Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
I'm providing this information on behalf of my boyfriend and our daughter. In March, 2008, my boyfriend's wife threw him out of their apartment after a bitter argument. They had been married for almost 8 years and have a son together, who was 4 years old at the time. He was forced to stay in a hotel room because he had no one else to stay with and would occasionally do work out of town with the construction company for whom he is employed. During their seperation, his wife moved with their son and her mother to Mississippi, and later to Florida. At some time in the summer of that year, he and I met through a mutual friend. Seeing as he had no where to permanently live, I offered to let him stay at my apartment, provided we split the bills. At the conception of this arrangement, his wife did not seem perturbed. However, as time progressed, he and I ended up actually being together as a couple aside from conviviality. His wife still had no problem with this situation. We made the effort to visit the wife and his son in Christmas of 2008. The trip coincided with the discovery of my pregnancy. After learning of my pregnancy, the wife became threatening, accusatory, and harassing on voicemail and text, some of which I have retained for evidentiary purposes. It was only at this point did she request divorce. My question is: does my boyfriend have grounds to establish an abandoned marriage? He has always told me that if she hadn't moved, he would have made attempts to reconcile, but he had no means of relocating to either MS or FL, and would consequently been out of work if he had done so. He has consistently paid "child support" although there is no court order. She has threatened to blackmail him into signing divorce papers, accused me of doing drugs, threatened to have me incarcerated during my pregnancy, and has even used her son as a conduit to make threatening phone calls. What remedy or action should my boyfriend take? She is "foaming at the mouth" for $1250 from him to retain a lawyer in FL so she can get the divorce the way she wants it including outrageous stipulations, such as demanding my boyfriend make 4 annual visits to FL to see their son. It has been almost 2 years since she moved and they have not made the effort to visit once, while we have been twice. Any advice would be much appreciated.
2 Answers from Attorneys
I assume that the only place your boyfriend ever lived with his wife is in Texas.
He should file for divorce immediately, in Texas.
And you and he shouldn't let Mom be a bully. If she threatens either of you with ANYTHING, just tell her "Go ahead and do it," and hang up. Don't be scared of her and don't be intimidated.
Better yet, any time she threatens you, just say "We have a new rule - we don't allow people to make threats." And THEN hang up.
Don't worry about an "abandoned marriage." His grounds for divorce are cruelty.
Based on what you have written, your boyfriend should seriously consider immediately filing for a divorce in Texas before his wife gets smart enough to attempt to file in Florida. As for threats, harassment, etc. there are multiple criminal actions and potentially civil actions which may be taken up against the wife - which may ultimately result in her losing custody of the child. Your boyfriend should speak with a local law firm to assist him with filing the divorce. If my local law firm can assist with this legal issue or any other legal matter, please contact us at [email protected] to arrange for an initial consultation. The above response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an on-going duty to respond to questions. Additionally, the response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than an educated opinion. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change.