Best Discrimination Attorneys in Austin, TX

Your possession order is filed with the District Clerk in the County where you were divorced, or if you were not married to the other parent of your child, in the County where the child was living at the time the Order was entered. Each clerk has their own procedure for obtaining copies of orders at this point and you should either contact us for help or the clerk in the county where the order was entered.

Yes. The courthouses are essentially closed and are only holding hearings via videoconference (Zoom or Microsoft Teams) for emergency matters and to resolve issues that are limited in scope and do not require multiple witnesses or documentary evidence.

A contested divorce means that the parties are unable to settle or agree on the terms of their divorce and that the case must be decided by a judge and/or a jury. The parties may disagree on how their property should be divided, the character of property (whether separate or community), or they may disagree on child related issues.

The Respondent should meet with a divorce attorney to review the options available. If the Petition was not filed in the correct court, there are some objections that need to be made before an Answer to the lawsuit is filed. Typically, responding to a Petition in a custody case is as simple as filing a one page Answer. The Answer needs to be filed by 10 a.m. on the first Monday after the expiration of 20 days from the date the Respondent was formally served with the Petition. If a timely Answer is not filed by the Respondent, the Petition could go to the courthouse without notice to the Respondent and take a default judgment against the Respondent.

A contested hearing in Family Court can be a temporary hearing or final trial at which the parties present evidence to the Judge (through personal testimony, documents and testimony from other witnesses) regarding the facts of the case. The Judge then makes a decision based on the evidence presented. An uncontested hearing is one at which the parties have reached an agreement, and are only presenting their agreed order to the Judge so that the Judge can render judgment and sign the order.