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Harris County Divorce Attorney

Harris County Divorce Attorney

Harris County Divorce Attorney, Michael Busby, has tried cases in all 9 Harris county family law courts and all 4 masters courts.  My firm and myself appear daily in Harris County Divorce and family law court.  If you have an agreement, we can divorce you in 61 days.  If you no agreement, then we can stand by your side at final trial.  The process of divorce is starting by petitioning the court to dissolve your marriage.  My firm typically files your petition within one business day.  You are welcome to view informational videos on divorce here Divorce Costs.  And my Video on the procedure for the divorce can be viewed Here

AGREED DIVORCE IN HARRIS COUNTY

 The agreed divorce documents would be prepared and sent to you via email or first class mail.  These documents would be a 1. final decree of divorce, 2. Waiver of Service, 3. Documents to transfer property,  4.  Vital Statics form.   5. Wage and Medical support order for children.  The filing fee is either $230 or $262 depending on whether or not children are born during the marriage.  The court will require one court appearance.  A spouse must appear to authenticate the marriage relationship and also that you have an agreement.  You are asked about 8 questions in front of judge.

1.  Please state your full name  2. Are you married to your spouse 3.  Where you married and then separated on these dates 4. Is your marriage insupportable 5. Is there any chance you can reconcile  6.  Where they any children born or adopted during the marriage 6. Are you asking for a name change  7.  You are not asking for this name change to avoid criminal prosecution or avoid creditors  8. Are you asking the court for a divorce today.

Harris County Divorce Attorney, Michael Busby can prosecute your case such that you are divorced between 61 and 65 days from the date of the filing of the petition for divorce.  You will after the prove up receive from us a PDF of the final decree and divorce and a closing letter ending the service agreement.

Waiver Divorce Informational Video Houston Divorce Attorney

Default Divorce In Harris County

Harris County Divorce Attorney, Michael Busby, can also help you if your spouse does not want to sign the divorce papers.  You will need to serve your spouse with citation.  Our firm uses a private process server for this event. The waiting period of 60 days still applies but also you must allow 20 days from the 1st Monday the spouse is served to attempt default. Both your 20 days and the 60 days can run concurrently.  You will needs different forms than the agreed divorce forms.  These forms are 1. Original Petition for Divorce 2. Citation of Service 3. New filing form for clerk 4. Vital Statics form  5. Certificate of Last know address 6. Service members affidavit  7. Final decree of divorce 8.  Inventory 9.  Wage and Medical Orders if children are involved.  In every default case, we serve your spouse with the petition and also discovery.  You may ask what is discovery or why is this necessary.  Discovery is a tool lawyers use for both fact finding and economics.  If you spouse is not going to sign anything, then they either want something out of you or still love you.  Discovery in the petition when taken to another attorney and shown to that attorney will raise the costs of defending the suit and create deadlines for which documents will need to be produced.  This gives you leverage to bargain with your spouse in the event they were to file an answer.

Your spouse will have 30 days after the final decree is signed by judge before the case is considered final.  During this Window the defaulted spouse could file a motion for new trial and set aside the judgment.  We defend and prosecute these type of cases typically one every other month.

Divorce Trial

If the spouse “lawyers up,” then you will have a final trial before judge or jury at some point.  This process may require you to attend mediation before the trial depending on what court you are assigned.  Mediation you do not present evidence in the strict form and do not call witnesses, but you should have your documents in order and be prepared to discuss terms with the other side.  Should you feel this is a waste of time and money, then we attempt to comply with the court rules and save both time and money by picking out low cost and weak mediators.  Harris County does have two mediation clinics which are free if you meet certain income requirements.   For final trial, depending on your court, you may spend thousands of dollars waiting for judge to set you in their calendar.  I will advise which judges are efficient and what to expect on the trial date. At trial you will present your evidence in strict form.  The judge will make ruling and  the attorneys will take the ruling and reduce to the divorce decree.  You will have 30 days to appeal unless you file certain post-judgment motions which will then extend your time out to file the appeal up to 90 days.

Informational Video on Contested Divorce

Harris County Divorce Attorney Michael Busby also helps families who need family law and divorce help in the following communities in the greater Harris County Area: