Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
I m filing for annulment with no community property or children. My spouse filed an answer to be notifed of hearings. In denton county you just show up to court with the right paperwork (which I assume is the final decree) but my spouse makes excuses not to go each time. What can I do. Can I judge finalize without him since theres no community property involved
3 Answers from Attorneys
Set it for trial. Notify the spouse. He can show up or not show up, but either way, you get your final hearing.
You'll only be entitled to an annulment if you can prove up one of the following: you're under 18, got married because you were under the influence or alcohol or drugs, mentally incapacitated, or were influenced by fraud, duress or force to marry, your spouse turned out to be impotent or was divorced less than 30 days before the marriage and concealed that from you, or where you were married before 72 hours after the license was issued. If one of those reasons doesn't apply, then you'll be entitled to a divorce, but not an annulment.
If you can show one of those reasons, show you got your spouse served, show that you notified him of the hearing and he just chose not to come, and present the court with an acceptable order to sign, you shouldn't have a problem. Actually, you don't even have to notify him about the hearing unless he filed an answer in response to gour petition, which I'd guess he probably didn't do, but it wouldn't hurt to notify him anyway.Technically, all you have to do to notify your spouse of the hearing is send a notice letter with all the hearing information by first class mail (make a copy of the letter and the envelope) but I'd do it by certified mail, in case he decides to claim he didn't get it or the court is concerned that perhaps you didn't notify him.