Mentone, TX Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

Florida does not recognize gay marriage, and therefore will not grant a divorce to a couple lawfully married in a state that does recognize gay marriage. If the state in which you presently does not recognize gay marriage, and therefore offer gay divorce, your options are limited. If the state in which your former partner resides does recognize it, you may be able to work out an agreement and then invoke the jurisdiction of the court in his state based upon their residency there (if they meet the residency requirements). If neither of you reside in a state that recognizes gay marriage and therefore gay divorce, it is more complicated. You should consult with an attorney.

There are too many variables to give you a definite answer to your question. You should take the following steps: 1) read the decree concerning the division of property, if the order allocated a portion of the pension to you, then you should be entitled to that part of the pension, 2) if the decree awarded all of the pension to him, you are not entitled to any of it, 3) if there is no mention of the pension or retirement benefits in the decree, you may or may not be entitled to it based upon when and how the benefits were acquired, 4) contact the plan administrator to ask if you were named as the beneficiary of the plan or the plan provided for survivor benefits or whether some distribution of the benefits has already been made. I suggest you hire a lawyer.

The short answer is yes. If kids are involved, then I highly recommend you have an attorney draft your final divorce decree. If you do not, then you are likely to have costly issues come up in your future. Often, those costs can exceed the price of hiring an attorney to draft paperwork correctly in the first place.  For instance: Your final decree may be rejected by the judge and you will be forced to try to figure out why plus miss additional days of work to come back for another prove-up.  An experienced family law attorney can help draft language that you might not think of on your own or find in any standardized forms. Most standardized forms do not contain everything you should have in a final decree.  If your agreement has ambiguities, then future disagreements can lead to costly modifications.  Finally, there is no such thing as legalized separation in Texas. During all the time you have been living separately, you are still accumulating community property assets/debts.  If these assets/debts are not divided in the divorce decree, then they are subject to future just and right division.   While it is possible you could do this correctly on your own, it is extremely unlikely.  I would expect to spend some quality time researching Texas Family Code and in your local law library if you decide to do it on your own. If you and your spouse are truly in agreement, then an attorney should be able to discuss your case in a consultation and give you a price to draft agreed paperwork.