How to File for Divorce in Texas: Every Step From Petition to Decree
How do you file for divorce in Texas? One spouse who meets the residency rule (six months in Texas, 90 days in the county, Texas Family Code § 6.301) prepares an Original Petition for Divorce, files it with the district clerk (in person or through eFileTexas.gov), and gives the other spouse formal notice by official service or a signed waiver. The responding spouse has until 10 a.m. on the Monday after 20 days from service to file an answer. The court cannot grant the divorce before the 60th day after the petition is filed (§ 6.702), which makes day 61 the earliest realistic finish, and the case ends when a judge signs the Final Decree of Divorce, usually after a short prove-up hearing in an agreed case or a final hearing or trial in a contested one.
Key takeaways
- Filing starts with residency: one spouse must have lived in Texas for the six months before filing and in the county of filing for the preceding 90 days (§ 6.301). Only one spouse has to qualify.
- The document that starts the case is the Original Petition for Divorce. If you have minor children, the custody and support case (SAPCR) is built into the same suit.
- You can file electronically through eFileTexas.gov, and courts can waive filing fees for people who cannot afford them.
- Your spouse must receive formal notice: official service of a citation, or a waiver of service signed before a notary. A waiver is not the same as agreeing to the divorce.
- Texas imposes a 60-day waiting period from the day of filing (§ 6.702), with only two narrow family-violence exceptions.
- Nothing is final until a judge signs the Final Decree of Divorce, and neither spouse may marry a third party before the 31st day after the decree (§ 6.801).
This page walks through the filing procedure itself, step by step. We publish this Texas series because many of the families we work with in Las Vegas have a foot in both states, and where a divorce can be filed is often their first question. For the full picture of what Texas divorce law says about grounds, property division, support, and custody, start with the main guide: Divorce in Texas.
Before you file: residency and grounds
Two questions decide whether a Texas court can take your case at all.
Residency. Under Texas Family Code § 6.301, a divorce suit may be filed only if one spouse has been a domiciliary of Texas for the preceding six months and a resident of the county of filing for the preceding 90 days. “Domiciliary” means living in Texas with the intent to remain, which is a higher bar than mere physical presence. Only one spouse has to satisfy the rule, and a spouse who lives outside Texas, even in another country, can still file in the Texas county where the other spouse has met the residency requirement.
Grounds. Nearly all Texas divorces are filed on the no-fault ground of insupportability (§ 6.001): the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict that destroys the legitimate ends of the marriage, with no reasonable expectation of reconciliation. Texas also keeps fault grounds such as cruelty and adultery on the books; they are pleaded in some contested cases because fault can influence the property division. The main Texas divorce guide covers the grounds in detail; for the filing procedure, insupportability is the box almost everyone checks.
Step 1: Prepare the Original Petition for Divorce
The Original Petition for Divorce is the document that opens the case. The spouse who files is the petitioner; the other spouse is the respondent. The petition identifies the spouses and the marriage, states the residency facts and the ground for divorce, lists the children of the marriage if any, and tells the court what the petitioner is asking for regarding property, debts, and, when children are involved, conservatorship and support.
If you have minor children, Texas folds the custody and support case, formally a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR), into the divorce itself, so the petition includes those requests rather than starting a second case. One caveat for families that recently moved: the court’s power to grant the divorce does not automatically include the power to decide custody. Under the interstate custody rules (the UCCJEA), the child’s home state generally controls custody jurisdiction, so a Texas court may be able to end the marriage but not rule on the children if they recently lived elsewhere. Our Texas child custody guide explains what those orders cover.
The Supreme Court of Texas publishes one official divorce form set, for agreed divorces with no minor children and no real property. For many other common situations, TexasLawHelp.org publishes free, widely used form sets, including versions for cases with children. A petition drafted wrong at this step causes problems at every later step, which is why even people handling their own paperwork often have a Texas lawyer review it before filing. If both of you already agree on everything, the streamlined path is described in our uncontested divorce in Texas guide.
Step 2: File with the district clerk
You file the petition with the district clerk in the qualifying county, either at the clerk’s office or electronically through eFileTexas.gov, the state’s official e-filing system, which uses guided interviews. The state does not charge a usage fee for the system itself, though payment-processing or provider convenience fees can apply on top of the court’s own filing fees. The clerk accepts the petition, assigns a cause number, and assigns the case to a court. Keep a file-stamped copy of everything.
Filing fees vary by county. If you cannot afford them, you can ask the court to waive fees by filing a sworn statement showing you are unable to pay court costs; TexasLawHelp provides the current form. What a full divorce costs beyond the filing fee is its own topic and depends heavily on whether the case is agreed or contested.
Standing orders take effect in many counties the moment you file. A number of Texas counties have standing orders that automatically bind both spouses in every divorce filed there, typically restricting things like removing children, emptying accounts, canceling insurance, or destroying property while the case is pending, and some counties require the standing order to be attached to the petition. Check the district clerk’s requirements for your county before you file, because violating a standing order can mean contempt.
