Anyone done a "friendly" divorce in Texas?

[Decisiontomake]

My husband and I have been separated for nearly 6 months and it looks like we will be heading for a divorce. Thankfully things have remained amicable, and we would like to go to a lawyer with our own case presented (ie what we want to do in terms of splitting assets etc) and then just have them do the paperwork. Has anyone got any experience of this? Thanks.

[Hardgrind]

Decision,

 

We are just starting the process in Texas. We are planning to do a collaborative divorce. In our case there are no children and no need for spousal support. The only issues are how to divide assets, including the retirement accounts. If the divorce is friendly you have a couple options.

 

First if you just want to use one lawyer, this can save money but has a serious risk. A lawyer cannot represent both of you. If you come to agreement on splitting assets and just need a lawyer to work up the paperwork, that lawyer can only represent of one of you and technically the other spouse is not represented.

 

With a collaborative divorce, both of you have your own lawyer representing you, but they work together to arrive at a settlement that meets the intent of you and your spouse. This costs a little more but each of you has someone looking out for your interest. The risk of a collaborative divorce is that if you and your spouse cannot reach agreement and ultimately decide to pursue an adversarial divorce, you need to start over. The collaborative lawyers will know too much about the interests and situation of the other spouse to continue the case in an adversarial manner. The time and money previously invested has been wasted.

 

Good luck!

[Decisiontomake]

Thanks for your response. I'll keep doing some internet research - it appears as though we can come to an agreement with each other - although I also know these things that start out amicably can suddenly implode! Thanks again for responding.