What Constitutes Family Violence in Texas?

If your spouse alleges you committed domestic violence – family violence – before or during your divorce proceeding, it can affect your final divorce settlement. In this circumstance, you must be advised and represented by an experienced San Antonio divorce attorney.

Family violence takes many forms. In Texas, it includes assaults, threats, stalking, physical abuse, and sexual abuse against a spouse or child, another family or household member, or someone that the alleged abuser previously dated or is currently dating.

If you are accused of family violence before or during your divorce proceeding, the court may issue a protective order that prevents you from seeing your children and orders you to stay away from your home. You could even face an assault charge in a Texas criminal court.

Do You Have to Prove Your Spouse is Responsible for Your Divorce?

Texas allows for both “no-fault” and “at-fault” divorce. You do not have to prove your spouse is at fault for your divorce, but if there is fault – family violence or adultery, for instance – it can affect alimony payments, the division of marital assets, and the custody of your child or children.

The law does not specifically list “family violence” as one of the grounds for divorce, but it lists “cruelty.” Under Texas law, a final divorce settlement may favor one spouse if the other spouse’s cruelty has made the continuation of the marriage unsustainable. A specific finding of “family violence” in a divorce decree could affect one’s ability to own a handgun in Texas.

How Can Family Violence Affect Alimony and the Division of Marital Assets?

The law obligates Texas courts to divide marital assets justly and rightly between the spouses. Judges may consider cruelty or family violence when they decide what is a “just and right” division of the marital assets.

Judges may also consider a pattern or history of family violence when they determine if spousal maintenance (alimony) payments should be ordered. The court may order spousal maintenance payments if:

  1. One spouse will not have the resources necessary to meet his or her reasonable needs; and
  2. The other spouse received a conviction (or deferred adjudication) for a crime of family violence during the divorce proceeding or in the two years prior to the proceeding.

The court may order spousal maintenance payments in other limited circumstances. Whether you are seeking spousal maintenance payments or you are being ordered to make those payments, you must retain a Texas attorney, preferably a San Antonio divorce lawyer, who will advocate effectively on your behalf.

What is a Texas Court’s Top Priority?

In any divorce that involves a child, a Texas court’s highest priority will be that child’s best interests. Therefore, the court must take family violence into account when it makes child custody decisions. The judge must consider sexual or physical abuse by one spouse against:

  1. the other spouse
  2. their child or children
  3. any other family or household member
  4. any other child

The decisions a court makes may include:

  1. which parent decides where the child lives
  2. which parent makes educational, medical, and other important decisions for the child
  3. the amount of time each parent may spend with the child

How Does Family Violence Affect Custody Decisions?

When a Texas court issues an order regarding a child’s custody, the legal term for custody is “conservatorship.” Someone awarded custody of a child is a “conservator.” Texas has established  the following types of conservatorships:

  1. joint managing conservatorships
  2. possessory conservatorships
  3. sole managing conservatorships

A judge will not order joint managing conservatorships (joint custody) if one spouse has a pattern or history of family violence or child neglect or an active protective order. In these cases, a judge may designate the non-abusing parent as the child’s sole managing conservator (sole custody).

Finally, a Texas court may issue whatever orders are necessary to keep a child safe, such as ordering supervised visitations.

What If You Are Innocent of Family Violence?

False family violence claims are made for many reasons. Texas authorities take family violence claims seriously, but police officers, defense attorneys, prosecutors, divorce lawyers, and judges in Texas must deal with far too many fabricated claims of family violence.

It is often a challenge to separate the falsehoods from the truth in a divorce proceeding. Your San Antonio divorce attorney will seek to uncover the truth, but a phony family violence claim is like any other legal claim. In a divorce proceeding, what is “true” will be determined by the court. False testimony can be punished as perjury which is a criminal offense.

Do You Need Protection?

If you are divorcing in Texas, a protective order can offer you legal protection from your spouse during the divorce process. A protective order is a court order that requires one spouse to stop abusing, harming, or threatening to harm the other spouse (or your child or children).

A San Antonio divorce lawyer can help you obtain a protective order before or during the divorce process. In a Texas divorce, you may request a protective order when your spouse has committed family violence or threatened to use violence against you (or your child or children). When you request a protective order, you must sign an affidavit detailing specifically what was said and when, and later you will be required to testify. It may be helpful to keep a diary of the details for later reference.

Before you can file for a divorce in Texas, at least one of the spouses must have resided in the state for at least six months and in the county where the divorce is filed for at least ninety days prior to filing.

Let South TX Family Law Handle Your Divorce

When you are divorcing in San Antonio or anywhere in South Texas – and especially if family violence is an element in your divorce – you should be advised and represented by attorney Laura D. Heard at South TX Family Law.

Texas divorce attorney Laura D. Heard leads a team of family law professionals who handle divorce, child custody, child support, paternity claims, and family violence cases. We will help you through the divorce process and help you obtain the legal protection you need.

Contact South TX Family Law by calling 210-775-0353. Our family law team will evaluate your case and recommend the best way for you to move forward. If you need a protective order, we can help you receive full legal protection. Let South TX Family Law put the law to work for you.