Family Law Attorney in The Woodlands and Conroe, Texas

The Family Law Matters We Handle

Divorce

You do not have to prove your spouse did anything wrong. Texas grants divorce on the no-fault ground of insupportability, discord that has destroyed the legitimate ends of the marriage. Fault grounds still exist; you are not required to use them.

Two clocks run first. You can file only if you or your spouse has lived in Texas for six months and in the county for 90 days; either spouse's residence counts. And under Texas Family Code § 6.702, no court can grant a divorce before the 60th day after filing — a clock that starts at filing, not service, and a floor, not a forecast. Our Conroe divorce attorneys cover grounds, temporary orders, and the first weeks.

Property Distribution

The first questions are usually the house and the retirement accounts. Texas is a community property state: what either spouse acquired during the marriage generally belongs to both of you. That is a rule about ownership, not a promise of a fifty-fifty split, because the court divides the community estate in whatever manner it finds just and right, considering each spouse and any children; that often lands near equal, and nothing requires it.

Before anything is divided, it is characterized. Texas presumes everything either spouse possesses at the end of the marriage is community, and rebutting that takes clear and convincing evidence, which is why tracing an inheritance through a joint account matters. The Texas Constitution protects separate property outright: a court cannot take one spouse's separate property and hand it to the other. See dividing marital property in Texas for how tracing works.

Child Custody

Nothing on this page keeps parents up at night the way this does. Texas splits your worry into two questions: conservatorship, who holds rights and duties like school and medical decisions, and possession and access, the calendar your children live by.

Every ruling runs through your child's best interest, a standard that grew on September 1, 2025: under the amended Texas Family Code § 153.002, a parent facing a custody claim from a nonparent is presumed to act in the child's best interest, rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence that denying relief would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional development.

The misunderstanding we correct most often: joint managing conservatorship is not a 50/50 schedule. It divides decision-making, and one conservator still holds the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence. Our child custody and conservatorship page explains the allocation.

Child Support

You want a number, and Texas gets you close fast. Guideline support under Texas Family Code § 154.125 takes a percentage of the paying parent's monthly net resources: 20 percent for one child, 25 for two, 30 for three, 35 for four, 40 for five.

The percentages stop at a cap that is widely misquoted. No dollar amount appears in the statute; the ceiling is whatever the Office of the Attorney General publishes and periodically updates, currently $11,700 per month, effective September 1, 2025 — an inflation adjustment, not a new law. Our Texas child support guidelines page walks the calculation.

Modifications

Orders age badly. The schedule that fit a kindergartner fails a high schooler; jobs change; someone remarries and moves to Magnolia. The court can catch the order up, within limits.

For conservatorship or possession, you must show the change serves your child's best interest and that circumstances have materially and substantially changed — a phrase the Code never defines, which is where experience earns its keep. Support adds a mechanical route: under Texas Family Code § 156.401, if three years have passed since the order and the amount differs from the guideline figure by either 20 percent or $100, you can ask for a new number. Either threshold works, in either direction. We cover both paths on modifying a Texas custody or support order.

Enforcement

An order the other parent ignores is paper until somebody enforces it. When support stops or weekends keep not happening, the Family Code hands us real tools: contempt, meaning jail until compliance or a fixed penalty for past violations; income withholding capped at 50 percent of disposable earnings; liens; and money judgments for the arrearage.

If your time with your kids is being denied, 2025 tilted the law your way: Texas Family Code § 157.168, amended September 1, 2025, says the court shall order make-up possession for the time denied unless good cause is shown. It used to say may. Our enforcement attorneys handle support and possession violations alike.

If support has gone unpaid or ordered time keeps disappearing, start a written record of every missed payment and denied exchange, then call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011. What you write down now is what we prove later.

Mediation

Expect to sit across a table before you ever sit in a courtroom. A Texas court can send your case to mediation on its own motion, even without your agreement. The mediator decides nothing; you and your spouse still hold the pen.

The weight is in what you sign there. A mediated settlement agreement that states prominently, in bold, capitals, or underlining, that it is not subject to revocation, signed by each party and any attorney present, entitles a party to judgment on its terms; changing your mind the next morning will not undo it. The paper you are handed at nine at night deserves the attention of a trial; we prepare for family law mediation in Montgomery County accordingly.

Adoptions

Adoption ends with the best afternoon anyone spends at a courthouse. It is also more demanding than families expect, and the sequence is strict.

Termination comes first: a child can be adopted only once the parent-child relationship with each living parent has ended, or in a suit deciding termination alongside the adoption. The main exception is the stepparent path, where the parent keeping their rights is your spouse. Then residence: the child generally must have lived with you for six months before the adoption is granted, though a judge can waive that in the child's best interest. Our Texas adoption and stepparent adoption page covers the evaluations and consents.

Grandparents' Rights

If a grandchild has been kept from you, you deserve honesty more than encouragement: Texas sets this bar deliberately high. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a fit parent is presumed to act in the child's best interest, and courts must give that decision special weight.

Texas adds two gates. Your suit must open with a sworn affidavit alleging facts showing that denying you access would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional well-being; if the facts fall short, the court must dismiss the case. Then a three-part test must be fully met, including that your own child, the parent in the middle, is incarcerated, incompetent, deceased, or has no court-ordered access.

That your grandchild would benefit from seeing you is not the test. That the denial would harm the child is. We discuss grandparent access in Texas candidly, including whether filing makes sense at all.