Bastrop County Family Law Attorney

Family cases filed in Bastrop County are heard in Bastrop itself, where the 21st and 423rd District Courts sit, and the 423rd takes only matters that arise within the county. That local setting shapes how divorce, custody, and support disputes are scheduled and resolved. The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique divorce and family law firm that serves Bastrop County, Travis, Williamson, and Hays Counties, and the rest of Central Texas, handling divorce, child custody, child support, spousal maintenance, property division, marital agreements, paternity, and post-divorce modifications. For families looking for a Bastrop County family law attorney, that means one lawyer who knows your case from the first meeting to the final decree.

Many Bastrop County households do not fit a neat template. A couple may have lived in the county for years while one spouse commutes toward Austin, a parent may have moved a short distance and thrown a possession schedule into question, or a couple may have lived together for a long time without ever being sure whether Texas law treats them as married. Those details drive the legal outcome, and the right strategy starts with them.

Why Choose Oprea & Weber for Bastrop County Family Law Matters

The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique family law firm serving Bastrop County and the surrounding Central Texas counties. The firm helps parents, spouses, and unmarried partners work through divorce, custody, support, marital agreements, and paternity, and its clients consistently describe the attorneys as knowledgeable, thorough, and caring. The firm keeps its caseload intentionally manageable, so your attorney personally handles your case from the first consultation to the final decree rather than passing it to layers of staff or junior associates. 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, and he also mediates family law disputes as well as representing clients in mediation, which gives him a clear sense of what makes a settlement hold up. 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. In practical terms, that means careful legal research, tight drafting, and trial-ready preparation in every file.

The firm prefers cooperative, collaborative, and mediated resolutions when they are realistic, because they usually save money and emotional strain. Every case is still prepared as though it could be tried, which gives clients leverage in negotiation and confidence if a hearing becomes unavoidable. One client wrote that Kevin “translates legal language into applicable information,” and another described feeling supported and heard through a painful divorce. That is the working style you can expect from this Bastrop County family law attorney team.

Family Law Issues We Handle for Bastrop County Families

• Divorce and Property Division: Texas is a community property state, and a court divides the marital estate in a manner it finds just and right, which is not always an even split. Homes, retirement accounts, businesses, and debts all have to be identified and characterized as community or separate.
• Child Custody and Possession Schedules: Texas speaks of conservatorship and possession and access. A newer default schedule applies to new orders when parents live within 50 miles of each other, giving Thursday overnights and weekends that run through Monday morning. Parents with older orders must file a modification to adopt it.
• Child Support: Support follows guideline percentages of the paying parent’s net monthly resources, 20 percent for one child, 25 for two, 30 for three, 35 for four, and 40 for five, applied only up to a statutory income cap that is adjusted periodically. Courts can depart from guidelines when applying them would be unjust.
• Spousal Maintenance: Court-ordered post-divorce support is limited in Texas and governed by Chapter 8 of the Family Code. Eligibility turns on factors such as a marriage of ten years or more, a disabling condition, or family violence, and the monthly amount and duration are capped by statute.
• Paternity and SAPCR Suits: Unmarried parents establish legal parentage and resolve custody, visitation, and support through a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship. Acknowledgments of paternity and presumed-father rules carry firm deadlines.
• Modifications, Relocation, and Enforcement: Orders can be changed when circumstances shift, and they can be enforced when someone ignores them. A parent’s move, a change in income, or a teenager’s preferences can all trigger a conversation about modification.
• Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements: Couples who want certainty about property and income before or during marriage can put it in writing, which often prevents costly fights later.
• Informal Marriage Questions: Texas recognizes informal marriage, so a couple who never held a ceremony may still need a divorce, and the court must first decide whether a marriage exists.

Filing for Divorce in Bastrop: Residency, the Waiting Period, and Where Your Case Is Heard

To file for divorce in Texas, at least one spouse must have lived in the state for the previous six months and in the county of filing for the previous 90 days. Only one spouse has to meet both requirements, and the other spouse does not need to agree to the divorce. A Bastrop County resident who meets them files the petition with the district court clerk in Bastrop, where the case is assigned to a district court that hears it.

