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Client Testimonials

I was referred to Ken Raggio by a friend and neighbor who used Ken Raggio to represent her in her divorce. She was very happy with his representation of her, so I consulted with Ken and he recommended that, due to the facts of the case, I was financially better off staying married to my husband as long as possible. Basically a year or so later I found out that my husband had filed for divorce, so I hired Ken. We then had a meeting of the two lawyers with the two parties to discuss having an efficient and amicable divorce proceeding. Over the next several months we exchanged sworn inventories and each other’s financial records. The case was set for trial, but we settled it in a mediation a month before trial and after both sides knew what the whole story was. Additionally, Ken helped me walk through the emotional issues of dealing with the end of a long-term marriage. I am grateful for his support and guidance. I’m very pleased with the services that I received from Ken and his firm and highly recommend them. -SdS-
I looked up international divorce on the web. I found Ken Raggio. I was also referred to him by an attorney who knows the reputation of the Raggio’s in the Dallas legal community and specifically in divorce and family law. Specifically, my husband and I had last lived together at his home in Germany. Which meant that this was an international divorce case. My goals were very clear: I wanted to get a divorce, instead of spending months or years and a small fortune dealing with jurisdictional issues that arise all the time in international divorces. So Ken devised a straightforward and efficient plan to try and help me achieve my goal. And it worked! I went to court with Ken just three months after the divorce was filed and got my divorce granted. B.G.
I talked to Tom Raggio a couple years ago about filing for divorce and authorized him to do it, but later changed my mind. I can’t get back those two years, but I finally called the Raggio’s again. This time with my and Tom’s agreement, Ken Raggio met with me. Ken was very direct with me in indicating that everything was my choice. He asked this question: are you willing to take the risk that you be in the same place two years from now that you were two years ago? Over a couple of weeks, I realized that our attempts to deal with my spouses alcoholism that cost us many thousand dollars and really hadn’t worked out to make the marriage worthwhile. So reluctantly, So I filed for divorce. Ken suggested that we draw up a complete package to be able to settle the case. This took a lot of work, but Ken was able to attach all the paperwork necessary to resolve the case with my spouse in my case and these other settlement papers attached with the papers that would be served or delivered by the process server to my spouse. With very few changes, this became the deal that my spouse and I agreed on and that the court approved by signing the decree of divorce. I am very pleased with the guidance and comfort that Ken Raggio and the Raggio firm has given to me in finally dealing with my dead marriage, and giving me the encouragement to move on with my life. And I’m sure it will be a happier life! I highly recommend Ken and his firm. C.F.
My child’s father and I had an amicable divorce a couple years ago. Our possession schedule went okay for a while with little changes here and accommodations there working out. I didn’t even really pay attention to the fact that he wasn’t paying what he agreed he would pay. I even took or picked up our child at the father’s work in another county to help him out. It wasn’t long before my agreements and accommodations to the father led to his bullying of me. This eventually led to me saying we should follow the possession schedule that we had agreed to at the time of divorce. Well, he didn’t like that, and he responded with more bullying, filing a pleading seeking to have temporary custody of our child and filing an untruthful 33 point affidavit. So here I am with a lawsuit. I was referred to Ken Raggio by another lawyer who is also listed as a D Magazine Best Lawyer. He looked over the pleadings and affidavit, and said that this was bogus, but that I still had to defend myself. Well 5 court appearances over five months ( the father appealed the denial of his initial requests by the associate judge to the district judge, and lost again) and a final trial, Ken’s advice was borne out: the father was completely denied all relief he sought, my child support was raised almost a thousand dollars a month, and I was awarded $20,000 in my attorneys fees for the father to pay. And he has to pick up and deliver our child at my house, or to our child’s school, which both are in a different county that the father lives in. I didn’t expect to have to hire Ken this year, but I am glad that I did. Not only did he set the table to deny the father’ relief, but he also got sworn testimony submitted in trial showing that the father had lied in filing his federal tax returns by wrongly saying he had paid for day care and was the primary parent. I think the father now knows that I have a strong attorney just in case he is thinking about starting up his bullying again. I highly recommend Ken and his firm. A. W.
My husband suddenly filed for divorce last year, and even though we had not been getting along, the filing was a shock to me. My husband sat at our kitchen table and told me that he had drawn up an agreement that was “fair and equitable”. He told me that I would not need an attorney, because he had hired an attorney that would be “ours.” He insisted spending more money on attorneys would be a waste. Despite my husband’s reassurance that he was doing the best thing for me and our two young children, I decided to speak to an attorney. Somehow, I was lucky enough to have a friend suggest Raggio and Raggio and I made an appointment. Within 20 minutes of meeting with Ken Raggio, he had already pulled up the information on my house (that my husband and I shared since before the birth of our first daughter), only to learn that I in fact, (and contrary to what I had been told), I was not an owner of the house. Unfortunately, Ken had the duty of showing me the bad news; I was on the deed of trust, but not the deed. So in essence, I was financially responsible for the house, but had no ownership in our home. Additionally, my husband had emptied our bank accounts of over six figures and put it beyond my reach. Essentially, I had nothing. I was left to borrow money and bounce checks in order to take care of the children and pay for child care. He had the house. He took the money. He had more than half a million dollars in retirement; and I did not even have enough money to hire an attorney. Or so I thought... Ken Raggio also informed me that my husband had hired a very aggressive lawyer whose only position was that my husband was “right about everything and I should just agree to his terms because he was being generous” In that so-called generous offer, my husband got his house (after all, it was his separate property) and I got a little bit of savings, got child support, my car, and my retirement. To quote Ken, “this would be the deal you would get in your worst day in court.” And so our divorce started in earnest. Well, we had to set various matters down for a hearing before the court that would get him to move off of his “my way or the highway” view of the divorce and of life in general. So we got temporary orders about my use of the house, about support, use of credit cards, and payment of attorneys and legal expenses. Oh, yeah, we also managed to get my husband’s huge and upcoming bonus frozen so he could not try and hide that from me or our children. Even though it was a contentious and expensive divorce, I am smiling: I got the house with (with the mortgage paid in full) and my children have the stability of staying in the only home they have ever known. Additionally, I got my retirement, a car, and above guideline child support. I have more enthusiasm at work and more time with my children. Moving forward, life is good. I am stronger than I could have ever imagined and I fought for what I knew was right; but, I truly believe that I would not have been able to do so without Ken Raggio and his firm. Only now do I understand that practicing law seems to be a delicate balance of timing, emotional support, stern advice, and knowing the law. Ken Raggio has that delicate balance down to a science. I am extremely grateful to Ken Raggio and his firm for helping me get the courage and resolve to fight for myself and my children, and as Ken said, to get my husband’s “foot off of my neck.” I highly recommend Ken and his firm. ARB

