Quick Answer: Divorce in Texas (2026)

To file for divorce in Texas, one spouse must have lived in the state for the last 6 months and in the filing county for the last 90 days (Tex. Fam. Code § 6.301). Nearly all divorces are granted on the no-fault ground of insupportability (§ 6.001), which requires no proof of wrongdoing and no consent from the other spouse. Every case is subject to a 60-day waiting period (§ 6.702), making day 61 the earliest possible decree. Property acquired during the marriage is presumptively community property (§ 3.003) and is divided in a “just and right” manner (§ 7.001) — not automatically 50/50. Agreed cases can finish in 70–100 days; contested cases commonly run six months to over a year.

The Seven Grounds for Divorce in Texas

Texas is a no-fault state with a long memory. The Family Code recognizes one no-fault ground and six fault grounds — and while almost every divorce is filed on the no-fault ground, the fault grounds are not dead letters, because proven fault can support a disproportionate share of the community estate.

• Insupportability (§ 6.001) — the no-fault ground: the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities, with no reasonable expectation of reconciliation. No proof of wrongdoing, and the other spouse’s consent is not required.
• Cruelty (§ 6.002) — cruel treatment that renders living together insupportable.
• Adultery (§ 6.003) — the fault ground most often pleaded alongside insupportability when a disproportionate division will be requested.
• Felony conviction (§ 6.004) — conviction during the marriage with at least one year’s imprisonment.
• Abandonment (§ 6.005) — leaving with intent to abandon and remaining away at least one year.
• Living apart (§ 6.006) — living apart without cohabitation for at least three years.
• Confinement in a mental hospital (§ 6.007) — confinement for at least three years with unlikely or relapsing adjustment.

The strategic takeaway: pleading a fault ground is rarely about the divorce itself — insupportability gets you divorced either way — it is about the division. That calculus belongs in a conversation with a Texas attorney, because proving fault has real costs in time, money, and conflict.

Residency and Where to File

At least one spouse must have been a Texas domiciliary for the preceding 6 months and a resident of the filing county for the preceding 90 days (§ 6.301). A nonresident spouse may file where the resident spouse lives (§ 6.302), and Texas-domiciled service members stationed elsewhere keep their residency (§ 6.303).

The petition is filed with the district clerk (or other appropriate clerk) in the county of proper venue; depending on the county, the case is assigned to a district court or a county court at law. Two local wrinkles worth knowing: many counties have standing orders that automatically take effect the moment a divorce is filed — restraining both spouses from draining accounts, changing insurance, or disturbing the children’s residence — and each court’s scheduling practices differ. Check the assigned court’s local rules early.

The Texas Divorce Process, Step by Step

1. File the Original Petition for Divorce. One spouse (the petitioner) files, pays the county filing fee or a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, and the 60-day clock starts the next day. If a county standing order exists, it binds both spouses immediately.
2. Notify the other spouse. Formal service by a sheriff, constable, or private process server — or, in cooperative cases, a notarized Waiver of Service signed after the petition is filed. The respondent’s answer is due by 10:00 a.m. on the Monday following 20 days after service.
3. Temporary orders, if needed. In contested cases, either spouse can ask the court for temporary orders (§ 6.502) governing who stays in the house, temporary custody and support, bill payment, and attorney’s fees while the case is pending. Temporary orders often shape the endgame — the status quo they create is hard to dislodge.
4. Exchange information. For family cases filed on or after September 1, 2023, discovery is request-based under Family Code Chapter 301 and Rule of Civil Procedure 194a. Contested cases layer on interrogatories, document production, depositions, and — where businesses or complex assets are involved — appraisals and forensic accounting.
5. Settle or fight. Most Texas divorces settle. Mediation is the workhorse: a mediated settlement agreement that meets the statutory formalities is binding and, in most circumstances, irrevocable (§ 6.602) — sign one only when you mean it. Cases that fully agree from the start skip most of this machinery entirely; that faster track is covered in our guide to uncontested divorce in Texas, including the waiver, decree, and prove-up mechanics.
6. Trial, for what remains. Issues no agreement resolves go to the judge — or, rarely in family cases, a jury on limited questions. Texas is one of the few states allowing jury trials on certain custody issues, though property division always remains the judge’s call.
7. The Final Decree of Divorce. Whether by agreement or judgment, everything lands in the decree: property, debts, maintenance, and all child-related terms. The divorce takes effect when the judge signs. Confirm entry with the clerk, get file-stamped certified copies, and execute the follow-through documents — deeds, retirement division orders, title transfers — because the decree orders those transfers but does not perform them.