Once the petition is filed, the court cannot grant the divorce before the 60th day after filing. The clock runs from the filing date, not the date the other spouse is served, and agreement between the spouses does not shorten it. The narrow exceptions involve family violence, such as a conviction or deferred adjudication for a family violence offense against the filing spouse or a household member, or an active protective order based on family violence during the marriage. A decree signed before the 60 days have passed is vulnerable to challenge, which is one reason accurate paperwork and timing matter even in agreed cases.

Cases that carry real conflict over property or children usually run well beyond the minimum, while agreed divorces can wrap up soon after the waiting period ends. How quickly yours moves depends on how fast the two of you resolve disputes and on the court’s calendar.

What to Do Right Now if You Are Heading Toward Divorce or a Custody Fight in Bastrop County

Start by gathering documents before anyone feels pressure to hide or move them: recent tax returns, pay records, bank and retirement statements, mortgage and loan papers, deeds, vehicle titles, insurance policies, and anything showing a business interest. If children are involved, write down the current routine, who handles school, doctors, and activities, and any past agreements about the schedule. A clear paper trail makes both settlement talks and court presentations stronger.

Next, confirm that you meet the residency rules, since filing in the wrong place wastes time. If you have been served, note the date, because a served respondent generally has about 20 days to file an answer, and a missed deadline can allow the case to move forward by default. Do not ignore papers because you hope the problem goes away, and do not sign anything you have not had reviewed.

If safety is a concern, a protective order is a separate remedy. These orders last for the period stated in the order, generally no more than two years, though they can run longer in specific situations, and an order tied to a pending divorce can last until the second anniversary of the signed decree. If a protective order is nearing expiration, a renewal application can be filed within 30 days before it ends.

Be careful with social media, with moving children out of their usual home without a plan, and with large financial moves. Texas courts expect parents to put children first and often reward cooperation. A first consultation with a divorce attorney serving Bastrop County can lay out which path fits you: an agreed decree, mediation, a cooperative divorce in which one attorney helps both spouses reach agreement, or a contested case with temporary orders and a hearing. Temporary orders matter because they set who lives where, who pays which bills, and what the schedule is while the case is pending.

Changing an Existing Order: Custody, Support, and Parentage Deadlines

Life moves faster than court orders. To modify conservatorship or possession, a parent generally must show a material and substantial change in circumstances and that the change serves the child’s best interest. A child who is at least 12 can tell the judge in chambers which parent they prefer to have the right to designate their primary residence, and that preference can support a modification, although it does not decide the case on its own. Another ground arises when the parent holding that right voluntarily gave up primary care and possession to someone else for at least six months.

If you ask to change the primary residence right within a year of the order, or within a year of a mediated or collaborative settlement agreement behind it, you must attach an affidavit alleging specific concerns, such as that the child’s present environment may endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair emotional development. Without it, the request can be dismissed.

Child support modification has two routes. You may ask for a change after three years if the monthly amount differs from the guideline amount by 20 percent or $100, or at any time on a material and substantial change in circumstances. If the original support was agreed at an amount different from the guidelines, the court may modify it only on a material and substantial change. A parent incarcerated for more than 180 days has experienced such a change.

Parentage cases carry their own clocks. When a child has a presumed father, a proceeding to adjudicate parentage generally must start within four years of the child’s birth, with exceptions such as parents who did not live together or have intercourse around conception, or misrepresentation that kept the presumed father from asserting paternity. An acknowledgment of paternity may be rescinded within 60 days of signing; after that, it can be challenged only for fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. Stepparents and other non-parents face narrower standing rules for seeking custody or possession than they once did, so anyone in that position should get advice early.

Bastrop County Family Law Questions Answered

Is custody in Texas always split 50/50?