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How a Texas Divorce Case Works

This article is an in depth look of the entire divorce process for a Texas divorce case. Our lawyers can show you how the law applies to your unique situation. There are other articles on child custody, complex property division, and other facets of divorce and family law that are equally relevant to families living from Dallas to Denton, Fort Worth to Frisco, and all parts of North Texas in between.

ORIGINAL PETITION

The Texas divorce process starts with the filing of a document entitled Original Petition for Divorce. This could be from 2 pages to 40 pages, depending on your circumstances and the relief you request. You are not required to sign the petition unless you are acting as your own Texas divorce lawyer. Accordingly, if you want to review it before it is filed and delivered to your spouse, please let your divorce and family law attorney know. The Petition must contain certain information and include certain representations by the party. For instance, if there is a premarital agreement between the parties, it should be called to the attention of the Court and the other side in the first pleading.

Texas Courts cannot grant a divorce without disposing of property issues. Additionally, if children were born to or adopted during the marriage, orders concerning their conservatorship (child custody) and child support will be determined at the same time. In other words, it all happens at the same time in the same proceeding (for lawyers– no bifurcation). Of course, the Court must have jurisdiction to grant a divorce, which is based on one or both parties domicile and residency not only in the State of Texas but also in the County where the action is to be filed. The voters of Texas indicate that a marriage is only between a man and a woman, and same sex couples, even if legally married in another state, cannot get a divorce in Texas. In certain instances, military personnel stationed in other places can get a divorce in Texas. Texas statutes define a marriage as being between a man and a woman, but see the article Gay Divorce in Play in Texas – about the new ability of a Texas Court to divorce a gay couple.

This petition is filed with the District Clerk in most counties, and your case is assigned to a Court. Each county has one or more courts handling family law cases. In Dallas, there are seven Family Law District Courts. In Ft. Worth, there are also seven. The filing of divorce and family law cases is random. Your family law lawyer cannot select the Court or the Judge. In other counties, the courts that handle divorces also handle general civil cases and criminal cases; for instance, Collin County has eight District Courts that handle family law cases as well as the other types of cases; Denton County has six. In some smaller counties, a County Court at Law may also handle divorce and family law matters.

