San Marcos Divorce Attorney
A marriage that ends in San Marcos is not decided in San Marcos by default; it is decided in a district court in the county where the case is filed, under rules that set a hard waiting period, a residency test, and a property standard that surprises many spouses. The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique divorce and family law firm serving Hays County, Travis County, Williamson County, Bastrop County, and the wider Central Texas region, and we work with clients who need a San Marcos divorce attorney to guide the case from the first meeting to the final decree.
Hays County is home to Texas State University, a steady stream of commuters on I-35 between Austin and San Antonio, and families who have built lives across the corridor. That mix produces divorces involving two households in different counties, jobs with unpredictable hours, jointly owned homes bought in a fast-growing market, and children who will shuttle between parents for years. Those details shape the parenting schedule, the property division, and the support orders, and they are worth thinking through before anything is filed.
The stakes here are practical and lasting. A decree controls who keeps the house, how retirement accounts are split, where the children sleep on a Thursday night, and what each of you owes the other every month. Errors in a decree are far harder to fix than to prevent.
Why Choose Oprea & Weber for Your San Marcos Divorce
The Law Office of Oprea & Weber handles divorce, collaborative, cooperative, and mediated divorce, child custody and visitation, child support, spousal maintenance, property division, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, paternity, SAPCR suits, and post-divorce modifications, relocation, and enforcement. We serve families in San Marcos and across Hays County, along with Travis, Williamson, and Bastrop Counties. The attorney you meet at the first consultation personally handles your case through the final decree. We keep our caseload intentionally manageable, so you are not passed to layers of staff or junior associates, and you get direct attorney access and explanations in plain language.
Kevin Weber, Attorney, and Karen Oprea, Attorney, both graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. Kevin trained in complex commercial litigation and negotiation at Latham & Watkins in Manhattan, which matters when a divorce involves a business, competing valuations, or a negotiation that needs to hold together. Karen has briefed and argued cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Courts of Appeals, and the New York appellate courts, which sharpens how we build a record and draft orders that survive scrutiny. Kevin also mediates family law disputes and represents clients in mediation, so he understands from both sides of the table what makes a settlement last.
We prepare every case as though it may be tried, and we pursue cooperative resolution whenever the other side will meet us there. Clients describe us as knowledgeable, thorough, and caring, and several have said we kept them steady through an emotional process while translating legal language into information they could act on.
Divorce Issues We See Most Often for San Marcos Families
- Community Property Division: Texas divides the community estate in a “just and right” manner, which is not an automatic 50/50 split. Homes bought during the marriage, retirement accounts, vehicles, and business interests all need to be classified and valued, and separate property must be traced and proven.
- Custody and Possession Schedules: Texas speaks of conservatorship and possession and access. For parents who live within 50 miles of each other, the Expanded Standard Possession Order, with Thursday overnights and weekends running into Monday morning, is now the default for new orders, which fits many San Marcos and Austin-area households.
- Child Support: Guideline support is a percentage of the paying parent’s net monthly resources, 20% for one child, 25% for two, 30% for three, 35% for four, and 40% for five, applied up to a cap that is adjusted periodically. Bonuses, overtime, and commissions count as income.
- Spousal Maintenance: Post-divorce support is available only in limited situations, such as a marriage of ten years or more where one spouse cannot meet minimum reasonable needs, a family violence conviction, or an incapacitating disability. Monthly payments are capped at the lesser of $5,000 or 20 percent of the payor’s average gross income.
- Informal (Common Law) Marriage: Texas recognizes informal marriage when a couple agreed to be married, lived together in Texas as spouses, and held themselves out as married, or filed a declaration. No minimum time living together is required, and ending one requires a divorce.
- Collaborative, Cooperative, and Mediated Divorce: Spouses who can talk productively often resolve everything privately, faster and at lower cost than a contested trial.
- Family Violence Concerns: A protective order or a qualifying family violence conviction can change both the timeline and the available relief, including the waiting period and maintenance eligibility.
- Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements: A signed agreement can control how property is characterized and divided, so we review it carefully at the outset of any divorce.
What to Do Now if You Are Heading Toward Divorce in Hays County
Start by confirming you can file. At least one spouse must have lived in Texas for six months and in the county of filing for 90 days. Only one spouse has to meet that test, and both do not need to agree to the divorce. If you recently moved to San Marcos from elsewhere in Texas, the 90-day county clock is the one that catches people. Filing in the wrong county can mean delay and refiling.
Next, gather documents before emotions and access change. Pull recent bank and credit card statements, tax returns, pay records, retirement and brokerage statements, mortgage and deed paperwork, vehicle titles, insurance policies, and anything related to a business. Make copies of what you can lawfully access, and avoid deleting, moving, or hiding money. Courts take a dim view of it, and a standing order in family cases generally restricts that kind of behavior once a case is pending.
Family cases in Hays County are filed with the District Clerk and heard in the county’s district courts in San Marcos, where the 207th, 428th, and 483rd District Courts sit, with an Associate Judge handling certain family matters. Spouses who live in Travis County will instead be in the Travis County civil and family courts in Austin, and contested hearings and trials there are generally held in person. Where you file depends on residency, and sometimes the choice is strategic, so it is worth a conversation before anything is signed or served.
Once the petition is filed, the 60-day waiting period begins, counted from the filing date rather than the date of service. Agreement between the spouses does not shorten it. The only exceptions involve family violence, such as a conviction or deferred adjudication for a family violence offense against the petitioner or a household member, or an active protective order based on family violence during the marriage. Use those sixty days productively: negotiate temporary orders on housing, bills, and the children’s schedule, exchange financial information, and decide whether mediation or a collaborative path fits.