No. The law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, but that does not guarantee equal time. Many families use a standard possession schedule, and parents can agree on an equal schedule that a court will approve when it serves the child’s best interest.

How long do I have to live in Bastrop County before filing for divorce?

One spouse must have lived in Texas for six months and in the county where you file for 90 days. Only one spouse has to meet both requirements.

Can we finish our divorce faster if we agree on everything?

Agreement saves time and money, but it does not erase the 60-day waiting period measured from the filing date. The only exceptions involve family violence.

How is child support calculated?

Guidelines apply a percentage to the paying parent’s net monthly resources: 20 percent for one child, 25 for two, 30 for three, 35 for four, and 40 for five. Net resources include wages, bonuses, commissions, overtime, and tips. The percentages apply only up to a cap that the state adjusts periodically, and a court can depart from the guidelines in appropriate cases.

When does child support end?

It generally continues until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later, if the child stays enrolled and meets attendance requirements. Support for a disabled adult child who cannot support themselves may continue indefinitely.

Do we both need a lawyer?

Usually each spouse hires their own attorney. 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 approach works best for couples committed to a transparent process. Where there is significant conflict, each spouse should have their own lawyer.

We never had a wedding. Can I still need a divorce?

Possibly. Texas recognizes informal marriage if a couple signed a declaration or agreed to be married, lived together in Texas as spouses, and held themselves out as married. There is no minimum period of living together. If no one starts a proceeding to prove the marriage within two years after the couple separated, the law presumes they did not agree to be married.

Can I get spousal maintenance if my marriage was shorter than ten years?

Sometimes. A marriage of ten years or more is one route, but maintenance can also be available when the paying spouse committed family violence or when the requesting spouse has an incapacitating disability. The spouse asking must also lack enough property, including separate property, to meet minimum reasonable needs.

How much maintenance can a court order, and for how long?

The monthly amount cannot exceed the lesser of $5,000 or 20 percent of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income. Duration caps run up to five years for marriages of at least ten but under twenty years, seven years for twenty to under thirty, and ten years for thirty or more. Disability-based maintenance can last as long as the disability continues, subject to periodic review.

I got a custody order years ago. Does the new standard schedule apply to me automatically?

No. Parents with existing possession orders must file a modification to adopt the newer expanded schedule. It is the default only for new orders where the parents live within 50 miles of each other.

Does a child’s preference matter in a Bastrop County custody case?

It can. A child 12 or older may tell the judge privately in chambers which parent they prefer to have the right to designate the primary residence. That statement is a ground for modification, but the judge still weighs the child’s best interest.

Serving Family Law Clients Across Bastrop County and Central Texas

The firm represents families throughout Bastrop County, including those in the city of Bastrop, Elgin, Smithville, Cedar Creek, Paige, Red Rock, McDade, Rosanky, Wyldwood, Camp Swift, Circle D-KC Estates, Utley, and Bastrop’s surrounding rural communities. Because the 21st and 423rd District Courts sit in Bastrop and the 423rd hears only Bastrop County matters, clients here can expect their local court to handle their case.

Beyond Bastrop County, the firm also serves neighboring Travis County, including Austin, where contested hearings take place at the Civil and Family Courts Facility, as well as Williamson County and Hays County. In Travis County that includes Manor, Pflugerville, Lakeway, and Bee Cave. In Williamson County that includes Georgetown, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Leander, and in Hays County it includes San Marcos, Kyle, and Buda. Whether your case involves a divorce, a custody dispute, a support modification, or a paternity question, the firm’s attorneys can meet you where your case is filed.

Talk With a Bastrop County Family Law Lawyer

If you are weighing a divorce, trying to change a custody or support order, or sorting out parentage, a conversation with a Bastrop County family law lawyer can turn a pile of worries into a plan. The Law Office of Oprea & Weber will listen to your goals, explain your options in plain language, and recommend the path, cooperative or contested, that fits your family. Call to schedule a consultation and speak directly with an attorney who will stay with your case through the final decree.