Please note that the following is not intended to be legal advice and should not take the place of representation by an attorney. You should contact an attorney to discuss the specifics of your situation.

Texas does not have a legal separation, as you may have heard of in other states. If you feel that you need to protect your interests while your divorce is pending, you must file for divorce and request temporary orders be entered by the Court. These temporary orders can control, among other things, which of the parties lives in the marital residence, who pays what expenses, where the children live, if temporary support is paid and to whom. At the time the Original Petition for Divorce is filed, you may file a request for these temporary orders and a Temporary Restraining Order. A Temporary Restraining Order is intended to protect the parties, their children and preserve their property. It restrains the party in part from such things as: disrupting the children, removing them from school or changing their daycare, diverting mail, selling or transferring property, terminating credit cards or incurring debt beyond necessary living expenses and attorney’s fees, and threatening the other party or using vulgar or obscene language. A Temporary Restraining Order is only valid for 14 days from the date it is signed and is only binding on the party beginning at the time it is served on them. Before it expires, a Temporary Restraining Order may become a Temporary Mutual Injunction which is substantially similar but does not expire after 14 days and will last as long as the case does. A Temporary Restraining Order is not the same as a Protective Order. It is not necessary to have experienced family violence in order to obtain a Temporary Restraining Order, as is generally necessary with a Protective Order. A Temporary Restraining Order also does not immediately exclude someone from their residence or require them to maintain a minimum distance from the residence or other party as a Protective Order does. The purpose of a Temporary Restraining Order is merely to protect the parties, their children and preserve their property by outlining basic rules of conduct.

While Texas does not have legal separation, it does have a mandatory 60 day minimum waiting period before your divorce can be finalized. This means that at least 60 days must pass between the day the Petition for Divorce is filed and the day that the Court enters your Final Decree of Divorce. The Final Decree of Divorce is the document that outlines for the parties, and the Court, exactly how everything was handled in your divorce. It addresses the division of your property and debt, as well as child custody, support and visitation.

Even though Texas does not have legal separation, there is the period between the time the Petition for Divorce is filed, and the time that the Final Decree of Divorce is entered. This can often be several months, and may even be longer than a year.