Step 3: Give your spouse legal notice
The case cannot move forward until the respondent has legal notice. There are two normal routes:
- Official service. The clerk issues a citation, and a constable, sheriff, or private process server delivers the citation and petition to your spouse. You cannot serve the papers yourself. If your spouse cannot be located or avoids service, courts can authorize alternative service methods on a proper showing.
- Waiver of service. If your spouse is cooperative, they can sign a waiver of service before a notary after receiving a copy of the petition, which skips formal service. Timing matters: TexasLawHelp’s form instructions say the waiver should not be signed until at least one day after the petition was filed, and a waiver signed too early has to be redone. Signing a waiver only means giving up formal service; it is not consent to the divorce or to any terms.
Step 4: The answer deadline
A served respondent has a firm deadline to file an answer: find the day of service on a calendar, count 20 more days (weekends and holidays included), then go to the next Monday; the answer is due by 10 a.m. that day. If the respondent files an answer, the case proceeds with both spouses participating. If the respondent is properly served and files nothing by the deadline, the petitioner can eventually finish the divorce by default, without further notice to the respondent, once the other waiting periods have run. Two practical notes on defaults: the officer’s return of service generally must be on file with the court for at least 10 days before a default judgment can be taken, and a respondent who missed the deadline can still file a late answer at any point before the default is actually granted, which puts the case back on the contested or agreed track.
Step 5: The 60-day waiting period
Under § 6.702, a Texas court cannot grant a divorce before the 60th day after the petition is filed. The count starts the day after filing (the filing day is day zero), includes weekends and holidays, and rolls to the next business day if day 60 lands on a weekend or holiday, so in practice the earliest possible finish is day 61. There are only two exceptions, both involving family violence: the wait is waived if the respondent has been convicted of, or received deferred adjudication for, a crime involving family violence against the petitioner or a member of the petitioner’s household, or if the petitioner has an active protective order or magistrate’s order for emergency protection against the respondent based on family violence during the marriage.
The waiting period is a floor, not a schedule; contested cases routinely take much longer. The wait is also not dead time. Either spouse can ask for temporary orders under § 6.502 covering who lives in the house, temporary custody and support, spending limits, and bill payment while the case is pending, and the spouses can exchange financial information during this window through discovery. One recent change worth knowing: for family cases filed after September 1, 2023, Texas replaced automatic initial disclosures with a request-based system, so financial information generally moves when a party formally asks for it rather than by default.
Step 6: Resolve every issue, by agreement or hearing
A divorce ends in one of three postures, and the filing steps above are the same for all of them:
- Agreed. The spouses resolve every issue (property, debts, and all child-related terms) and both sign the proposed Final Decree of Divorce. This is the fastest and cheapest ending; the uncontested guide walks through it.
- Default. The respondent was properly served and never answered, and the petitioner finishes the case alone after the deadlines pass.
- Contested. The respondent answers and the spouses disagree on at least one issue. The case moves into information exchange, negotiation, often mediation (required by local rules in many courts), and, if needed, a final hearing or trial. To set a contested final hearing, the other side must be given at least 45 days’ notice.
Step 7: Finalize the divorce
In an agreed or default case, the finish is usually a short prove-up: the petitioner appears (many courts allow remote appearances), gives brief sworn testimony confirming the residency facts, the ground, and the terms of the decree, and the judge reviews and signs the Final Decree of Divorce. In a contested case, the judge signs a decree after the final hearing or trial reflecting the court’s rulings. The divorce is final when the judge signs the decree, and the signed decree must then be file-stamped into the court record by the clerk; the stamped decree is the document you will need for everything afterward, and self-represented filers are responsible for making sure it gets filed. The decree, not the petition, is what actually divides property, orders support, and sets the parenting terms, so every negotiated obligation needs to appear in it.
Two short clocks follow the decree. Either spouse generally has 30 days to appeal, and under § 6.801 neither spouse may marry a third party before the 31st day after the divorce is decreed, though the former spouses may remarry each other at any time and a court can waive the remarriage bar for good cause under § 6.802.
Key Texas divorce filing deadlines
| Clock | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Residency before filing | One spouse: six months as a Texas domiciliary and 90 days in the county of filing | Tex. Fam. Code § 6.301 |
| Respondent’s answer | Due by 10 a.m. on the Monday following 20 days after service | Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, as explained by TexasLawHelp |
| Default judgment | The return of service generally must be on file for at least 10 days first; a late answer filed before default is granted still counts | Tex. R. Civ. P. 107, as applied in practice |
| Waiting period | No divorce granted before the 60th day after filing; waived only for the two family-violence exceptions | Tex. Fam. Code § 6.702 |
| Contested final hearing | At least 45 days’ notice to the other side | TexasLawHelp |
| Remarriage | No marriage to a third party before the 31st day after the decree; former spouses excepted; waivable for good cause | Tex. Fam. Code §§ 6.801, 6.802 |
A worked example: one divorce on a calendar
The deadlines are easier to see on real dates. Suppose a petitioner files an agreed, no-fault case on Friday, January 9, 2026, and the respondent is served the following Tuesday, January 13.
