Houston Expatriate Divorce Attorneys

Filing for Divorce in Texas for Foreign Expats

Foreign expats or expatriates can file for divorce in Texas if they meet residential requirements, meaning either spouse must be domiciled in Texas for six months, and living in the county in which they are filing for at least 90 days. But if you are thinking of divorce and have not met these requirements yet, consider consulting with one of our team of international divorce lawyers in the meantime to better understand your rights and obligations.

If you are an expat and have only recently relocated to Texas, and you wish to file for a divorce in Texas, you may have to prove your domiciled status in Texas. Documents such as immigration documents and visas, apartment leases, utility bills, driver’s licenses and other mail addressed to a Texas address with your name can all help you prove your residency.

Expats filing for divorce in Texas should be aware that Texas Family Code may not be similar to family law in their country of origin.

For example, Texas is one of the few legal jurisdictions in the world that allows a trial by jury during divorce and custody cases. You will want to discuss the jury system with one of our divorce attorneys in the event it becomes necessarily to develop a strategy for presenting your case to a jury.

If you file for divorce in Texas and a Texas court accepts jurisdiction over the case, your divorce will proceed according to the Texas Family Code and Texas marriage laws. Occasionally, but not often, laws from your home jurisdiction may impact your divorce, such as in cases in which you have a prenuptial agreement with a choice of law clause stating that your prenuptial agreement must be decided under the laws of another jurisdiction.

Can Texan Expatriates File for Divorce in Texas?

Texan expatriates must meet the same domicile requirements as foreign expats for filing for a divorce in Texas. In other words, if you're a Texan expat living abroad, you will need to convince the court that your absence from Texas was merely temporary in order to be able to file for divorce in Texas

Divorces that involve either foreign nationals living in the US or US expats living abroad frequently involve property held across international borders. Texas has jurisdiction over property within its borders but not over property elsewhere. This does not mean that a Texas court cannot effectively divide your property, however. First, the Texas court will have the ability to approve any settlement agreement that is made between the parties regarding their property—regardless of where that property is located. Second, a Texas court, faced with property in different jurisdictions, may choose to award particular property to the spouse who has control over that property, to avoid enforcement problems arising from the jurisdictional dynamics of the situation. And our lawyers know when and how a divorce decree involving property located elsewhere may be enforced in other jurisdictions.

To learn more about how courts typically divide property in international divorces, visit our international asset issues page.

At Diggs & Sadler, our Houston expatriate divorce attorneys have unique experience helping clients navigate the divorce process. We have also received global recognition as the 2022 Matrimonial Law Firm of the Year for Texas by The Lawyer Network.

To schedule a consultation with our team, contact us online or via phone at (713) 766-5355.