After processing at the Courthouse, the Original Petition for Divorce must be delivered to your spouse. The most common formal means of delivery is by having a Sheriff, Constable, or private process server hand your spouse the petition and a Citation. This is called “service.” Citation is essentially a cover sheet that tells your spouse a lawsuit has been filed, and there is a limited number of days in which a response must be made. It puts the party served with the divorce papers on legal notice that they have been sued for divorce (and in several counties. puts them under the restraint of a Standing Order that is attached to the Petition and Citation) In some instances, you may wish to personally deliver or mail the papers to your spouse. However, this cannot be done effectively if you have requested a Temporary Restraining Order or a hearing, because you can not show that your spouse has been legally served with notice to be at the hearing. Additionally, if your spouse does not waive service or file an answer in Court, your delivery does not constitute effective service, and this would have to be accomplished before your case could proceed.

TEMPORARY ORDERS

Either party in a Texas divorce lawsuit may feel a need for the Court to issue orders between the date the divorce is filed and when the divorce is granted, which are called temporary orders that are effective while the divorce proceeds. Another order, which can be issued by the Court upon request and without notice to the other party, is called a temporary restraining order (TRO) and prevents the transfer or disposition of property and/or to prevent harassment or other specific actions. (A more specialized type of restraining order is a Temporary ex Parte Protective Order, which prevents acts of violence but will be issued only after the court hears sworn testimony about the acts of past family violence and the prospect of such continuing.) After a hearing, the restraints contained in a TRO can become a temporary injunction, both of which grant the same relief which, often times is intended to maintain the “status quo” and preserve property, or “the peace” between the parties. A TRO is only good for 14 days, and is granted without notice to your spouse or a hearing. A temporary injunction is granted after notice and hearing (or agreement), and remains in effect until your divorce is granted. Realistically, temporary injunctions are routinely granted upon request, and are made mutual as to the parties. In extreme circumstances, the Court may consider the granting of a Protective Order, which not only has the powers of a TRO, but also gets law enforcement involved if there is any question about a violation of the order, and can be in effect for a much longer period of time. But remember the Standing Order, as described below.The Dallas Family Courts have implemented a standing order that is applicable in ALL divorces and family law cases when they are filed. The Dallas Family Courts’ standing order grants uniformly much of the relief previously only available with a TRO, and was last amended in September, 2015. Collin County has also implemented a similar standing order in family law cases. So has Denton County. Check with your lawyer so that you will know what YOU are prohibited from doing as soon as YOU file for a divorce.Temporary orders can determine which spouse shall remain in the family home, mandate the payment of bills, the conservatorship (custody), possession time with and support of the children, payment of attorney’s fees, the filing of sworn inventories, production of documents, and other matters such as living arrangements for your children, the schedule of parental possession of the children, spousal support, use and possession of property and other assets; and possible restrictions on contact with the other parent. The custody, or conservatorship, of the children is NOW called a “Parenting Plan” likened to terms and conditions used in most other states. A specimen parenting plan is here.
If you have obtained a Temporary Restraining Order or requested a hearing for temporary orders, the Court will set a hearing to occur within days or weeks of the date of the request for the hearing. If you cannot reach an agreement with your spouse concerning temporary matters before the scheduled hearing, it will be necessary for you to appear in Court at that time and give testimony. Your lawyer will give you a form entitled “Financial Information Statement” for use at that hearing, and will explain to you what your court appearance may be like. In Dallas and Ft. Worth, an “Associate Judge” will hear evidence at the temporary hearing and make the appropriate orders.

CHILD RELATED ISSUES

As mentioned, if there are children involved in the divorce, the Court must deal with the child issues at the same time. For ease, information about child issues is contained in the following pages:
Texas Child Support Issues
Texas Standard Possession Order (amended in 2009)
Texas Child Custody Issues
Texas Move Away or Parental Relocation

