I'm doing couples counseling with folks in their mid 40s. No children. Had nothing when they married and now only have a house and retirement accounts. His lawyer wanted a $5000 retainer. I'm thinking it can't be that hard to do it yourself with all the possible apps and with no children.
My question is, if they are in agreement, in Texas supposedly there's a 60 Day minimum period from filing to the divorce being official. In fairly simple cases does anyone have any idea how long Get realistically takes without children and if you know someone who has done it on their own is it very complicated and about how much total cost are involved?
I tried to salvage it by the way.
Thanks in advance.

My ex and I did it ourselves and we had an 11 year old. Took maybe 3 months and cost us around $750 total. Obviously we were amicable and reasonable with each other. We did it during Covid on zoom calls with the court. The judge even told us and the other couples that we were how it should be done and even thanked us for being mature and civil.

I have a close friend that did this twice.

I lost a bet on the first divorce that it would take 10k and 6 months. It was over fast...like 45-60 days and he claims to have spent 1200.


I wasnt involved in the second one, but somehow the divorce was over faster than the wife could move out.

60 days is the "cooling off" period between filing and first possible date for a final hearing. (this can be waived by the Judge under certain circumstances)

If everything is truly agreed to, ask for a final hearing date (for an agreed divorce) when you file...every court does things differently, but most have no problem working in an agreed prove-up.

Mega Lops said:

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BartInLA said:

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I'm doing couples counseling with folks in their mid 40s.

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no you aren't, Barnes.

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Yeah.

Why would BartInLA be counseling couples in Texas?

maroon barchetta said:

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Mega Lops said:

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BartInLA said:

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I'm doing couples counseling with folks in their mid 40s.

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no you aren't, Barnes.

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Yeah.

Why would BartInLA be counseling couples in Texas?

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Maybe LA is short of LA Grange.

There was a book called "Do Your Own Texas Divorce" that I got for about $10. It had samples of the Petition, Decree, and Waiver documents. I filled those out and printed them on a dot matrix printer (this was 1993). Filing fee in Guadalupe County was $119. No lawyers involved, and my ex had moved out of the state already, so I went to the court for the final hearing by myself. The judge asked me a few questions, accepted our Decree and signed it, and declared us divorced.

I like to say "I drove to Seguin with 6 Twenties. I got a divorce and a beer."

Mega Lops said:

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BartInLA said:

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I'm doing couples counseling with folks in their mid 40s.

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no you aren't, Barnes.

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Not a prestigious job in my opinion. Engineers are soooo much more intelligent than counselors. My undergrad was engineering at A&M. 5 times harder than my PhD in mental health.