There is a huge uproar in the legal community among professionals who practice family law. It centers around the decision of the Supreme Court to offer DIY forms for porce matters.
Family law has complexities that cannot be adequately represented with a fill-in-the-blank form. If you are in a marriage and there are no children and no property, then the forms might be correctly used. However, as a cautionary note, while people accurately know if they have children, they often do not accurately know if they have property as it relates to a porce.
People have vehicles, boats, trailers, clothes, furniture, retirement accounts, stocks, mutual funds, real estate (house), mineral leases (gas lease), digital assets (internet accounts, website URLs) reproductive assets, and other things that they don't realize have an impact on how the decree should be drafted.
I have yet to review a form decree that was drafted correctly where children were concerned. Sometimes the forms have no or defective terms for child support and parenting provisions. Imagine a case where child support is drafted in a manner that makes it unenforceable by contempt.
In Texas we have separate property and community property. There are clear rules as to what is what and how that characterization can be changed. It is very common for people I see in porce consultations to have mistaken understandings of property law. Because they received legal advice, it was not a problem, but I worry about how many people are out there that forge ahead with their incorrect ideas.
All this is to say that if you are going to try to do your porce on your own with forms, I recommend that you have an attorney review your final paperwork.
For Smart Divorce in Texas
Diane M. Wanger
Board Certified Family Law Attorney
familylawtex.com
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