DISCOVERY

Discovery is the process where one side learns from the other side what is relevant to the lawsuit. Discovery can be achieved formally or informally. Some common formal discovery methods include Requests for Disclosure (general information about the claims being made and who knows about them) depositions (oral testimony before a court reporter);interrogatories (written questions requiring written responses); requests for production of documents (such as tax returns, bank account records, deeds, vehicle titles, loan documents, credit card statements, etc.); and requests for admissions. Whether your lawyer utilizes these methods will depend on a number of factors that they will discuss with you. If you are served with discovery requests or a notice to take your deposition, your lawyer will guide you accordingly. Your lawyer learns from you what you know. Your lawyer can request from the other side that they disclose what they know as part of discovery requests. It is problematic trying to resolve a case without knowing the facts that are necessary to evaluate the case. A major issue in many cases involves the valuation of property and how to divide it. Discovery helps in understanding what the property is (or was or should be). Ditto with debt. You have to know what there is to divide before you decide how you would like to divide it. This often mandates the preparation of a Sworn Inventory and Appraisement by both parties where each lists all the property and debts and their opinion of values and of claims, including any claims of separate property. A case study about tracing separate property is Tracing Assets….. Excerpt from The Divorce Lawyers. Discovery may also be accomplished on a voluntary, or informal, basis. It is generally cheaper but there are some caveats of which your lawyer will be aware. Valuation sometimes requires the assistance of expert witnesses to opine upon the value of certain assets, like a residence or business. A recent case put a value on emotional attachment to a pet–a dog– that exceeded the market value of the dog.

SETTLEMENT OR TRIAL

Once each side is fairly comfortable that they have enough information, obtained through Discovery, probably including a Sworn Inventory and Appraisement, the parties should try to resolve their case, preferably by agreement. Direct negotiation works in many cases.Mediation is a very useful aid in helping reach a settlement. There are articles on Mediation accessible from the HomePage. Issues about Child Custody, Child Support Issues and Child Possession Schedule (complete with latest revisions) are covered in other articles available from the HomePage.
A different way of resolving a divorce is Collaborative Law. This is a method where the parties and their lawyers formally agree to resolve their case out of court and on a voluntary basis. This method works in a surprising number of cases, and is beloved by those clients who use it. Read the article Collaborative Law- A Less Painful Way to Divorce for more information.
If there are issues that cannot be settled, either party can request that the Court set the case for Trial. At the trial, the Court will hear all the proper evidence presented to it and will make a ruling, sometimes directly from the bench and sometimes after cogitating about the issues for a period of time. (A glimpse of what a trial or hearing may look and feel like is detailed in Your Day in Court.)
The standard for the Court to divide the community (marital) property and marital liabilities is that it must make a “just and right” division. The standard for the custody and other rulings concerning the children is “best interest.” Obviously there can be a difference of opinion of what is “just and right” or in the “best interest.” Child related issues are covered in more depth in other articles.
The ruling in a trial, however initially announced by the Judge, must eventually be put into a written Order usually called a Decree of Divorce. It is the responsibility of the parties to produce the proposed written order, and after proper procedures have been followed, present it to the Judge for signature.
Even if there is a complete agreement of the parties on all parts of the divorce action that are all contained in a proposed Agreed Decree of Divorce ( and signed by all), at least one of the parties must appear before the Judge and give sworn testimony. This is called a “prove up.” If the Judge determines that the testimony meets the legal requirements for a divorce, the Judge will say the magic words “Divorce granted, and all agreements approved,” and will sign the Decree of Divorce. In most situations, this is the end of the Divorce case, and the minimum time to hear these magic words is sixty one days after the divorce was filed. In reality, it will usually take longer–sometimes much longer.

MARITAL PROPERTY

When there is little or no marital property, no children, no issues of spousal maintenance, amicable spouses can usually obtain a quick divorce by having an attorney draft a divorce agreement and having a judge approve it. That would be called a simple uncontested divorce described above. The Texas Supreme Court has promulgated a simple method of doing this, but it works only in cases of near poeverty or worse.
Many divorces, however, are quite different and can be more complex. Some Texas couples have had a union of many years with considerable marital property, both personal property and real estate, children, perhaps a family businesses, large or concealed debts, trust funds, real estate in other states, joint and separate accounts, investments, insurance, pensions, and other assets. In these complex situations, the parties are wise to utilize the services of experienced attorneys to help guide them to methods and trade offs that can be used to divide their property on their own–voluntarily. If they can’t agree, they may require court involvement to divide the estate. There is more information in this article: Texas Marital Property Issues.

MARITAL LIABILITIES

All liabilities of the parties must also be dealt with in the Decree of Divorce. However, assigning responsibility for a debt to one party does not necessarily mean that the other party is released from responsibility for the debt. Read the article How to Handle Liabilities for You, Your Spouse and Your Children, which tells far more about what a party needs to know about debts in a divorce. The article includes a Chart that shows whether a spouse is responsible for the other spouse’s debts and for other debts.

