Transcript of Video – What County is the Right One for Filing My Divorce Case

Below is a transcript from the audio portion of the video “What County is the Right One for Filing My Divorce Case.” If you prefer, you can watch the video here. Here is the transcript:

Hi this is Scott Morgan. I am a board certified family law attorney and the founder of the Morgan Law Firm. In today’s video we’re going to talk a little bit about how to determine which county is the appropriate county to file for divorce in and we are going to use as an example of course Travis County, where Austin is located.

The video is not going to discuss the many varieties of really complicated jurisdictional issues that can come up, we are not to talk about those. There are some complicated issues involving child custody and child support and there are uniform codes that have been approved or put into law by most every state. One of these is the UCCJEA which is the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act and the other one is UIFSA, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. Those statues involve some really complicated jurisdiction issues.

We are not going to go into any of that. We are going to talk about the more bread and butter typical divorce case involving which county your case should be filed in. Whenever you file a Texas divorce case, there are two basic requirements: one is domicile and the other is residency. They sound very similar and they are similar but there are distinct requirements.

Here’s one thing that’s a little bit of a twist and we’ll go into exactly what domicile and residency are in just a minute, but this is a little bit of a twist that some people get confused over. The statute requires that one party be domiciled in Texas and a resident of the county of filing, but that party does not have to be the person filing the divorce case.

So what that means is that let’s say a married couple lived in Travis County and then they separated and the husband moved away to Seattle. Well even though the husband doesn’t live in Travis County anymore, if the wife met the requirements of both domicile and residency then not only could wife file for divorce in Travis but husband could also, based on the wife living here in Travis County.

So requirement number one is that at least one of the parties has to be a domiciliary of Texas for six months prior to filing the divorce case. What that means is that on the date of filing the divorce petition you have to be able to look backward and say that for six months at least one party has been domiciled in Texas.

Now domicile is a little bit tricky and there is some case law on it that’s pretty confusing but then again we are talking about the standard case and the standard case is pretty straight forward. You live in Travis County and have for the past year then you meet the domiciliary requirement. The more complicated issue comes up with someone who has a house in Travis County but for the past 8 months or 4 months or year or whatever, his job might be the military or might just be a corporate job that requires him to work aboard or even in a different state and he hasn’t actually lived there.

I have had situations with clients like that before. In that case domicile means either where you are or where you intend to return to. So for example, the soldier that is in Afghanistan, obviously he is not going to file for divorce in Afghanistan. If he is from Travis County and that’s where he plans to return to then that means the domicile requirements is met.

The second requirement is that you have to be a resident of the county where you file for 90 days prior to filing the divorce case. So on the date that you file for the divorce looking backwards at least one party has to be a resident of the county that you file in for the previous 90 days.

So it’s important to know those are two different things. Domicile relates to the state of Texas and residency deals with the county. So it is possible to meet one requirement and not the other.

Going back to that example where you have a couple who both lived in Travis County and then husband moved – let’s say instead of Seattle he moved to Dallas. So as soon as he moves to Dallas and goes and rents an apartment there or moves and changes his residency, he no longer can file based on his residency in Travis County. He might still be able to do it based on wife’s residency but he can’t do it based on his.

He’s also not eligible to file in Dallas County until he has resided there for at least 90 days. In most cases it’s a really easy analysis but like I said not always. Sometimes it’s a little bit complicated.

Sometimes you get in questions over what truly is our domicile. I have had cases where it’s somewhat complicated as far as people who have two residences in different locations and they go back and forth between them. The key here is whether either party complains about jurisdiction. You can get into big jurisdictional fights when one party says they think the case should be in Travis County and the other party says that it should be in New York State.

Those kinds of issues can create a big fight before you can even get into any of the divorce issues, just purely arguing over which jurisdiction which court should hear the case. So it can be very complicated and very messy. Fortunately, most of the time that is not the case and it’s usually pretty straight forward and everybody agrees what the proper jurisdiction is.

Now one thing I should mention is that it is always best to consult with a qualified family law attorney about the specifics of your particular situation. This video of course can help you understand the law a little bit better but it is no substitute for the advice of an experienced family law attorney who is going to be able to look at your situation and advise you exactly on your situation.

I hope this video was helpful to you. If you feel like you are at that stage where you need to get advice from a family law attorney about your situation, feel free to give us a call. If you look at the side bar on the right of this website, AustinDivorceSpecialist.com, you will see our phone number and also at the bottom of the page. Just give us a call and we will get a consultation scheduled and see what we can do to help you.

**End of Transcript

If you want to read something that makes you feel fortunate to be in Texas read this post – “At Least Divorce in Travis County Doesn’t Have This Problem.”
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