Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
I am trying to think of divorce before marriage by thinking through scenarios but I don't know the law well enough and was wondering if you could help me. Let's say a man makes $200,000 and marries a woman. They are married for 7 years and have two children 4 and 7.
The wife decides to divorce. How would assets be split and child support if the wife made $50,000 vs. $200,000 or $1,000,000 a year (in a state like Texas for example)? Thank you very much for your time.
1 Answer from Attorneys
A disparity in income doesn't have much to do with property division, although it is a factor that's listed in Murff vs. Murff (615 SW2d 696), a 1981 decision. Don't expect to get more than half the property just because your spouse makes more money than you do.
Child support is based on income - it's a percentage of one's net income (not GROSS income). The percentages apply only to the first $7500 of net income (per section 154.125 of the Texas Family Code). In other words, the guy who makes two milliion dollars a year will pay the same child support as the guy who makes one million dollars a year.
Again, section 154.123 of the Family Code suggests that the relative earning capacity of the parties can be a factor, but don't hang your hat on this.
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