- Answer deadline: Monday, February 9, 2026, 10 a.m. Counting 20 days from the January 13 service date lands on Monday, February 2, and the rule sends the deadline to the next Monday when the 20th day is itself a Monday. This is the trap in the Monday rule: two respondents served a day apart can have deadlines a week apart.
- Earliest possible decree: Wednesday, March 11, 2026. The filing day, January 9, is day zero, so day 60 of the § 6.702 waiting period is Tuesday, March 10, and under the counting convention TexasLawHelp uses, day 61 is the earliest the court can grant the divorce.
- Realistic finish: even in this fully agreed example, the couple still needs the signed decree ready and a prove-up date on the court’s calendar, which is why two to three months from filing is the practical floor rather than 61 days.
Shift the filing date and every clock moves with it, so anyone planning around a specific date (a school year, a lease, a deployment) should run this same count on their own calendar.
Filing in Texas vs. filing in Nevada
For couples with a foot in each state, where you can file first is often decided by the residency clocks. Texas requires six months as a domiciliary plus 90 days in the county; Nevada requires one spouse to have lived in the state for just six weeks before filing, with no county clock and no waiting period after filing. Someone who recently moved may qualify in one state long before the other, and which state’s courts handle the case can affect timing significantly. Children add a layer of their own: under the UCCJEA, custody jurisdiction generally follows the child’s home state, which can be a different state from wherever the divorce itself is filed. The full comparison, including property and custody differences, is in our Texas vs. Nevada divorce guide; a lawyer licensed in the relevant state can tell you where your case belongs.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get a divorce in Texas after filing?
The legal minimum is 60 days from filing (§ 6.702), so the fastest realistic agreed case finishes in roughly two to three months once decree preparation and a prove-up date are added. Contested cases commonly run many months to more than a year depending on the issues and the county’s docket.
Can I file for divorce in Texas without a lawyer?
Yes. Texas allows self-representation, TexasLawHelp publishes complete form sets with instructions, and the state’s official forms cover agreed cases with no children and no real property. Courts and clerks cannot give legal advice, though, and judges expect self-represented parties to present a legally correct decree. Cases involving children, real estate, retirement accounts, or a disagreeing spouse are where self-filing most often goes wrong.
Can I file for divorce online in Texas?
Yes. eFileTexas.gov is the state’s official electronic filing system and includes guided interviews that help self-represented filers prepare documents. The state does not charge a usage fee for the system, though payment-processing or provider convenience fees can apply, and standard court filing fees are still owed unless the court grants a fee waiver.
What does it cost to file for divorce in Texas?
The filing fee is set county by county, so check your district clerk’s fee schedule, and a court can waive fees for a filer who submits a sworn statement showing inability to pay. The total cost of a divorce beyond the filing fee depends mostly on whether the case is agreed or contested.
What if my spouse will not sign anything?
You do not need your spouse’s signature or permission to file, and you can finish without it. If your spouse will not sign a waiver, you use official service. If they never answer after proper service, the case can end by default; if they answer and fight, it proceeds as contested. A spouse cannot stop a Texas divorce by refusing to participate.
Where do I file if my spouse lives in another county or state?
You file in a county where one of you satisfies § 6.301: six months in Texas and 90 days in that county. If you live out of state, you can file in the Texas county where your spouse has met the residency requirement. When both spouses qualify in different Texas counties, the case can generally be filed in either, and where it lands can matter practically. One more layer when a spouse lives out of state: residency lets a Texas court dissolve the marriage, but the court generally also needs personal jurisdiction over the out-of-state spouse before it can impose money obligations on them, such as support or a binding division of their property, which is a question for a Texas lawyer on specific facts.
Do I file in the county where we got married?
No. Where you married is irrelevant to filing; a Texas court’s authority comes from residency at the time of filing, not from the wedding location. Couples who married in Texas and moved away file wherever they now meet a state’s residency rules, and couples who married elsewhere file in Texas if they satisfy § 6.301.
When is the divorce final, and when can I remarry?
The divorce is final when the judge signs the Final Decree of Divorce, and the signed decree should be file-stamped into the court record by the clerk, since the stamped copy is what you will need afterward. A roughly 30-day appeal window follows, and under § 6.801 neither spouse may marry a third party before the 31st day after the decree, although former spouses may remarry each other at any time and a court can waive the bar for good cause under § 6.802.
Resources
- TexasLawHelp: I need a divorce, we have children under 18, the step-by-step self-help guide with forms.
- TexasLawHelp: I need a divorce, we do not have minor children.
- Texas State Law Library: Filing for Divorce guide, including e-filing and fee information.
- Texas Family Code Chapter 6, the dissolution-of-marriage statutes cited on this page, from the Texas Legislature.
Related reading on this site: Divorce in Texas (the full overview), Uncontested Divorce in Texas, and Texas vs. Nevada Divorce.
This page is general educational information about Texas law and is not legal advice. Gastelum Attorneys is a Nevada family law firm; our attorneys are licensed in Nevada and do not practice Texas law or accept Texas cases. For advice about filing a Texas divorce, consult an attorney licensed in Texas. Statutes and procedures summarized here were verified as of the date above and can change, and county-level requirements vary. New Beginnings, Brighter Tomorrows.