INCOME TAXES

Similar provisions as for marital liabilities will apply to income taxes, except the Internal Revenue Service is a much more formidable creditor. It will be a rare case where you are not jointly and individually liable with your spouse for all taxes for any year in which you filed a joint return. This means the IRS can pursue collection actions against either or both spouses. Again, the terms of a decree ordering your spouse to pay all income taxes is not binding against the IRS, and does not prevent the assessment of penalties and interest. Further, the IRS is not restricted by state laws on exempt property. In some instances, they can obtain the sale of your homestead to satisfy payment of income taxes. Additionally, a debt owing to the IRS is ordinarily not discharged in bankruptcy. Information to avoid tax traps is listed here.

ATTORNEY’S FEES

Each party is responsible for their own attorney’s fees and costs of litigation (after all, they hired their own attorney). Legal expenses may be treated as a marital debt and divided like all other property–and debt– in the divorce. The Court also has the option to require one party to pay all or any part of the attorney’s fees and costs for the other party depending on their respective financial resources and the facts of the case. Either party may request that the court award interim attorneys fees at a temporary hearing so that the case can be developed.

SPOUSAL SUPPORT

Texas Courts have limited authority to order alimony, or spousal maintenance, after a divorce is granted. However, while your case is pending, the Court has unlimited authority to award temporary spousal support. The Court will consider the needs of the requesting spouse and the ability of the other spouse to pay. The Court will additionally consider the health and age of the parties, ability to work, responsibility for children, availability of funds, and the length of the marriage. As a general rule, temporary spousal support will be ordered for a limited period of time and in an amount necessary to cover the basic necessities of life. To receive alimonyafter divorce, generally you must have been married for a period exceeding 10 years, and in certain situations where you can prove a need, you may be qualified to receive up to $5,000 per month for a maximum of ten years. See Texas Becomes a Real Alimony State 2011 Legislation and this summary Chart that show how things work.

NAME CHANGE

You may request a change of your name as part of your divorce action. This is commonly done by women who wish to restore their maiden names, or the names of their children from a previous marriage. Name changes for a spouse are usually granted even if there are minor children. If you think you would like to change your name, it would best to do so as part of your divorce. As a separate lawsuit, the requirements are much stricter. A name change for a child is an uphill battle unless it is agreed. It is unheard of for a husband to be able to force his soon-to-be-ex to drop the married name.

SPECIAL INFORMATION ABOUT DALLAS, COLLIN, DENTON & TARRANT COUNTY CASES

The Dallas-Ft. Worth area is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and each county has chosen a different way to deal with the increasing number of family law cases filed. All will order Mediation if requested; some order it anyway, depending on the Judge. Dallas has 7 full time specialty divorce and family law courts, and also 7 full time associate judges; so in effect, Dallas has at least 14 family Courts running at the same time. Tarrant County also has specialty family law courts (7) and associate judges for each of them. Both Collin County (1 District Courts) and Denton County (9 District Courts), where the real phenomenal growth has been, have general jurisdiction Courts that hear civil and criminal cases as well as family law cases. (Collin County now has courts that emphasize, if not specialize in, family law cases)
Therefore your case may be handled differently depending on where it is filed, and the way each individual Court in that county arranges its docket. While it is difficult to get a contested case to trial in less than a year in one (unmentioned) County; contested cases have been seen in trial in as little as three months elsewhere. The time from the request for a trial to the date the trial is set or scheduled is often a function of the time requested to try the case in court. The longer the trial is expected to take, the farther off it is likely to be scheduled. But most cases ultimately end up being agreed without the risk and expense of a full blown trial, and can be finalized anytime the agreement and the parties are ready–that is, any time after the 61 day minimum waiting period has passed.
Each county may have special local rules in addition to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The Dallas Family Court rules are here, the Collin County rules are here, Denton County’s are here, Rockwall County’s are here and Tarrant County’s are here.
The Dallas Family Courts have implemented a standing order that is applicable in ALL divorces and family law cases when they are filed. The standing order grants relief intended to preserve the financial and property status quo and protect the children. This standing order often eliminates the need for a temporary restraining order, and therefore tends to save the clients money. The Courts in Collin County, Denton County, and Rockwall County have also implemented a similar standing order.

OTHER ISSUES

Other articles explain more in detail about some of the information discussed here, as well as covering other topics such as child support and child custody, as listed on the Articles About Divorce and Family Law page. Some of the Articles include: