What Is the Time Limit?

B., there are several web sites that have the forms available and step by step instructions to help him in refiling for divorce. Sounds as if neither party was present for the final divorce, and that is the reason for the dismissal. Since it was dismissed it is required that it be filed again. There is a filing fee with the courts but it is not costly.

Here is a web site that I have used myself. http://www.3stepdivorce.com/states/texas.shtml
Good luck.

Hey B.,

My name is D.. I am sorry to hear you are having these issues. I am actually an independent associate for Pre Paid Legal Services, Inc. This company allows you to have access to attorneys at little cost. You would be able to call them and get advice on what you can and can not do. With your family growing, this is something you might look into! Visit my website: www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/danielleferguson You can email me on there if you have any questions!! Please do not hesitate to ask! Have a wonderful day!

In Texas a divorce can be finalized 60 days from the day it is filed. The Court usually does not set a date until either party asks for it.

If the Petitioner (wife) filed the divorce and then didn't do anything; after some time and it us usually quite a while, the Court will notify her that they are going to dismiss the case for non-prosecution. If she is not ready to do anything, she can ask the Court to put it on hold for a period of time.

Did your fiance get served with papers? Or did he file a Waiver of Service? If neither of those things happened, my thought would be that she never filed for divorce in the first place. But that is pretty easy to find out. File an Open Records Request with the District Clerk of the county of residence and ask for any and all documents pertaining to a divorce between (name both parties here).

Are you kidding me? Did you read what you just wrote? WOW! You're calling a married man your "fiance"....how can a married person be engaged to another? And he has 5 kids, do you know what you're getting into? You'll be taking on a TON of financial responsiblity in addition to the emotional roller coaster of all those children. Beyond that, both parties do not have to be present in a courtroom for the divorce to be finalized....but you must have an attorney draw up the paperwork and actually file it, and an attorney cannot represent both parties so you can't just take up where she left off so to speak, he'll need to hire an attorney to draw the papers, and assuming she'll agree to the terms and they've lived separate and apart for over a year (Texas anyway)he should be a divorced man in a very short time.....please really think about this marriage idea, seriously think about your kids, how will this possibly work out? Does he have custody of these kids, making you a full-time stepmother or will you have to work out visitation and child support payments....good luck to you though

Depends on whether her case was dismissed for inactivity which it sounds like it is. Was he not notified of the court date or did he miss it? The court should have mailed him a notice unless he allowed her to use their previous address as his current address.

He can file, he can have a friend serve her, they are legally required to wait at least 30 days from serving her to set the court date and then it depends on how full the docket is. Then it will be final that day if neither contests. Go to the Tarrant County courthouse downtown. They have a law library and he can do everything himself and save a lot of money (bring a bunch of change for the copy machine). They have a book with the forms and all you have to do is basically put it on the computer and fill in the blanks.

If he has what she filed, he can just reverse everything making him the complaintant and her the respondent. The filing will run somewhere around $300 if there are kids involved,up to $400 if he has the court serve her. If she is not going to dodge service, have a friend do it. Also get the child support and custody statutes online if they have kids, she is entitled to 25% of his income if she has custody unless he is already paying child support for another child in which case, she would be entitled to 25% less what the other child is receiving. In my case, his elder daughter receives slightly more than 10% for the one child, I receive 14.75% until June when she graduates from high school and then my child support will be raised to 25%

I think you should run and not walk to the next exit...
What makes you think there will be a happy ending with someone who has 5 children already.
This is speaking from experience, ask God to show you the way out!!
Someday you will be glad not to have married this man.
He may be a good person, but the baggage comes five fold, use your head, not your heart.

Good luck,
I have been there.

Hi B.,

I am a family law attorney and would be happy to discuss this with you. My number is ###-###-####. Just remind me you came from mamasource. Also, not all the information you received as responses is correct.

