship. While some spouses may consider informally agreeing among themselves to an alteration, this can be risky.

Without an official change in the court record, legally child support and custody will be enforced as written in the original decree. Rather than act informally, parents can petition the court to make the change and, with both agreeing to the change, modifications should proceed smoothly.

While provisions concerning children can be modified with relative ease, those regarding property division are not so malleable. Division of your property will become final 30 days after the judge has signed the divorce decree. If during the 30 period your realize there has been a mistake with the property settlement, it is critical that you file a motion to amend the decree or a motion for new trial. Exceptional circumstances, such as fraud, may be sufficient to require a court to reopen the issue of property division after the 30-day time limit has expired.

Your business may be your most valuable asset. You have likely spent countless hours building your business. If you and your spouse decide to divorce, dividing the business can present significant issues. It is unlikely you and your spouse can continue to run the business together, so who will get it?

Division of the business will start with an accurate business valuation. You will often need to employ the help of an experienced business valuation specialist who will review your sales, liabilities, growth rate, and much more. Armed with an accurate valuation, you will now have several options.

You may wish to offer your spouse an asset of similar value in exchange for keeping sole ownership of the business. You could sell the business, or you could potentially buy your spouse out of the business. Your divorce lawyer will assist you in developing the best course of action for you and the business.

Once the court has valued all the assets in your divorce, the court will divide those assets. This will involve the “just and right” division of your assets in accordance with Texas Family Code.