What a Texas Divorce Costs, and How Long It Takes
Two questions everyone asks first, answered as honestly as they can be answered before anyone has seen your facts.
The Timeline
The floor is 60 days: a Texas court cannot grant a divorce before the 60th day after the petition is filed (Tex. Fam. Code § 6.702). An agreed case with no children and nothing to value can finish shortly after that.
Past the floor, three things drive length — whether custody is disputed, whether anything in the estate needs valuing, and how busy the county's docket is. A contested custody case with a business to value is a different animal from an agreed one, and it is measured in months to years rather than weeks.
The Cost
Family law is billed hourly against a retainer in most cases, so the honest answer is that cost tracks conflict. What raises it: contested temporary orders, discovery fights, custody evaluations, expert valuation of a business or an equity plan, and trial preparation. What lowers it: agreement on the parenting plan, complete financial disclosure early, and a willingness to settle at mediation.
Be sceptical of a flat number quoted before anyone has heard your facts. A firm that quotes a price without asking about children, business interests or whether your spouse will cooperate is quoting for a case it has not met.
The Sequence
- Consultation. Facts, goals, and a realistic read on the range of outcomes.
- Filing and service. The petition starts the 60-day clock; standing orders in many counties take effect immediately.
- Temporary orders. Who lives where, who has the children when, who pays what, while the case is pending.
- Discovery. Inventories, document production, subpoenas, depositions. This is where hidden or mischaracterised assets surface.
- Mediation. Where most Texas cases end. Many courts require it before granting a trial setting.
- Trial, or prove-up. Either the judge decides the open questions, or the agreed decree is presented and signed.
Questions
What is the fastest a Texas divorce can be final?
Sixty days from the date the petition is filed. Texas Family Code § 6.702 bars the court from granting a divorce before the 60th day after filing, and that clock runs regardless of how completely the spouses agree. An uncontested case with everything already settled is commonly finalised shortly after the waiting period expires.
Do both spouses have to hire a lawyer?
No. One attorney cannot represent both spouses — the interests are adverse — but a spouse may proceed without counsel. In an agreed case one side's attorney typically drafts the decree and the other spouse reviews and signs it, which is a different thing from being represented and should be understood as such before signing.
What actually drives the cost of a divorce?
Disagreement and discovery, not the filing itself. A case where the spouses agree on the children and the property is largely a drafting exercise. Cost climbs when custody is contested, when a business or an equity plan has to be valued, or when one spouse will not produce financial records and the other has to compel them.
Does a mediated settlement agreement have to be approved by a judge?
A mediated settlement agreement that meets the statutory formalities is binding, and a party is generally entitled to judgment on it. That is why an agreement signed late at night when everyone is exhausted is worth reading carefully first — the leverage to renegotiate it afterward is very limited.