J. Duke

B., I have just recently finalized my divorce to my ex, I do believe that there is a time limit to how long the court will keep the filed papers active before you have to start the process over. I did my divorce all by myself without knowing where he was, not seeing him after six year and having had a son together. I see that there has been a response from an attorney and I would abouslutly talk to her. For me I was able to muddle though all of the proceeding just by talking to the ladies in the court house that did all the paperwork and filing for the court also speaking with judge’s aids. They know allot about the time limits for filing and such. It is good to find out all the information that you can on this just be careful and make sure your info is from a good source. Hope this works out for you two. Good luck

Yes, there is a time limit. My ex and I were to divorce and something health wise kept it from happening. I had to work with my lawyer and the courts to extend our time. After the 2nd or 3rd time I had to either make it happen or start over. In my case we were able to make it happen. You'll be able to divorce no matter what ...it is just a matter of refiling and having to pay the refiling $ and any cost to your lawyer if you are using one. That is the bummer part. (All the money it takes to get a divorce)

If they file again, the waiting period before it is final is reduced by the number of days it was filed the last time. In other words, they pick up right where they left off. Tell him to file and get it over with!

Are there children involved? Was there property division that they could not agree on? Once the papers are filed and the courtdate is set it doesn't matter if the other party shows up or not. If the other party doesn't show up then the judge just files in favor of the one that shows up. As for not notifying him of the date... if there WAS a dat set then the courst would have served him with paper notifying him of the court date.
Sorry to tell you this, but it sounds to me that SOMEONE is not telling the truth.

D.
SAHM of three: 19,18, and 5

Yes there is she probably did not show up as well so the case was dismissed. You might want to call the county clerk and give them the old case number and see what she/he says. You should have a copy the case number on your petition for divorce she sent him. It doesn't cost much to file, but it will costly to get the final decree done especially with children involved that is probaby why she didn't finish it.

All I know is that once you file then the other person is served with papers and there is a court date on the papers.If he doesn't show up then the process still goes on. I dont know what is going on with you and yours. something doesn't sound right.

SERIOUSLY!!!! I'm shocked that most of the women have responded unabashedly to your questions about divorce and have not addressed the obvious and deeper issues of your affair with a MARRIED man. Not only is this man still MARRIED, he's a FATHER of 5 children!!!!

Are you so self-focused that you are not considering that there are 5 even 8 children involved here. Regardless of whether or not their marriage was in upheaval before you met the man or you contributed to the demise and breakup of this marriage, there are 5 innocent children in the middle here!!! Can you please stop to think about the pain, stress, and confusion that they must be going through due to the turmoil of their parents!!!

You are preventing a potential reunion of the parents of these children. Shame on you!!!! And what of your own children? If they are young and still in your home, then no doubt they are struggling too.

Can you not see that this man obviously does not appreciate the sanctity of marriage as he cheats on his wife and potentially neglects the emotional needs of his own children. Do you SERIOUSLY want to be with a man like that? Do you SERIOUSLY not believe that he won't turn around and do the very same thing to you?

Please wake up out of your la la land and get back into reality so that you can see what a grave mistake in judgement this is. I know this sounds harsh but it sounds like you really need a good dose of reality. You're treading in VERY dangerous waters!!!!!

Attention: B.
This lady is playing games. If your boyfriend really want to marry you, He can go and file and pay for the divorce .
He need to talk to a lawyer and he will advice him of what steps to take. The wife is having second thoughts. Becareful, move slow and watch your back. may God bless you.

S. K.

You have 60 days to finalize a divorce. If the divorce is not finalized (assuming it is an agreed divorce) after the 60 days, then they would have to start all over. For example, if it has been a month past the 60 days, forget about it. You have to re-file and pay court costs, filing fees, etc. I work for a law firm that does this all the time. Just in case you want to know how I know. But they really should talk to an attorney to resolve this. Hope this helps!

I think if she messed up the first one she should have to pay for the second one. You might call a law office or the court system to find out if there is a time limit. But I also know that if the papers were signed, he does not have to appear, only the person filing the divorce. My friend is going through a divorce right now and was told this.

I recently was divorced (June of 2008) and my ex did not have to be at the court house for the final paper work to be done, since I was the one that filed for the divorce. All we did was send the paper work over to his lawyer and he signed them and they faxed them back over. We took them to the court on the date we were supposed to and it was all over in about 5 minutes.

Now we had to be separted for 90 days, which they call a cool down period (for the State of Texas). Then you are not allowed to re-marry for 60 or 90 days I don't remember at this moment.

I hope this helps.

L. Flores-Simmons