The 60-Day Waiting Period

Texas courts cannot grant a divorce before the 60th day after filing (§ 6.702). The day of filing does not count, so day 61 is the earliest possible decree — a date only fully agreed cases realistically hit. The statute recognizes exactly two exceptions, both involving family violence, and neither agreement nor hardship creates a third. The counting rules, the exceptions, and what happens if a decree slips through early are covered in detail in the uncontested divorce in Texas guide.

How Texas Divides Property — and Why It Is Not 50/50

Texas is a community property state, and this is the most misunderstood sentence in Texas divorce law. Here is how the system actually works:

• Everything is presumed community. Property possessed by either spouse at divorce is presumed community property (§ 3.003), divisible by the court.
• Separate property must be proven — and is never divided. Property owned before marriage, or received during marriage by gift, inheritance, or as most personal-injury recoveries, is separate (§ 3.001). The proof standard is clear and convincing evidence, which in practice means tracing: documents showing where the asset came from. Commingled accounts without records tend to lose their separate character.
• The division standard is “just and right,” not equal. The court divides the community estate “in a manner that the court deems just and right” (§ 7.001). Judges routinely award disproportionate divisions based on fault in the breakup, disparities in earning capacity, health, age, who has the children, and wasted community assets. 55/45 and 60/40 splits are unremarkable outcomes in Texas courtrooms.
• Reimbursement claims connect the estates. When one marital estate benefits another — community funds paying down a separate-property mortgage, for instance — the benefited estate may owe reimbursement. These claims are fact-heavy and frequently drive settlement value in house-and-retirement divorces.

The practical consequence: in Texas, the fight is often less about dividing the pie than about characterizing it — what is community, what is separate, and what one estate owes the other.

Spousal Maintenance: Deliberately Hard to Get

Texas has one of the most restrictive court-ordered alimony regimes in the country, and the vocabulary matters: spousal maintenance is what a court can order under Family Code Chapter 8; contractual alimony is what spouses agree to in a settlement, free of the statutory caps.

• Eligibility is the gate. The requesting spouse must lack sufficient property to meet minimum reasonable needs, and fit a qualifying category: a marriage of 10+ years with inability to earn sufficient income, an incapacitating disability, custodianship of a disabled child, or a recent family-violence conviction or deferred adjudication by the other spouse (§ 8.051).
• Amount is capped. The lesser of $5,000 per month or 20% of the payor’s average monthly gross income (§ 8.055).
• Duration is capped. Generally 5 years (marriages of 10–20 years, or shorter marriages with family violence), 7 years (20–30 years), or 10 years (30+ years) — and courts must limit maintenance to the shortest reasonable period that lets the recipient become self-supporting (§ 8.054).

Because the statutory path is narrow, much of the real-world “alimony” in Texas is negotiated, not ordered — traded against property in the just-and-right division.

Children: Custody and Support in a Texas Divorce

When there are minor children, the decree doubles as a complete custody and support order. Texas splits what most states call “custody” into conservatorship (decision-making) and possession and access (time), presumes both parents will be joint managing conservators (§ 153.131), and builds parenting time around the standard possession order — expanded by default for parents living within 50 miles of each other in cases filed since September 2021 (§ 153.3171). The full framework — including how the joint-conservatorship presumption interacts with the best-interest standard, geographic restrictions, and modification — is covered in our guide to Texas child custody laws.

Child support follows guidelines in Family Code Chapter 154: for an obligor with no other children, 20% of net monthly resources for one child, 25% for two, 30% for three, 35% for four, and 40% for five — applied to net resources up to a cap that the Attorney General adjusts every six years, most recently in September 2025. Courts can deviate from the guidelines, but the decree must say why. Medical and dental support are ordered on top of the guideline amount.

What a Texas Divorce Costs

Court filing fees typically run $250–$400 by county and can be waived for filers who qualify. Beyond that, cost tracks conflict (market estimates as of July 2026; actual fees vary widely by county and attorney):

The single biggest cost lever is the number of genuinely disputed issues. Every issue resolved by agreement before lawyers litigate it is money kept in the community estate — which is why the uncontested divorce in Texas track exists and why mediation resolves most of the rest.

