Is Mandatory Marriage Counseling in Your Future?
It is not here yet, but a bill has been introduced in the Texas legislature to require that every person with a child or children who files for divorce in The Woodlands and all of Texas complete 10 hours of mandatory divorce counseling before the Court finalizes the divorce.
There are some exceptions to the proposed mandatory divorce counseling. Most notable is if the spouse filing for divorce can prove they are the victim of abuse then they will not have to attend counseling.
Another interesting exception is that the non-petitioning spouse is not required to complete the divorce counseling before the Court approves the divorce. If the non-petitioning spouse does not complete the counseling, the proposed bill authorizes the judge to consider this fact when ruling on property and custody of children.
We will keep you posted on this bill as it moves through the legislature and either becomes law or gets passed over.
April 28, 2009 you posted information about a bill has that was “introduced in the Texas legislature to require that every person with a child or children who files for divorce in The Woodlands and all of Texas complete 10 hours of mandatory divorce counseling before the Court finalizes the divorce.” (from your post) Is this still being considered or is it a law now?
Counseling is not required by statute, however keep in mind the judges have broad authority to order counseling as they see fit. The bill I reported on in this post was left pending in the Senate Committee and was not passed by the entire legislature.