Can You Get a Do It Yourself Divorce in Texas?
The Texas Supreme Court makes do it yourself divorce forms available, with instructions. However even in a simple divorce, the forms can be confusing to many people. If the divorce is more complex with child custody and child support issues, or the division of a retirement plan, the do it yourself divorce forms are not appropriate. In this video, Divorce Attorney Vonda Covington talks about do it yourself divorce in Texas.
Summary of Vonda’s “Do It Yourself Divorce” Video
– – Hi, I’m Vonda Covington. I’m a divorce attorney in Richmond, Texas, and one of the things that I get people asking me about is how to do your own divorce. Can I do a divorce myself? Is this too complicated?
Well, a lot of people can do a Do It Yourself Divorce. The Texas Supreme Court has created some forms that people can use. You can fill them out. You can get them at the library. I think that you can get them online, and I think that you can get them also at the Fort Bend County Library.
People sometimes have some difficulty filling out the forms because they really don’t know what’s being asked. I think that unless you have a very simple situation, you are probably very much better served by getting an attorney to draft all of those documents for you rather than you doing it yourself.
In fact, I’ve had a number of people who have come to me in the past after trying to get divorced themselves. They decided that they needed some help through the do it yourself divorce process because they weren’t even able to get before the court because their documents were so poorly filled out, or because they really were so confused by the process.
Help in Filling Out the Do It Yourself Divorce Forms
One of the things that I have done for people, and I’m still willing to do for people is to help them do the process themself. I will help them fill out those forms. I will provide for them certain forms that they may not be able to get. I will look at the forms after they’ve filled them out and help in doing corrections.
I’ll do the corrections, and I’ll show them what they need to do, and I’ll walk them through what the process is so that they can get through it and get to the other side. For that, I charge my hourly rate, and it’s considerably less than doing all the work myself. It’s really not that hard if you have a simple situation.
A Do It Yourself Divorce Is Not Appropriate for a Complex Situation
Now if it’s a complex situation, especially if it’s a contested situation, you really don’t need to be representing yourself. You really need to be represented by an attorney. Just the rules of evidence make it difficult to get some of the most basic facts before the court, if you don’t know how to do it and make these things admissible.
So in situations that are contested and situations that are not simple, definitely hire an attorney. If I’m getting something done to my house, I’m going to hire someone who knows how to do it. I’m not gonna try to do it myself and possibly take down a wall that has a load-bearing beam or something like that, and my whole house come down. And that’s what I see people who try to walk through the divorce process themselves when it’s really not a simple divorce.
Call for an Appointment
Call us at 281-762-0578 for an appointment with Vonda. Our attorneys can help you decide if a do it yourself divorce will work for you. If it will, they can help you complete the forms and answer your questions about the forms. If the do it yourself divorce is not appropriate, they can help you take a different path appropriate for your situation like uncontested divorce, collaborative divorce or divorce mediation.
Our office is located in Downtown Richmond, just a few blocks from the courthouse. We have plenty of parking on the street and off street.
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