Divorcing From a Common Law Marriage

Texas recognizes informal (common law) marriage — and an informal marriage requires a formal divorce. There is no “common law divorce”: once the marriage exists, everything on this page applies, including community property division and the 60-day waiting period. The threshold fight is usually whether the marriage existed at all, which turns on agreement, cohabitation, and holding out as married. How that proof works — and the two-year presumption after separation — is covered in our guide to common law marriage in Texas.

Texas Ties, Nevada Ties: Where You File Matters

Texas and Nevada are both community property states, but the procedural differences are dramatic: Nevada requires only 6 weeks of residency, has no waiting period, and finalizes agreed divorces in as little as 10 days in Clark County — against Texas’s 6 months, 60 days, and day-61 floor. A side-by-side table lives in our uncontested divorce in Texas guide.

Primary Sources

Statutory citations on this page were verified against the official Texas Legislature site on July 16, 2026. County procedures change more often than statutes — always confirm current local practice with the assigned court.

• Texas Family Code Chapter 6 — grounds (§§ 6.001–6.007), residency (§§ 6.301–6.303), temporary orders (§ 6.502), mediation (§ 6.602), waiting period (§ 6.702)
• Texas Family Code Chapter 3 — separate and community property (§§ 3.001, 3.003)
• Texas Family Code Chapter 7 — just and right division (§ 7.001)
• Texas Family Code Chapter 8 — spousal maintenance
• Texas Family Code Chapter 153 — conservatorship and possession
• Texas Family Code Chapter 154 — child support
• Texas Family Code Chapter 301 — discovery in family law cases
• TexasLawHelp.org divorce toolkits — free court-approved instructions and forms
• Texas State Law Library divorce research guide

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a divorce take in Texas?

At least 61 days. Texas imposes a 60-day waiting period that starts the day after filing, so the earliest possible decree is day 61 — a timeline only truly agreed cases hit. Uncontested divorces typically finish in 70 to 100 days, while contested divorces commonly run six months to more than a year depending on the county’s docket and how many issues go to trial.

Is Texas a 50/50 divorce state?

No. Texas is a community property state, but courts divide the community estate in a manner that is "just and right" under Texas Family Code § 7.001 — which often is not an equal split. Judges can award a disproportionate share based on factors like fault in the breakup of the marriage, earning capacity, health, and who has custody of the children. Separate property — what you owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance — is not divided at all.

Do I need a reason to get a divorce in Texas?

No. Nearly all Texas divorces are granted on the no-fault ground of insupportability, which requires no proof of wrongdoing and no agreement from the other spouse. Texas also recognizes fault grounds — including cruelty, adultery, felony conviction, and abandonment — which some spouses plead because proven fault can support a disproportionate share of the community estate.

How much does a divorce cost in Texas?

Filing fees typically run $250 to $400 depending on the county and can be waived for filers who cannot afford them. An agreed divorce handled by an attorney commonly costs $1,500 to $3,500, while contested divorces frequently run $5,000 to $30,000 or more depending on the disputes, experts, and trial time involved. These are market estimates as of July 2026 and vary widely by county and attorney.

Does my spouse have to agree to the divorce?

No. Texas will grant a divorce on insupportability even if one spouse objects. A spouse who refuses to participate cannot stop the divorce — the case simply proceeds, potentially by default if they never file an answer. What a spouse can contest is the terms: property division, support, and issues involving the children.

Can I get alimony in Texas?

Court-ordered spousal maintenance exists in Texas but is deliberately hard to get. Under Texas Family Code Chapter 8, a spouse generally qualifies only after a 10-year marriage (or in cases involving family violence or disability) and only if they cannot meet their minimum reasonable needs. Awards are capped at the lesser of $5,000 per month or 20% of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income, with duration limits tied to the length of the marriage. Spouses can also agree to contractual alimony in a settlement, which is not subject to those caps.

Who gets the house in a Texas divorce?

It depends on how the house is characterized and what a just and right division looks like. A home bought during the marriage is presumptively community property and can be awarded to either spouse, sold with proceeds divided, or offset against other assets. A home owned before the marriage is separate property and stays with its owner, though the community estate may have a reimbursement claim for mortgage payments or improvements made during the marriage. When children are involved, courts often weigh keeping them in the family home.