The most common mistakes are signing a settlement before seeing the full financial picture, assuming a verbal agreement is binding, ignoring a served petition (a missed answer deadline can lead to a default), and posting about the case online. If a protective order is part of your situation, note that it can last up to two years, and in a pending divorce an order can run until two years after the final decree is signed.
How a Texas Divorce Is Actually Resolved
Most divorces end by agreement, even those that start with sharp disagreement. The path is usually temporary orders, an exchange of financial information, and then negotiation or mediation, with a judge stepping in only for what remains unresolved. When issues are disputed, discovery brings in bank records, tax returns, appraisals, and sometimes business valuations, and the quality of that preparation often determines how much leverage each side has at the table.
Property is where many San Marcos couples are surprised. Because Texas is a community property state, almost everything acquired during the marriage is presumed to belong to the community, and the court divides it in a manner it finds just and right, which can consider disparity in earning power, fault, and the needs of children. Separate property, such as assets owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance, stays with its owner, but only if it can be traced and proven. A home bought before the marriage and paid down during it, or a retirement account that began before the wedding, can require careful analysis.
After the decree, life continues to change. Child support can be modified after three years if the monthly amount differs from the guideline amount by 20 percent or $100, or sooner on a material and substantial change in circumstances. Changing conservatorship or possession also requires a material and substantial change and a showing that the change serves the child’s best interest. Parents with existing orders who want the Expanded Standard Possession Order generally must file to modify, since it does not apply automatically to old orders. We handle these modifications and enforcement actions after the divorce is final.
Common Questions About Divorce in San Marcos
How long does a divorce take in Hays County?
The minimum is 60 days from the date the petition is filed. An agreed divorce can often be finalized soon after that period ends. Contested cases involving children, a business, or substantial assets commonly take many months, depending on how quickly issues resolve and the court’s calendar.
Do I have to live in San Marcos to file here?
You must meet the Texas residency rules: six months in Texas and 90 days in the county where you file. Only one spouse needs to qualify. If you meet those tests in Hays County, you can file there; if the spouses live in different counties, the choice of venue deserves some thought.
Can my spouse stop the divorce by refusing to sign?
No. Texas does not require both spouses to agree. If the respondent is properly served and does not answer, the case can proceed by default, though the decree still has to address property, children, and support correctly.
Is custody always split 50/50 in Texas?
No. The law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents but does not guarantee an equal split. Parents may agree to an equal schedule and courts approve it when it serves the child’s best interest.
What changed with the standard possession schedule?
For new orders where the parents live within 50 miles of each other, the Expanded Standard Possession Order, which adds Thursday overnights and extends weekends through Monday morning, is the default. Existing orders are not converted automatically and require a modification.
How is child support calculated?
Texas applies a percentage to the paying parent’s net monthly resources: 20% for one child, rising to 40% for five, and not less than that for six or more. Wages, overtime, tips, commissions, and bonuses are all counted. Lower percentages apply when net resources are very low, and the guidelines apply only up to a cap that is adjusted periodically.
Can I get spousal maintenance after a short marriage?
Usually not. The most common route requires a marriage of at least ten years and an inability to meet minimum reasonable needs. Exceptions include a family violence conviction within two years of filing or while the case is pending, and an incapacitating disability, which is not tied to marriage length.
We lived together for years without a wedding. Do we need a divorce?
Possibly. If you agreed to be married, lived together in Texas as spouses, and told others you were married, or you filed a declaration of informal marriage, the law may treat you as married, and the marriage ends only through divorce. A suit to prove an informal marriage that is filed more than two years after separation faces a rebuttable presumption that no marriage agreement existed.
What if my spouse and I agree on everything? Do we still need lawyers?
Often at least one. In a cooperative divorce, Kevin Weber represents one spouse while working with both to resolve issues, and the other spouse proceeds without separate counsel. That works for couples committed to a transparent process. If there is significant conflict or either spouse is uncomfortable without a lawyer, each should have their own.
I’m not the biological father but I raised the child. Can I seek custody after a divorce?
Texas narrowed standing for non-parents such as stepparents in 2025, and the law now looks to exclusive care, control, and possession of the child. Whether a stepparent can bring a suit depends on specific facts, so it is best to talk through your situation before assuming either way.
Can an agreed settlement be changed later?
Property divisions in a final decree are generally difficult to reopen, which is why careful drafting matters. Child support and custody provisions can be modified when circumstances change, and if the support amount was agreed at something other than the guideline figure, modification requires a material and substantial change since the order was entered.
Serving San Marcos Divorce and Family Law Clients Across Central Texas
Our work begins in San Marcos and Hays County, where we represent families from the university-area neighborhoods near Texas State through the downtown square and the established subdivisions on the city’s edges. We also serve clients in Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, Mountain City, Uhland, Niederwald, and Bear Creek, as well as the growing communities along the I-35 corridor in Hays County.
Beyond Hays County, we represent clients in Travis County, including Austin and its surrounding communities, and in Williamson County, including Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander, and Pflugerville. We also serve families in Bastrop County and the Bastrop area, and across Central Texas more broadly. Whether your case involves a divorce, a custody dispute, a paternity or SAPCR suit, or a modification of an existing order, we can help you decide where to file and how to proceed.
Talk With a San Marcos Divorce Attorney at Oprea & Weber
A divorce is easier to steer when you understand the timeline, the property rules, and the options for resolving it before the first filing. If you are considering divorce or have just been served, call The Law Office of Oprea & Weber to schedule a consultation. We will listen to your goals, explain how the process works in Hays County and the surrounding courts, and help you decide on a strategy that fits your family. Whether you are looking for a San Marcos divorce attorney to negotiate a cooperative settlement or to prepare for trial, you will work directly with the attorney handling your case.