Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My husband and I were living in the state of Texas, Tarrant county. He left 2 months ago to St. Louis, Missouri for work. The original plan was for me to join him in January. He then calls me and tells me that he does not want to be married to me anymore, after taking my only transportation, moving us out of the apartment we had (I am currently living with my parents who were primary care takers when we worked) and he took all of my things. He wants a divorce. Now since he hasn't lived in Missouri for 90 days, I doubt that he can file there. However, he has left me and our 1 year old baby girl. I just want to know if there is any way that he can take her out of the state? I don't want to take away his visitation, but I do not want him to be able to fly her out away from me.
2 Answers from Attorneys
All states that I am aware of have residency requirements for filing divorce. In Texas, you must have been a resident of the state of 6 months and a resident of the county for 90 days in order to file for divorce. The length of time may vary from state to state. As a Texas resident, you can certainly initiate a divorce in the county where you reside, provided you have lived there for 90 days. The court will have jurisdiction over your husband, even though he now resides out of state, because Texas is the place of the last marital residence and because he has significant contacts with Texas.
If you are going to seek a divorce, it would be in your best interest to do so sooner rather than later. You need to get some sort of orders in place dealing with child support, conservatorship and possession and access. Without an order in place, you really don't have a legal framework for going forward and you don't have a way to enforce your rights. You need to discuss all this with an experienced family law attorney.
The best thing you can do is file for divorce here in Tarrant County and obtain temporary orders limiting his ability to remove your daughter from the state.
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