To file for divorce in Austin, Texas, you submit an Original Petition for Divorce to the Travis County District Clerk’s Family Division, pay a $350 filing fee, arrange for your spouse to be formally notified, and wait out a mandatory 60-day period before a judge can sign the final decree.1Travis County, Texas. Fees – Travis County2State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 6.702 – Waiting Period What happens between filing and that final signature depends on whether you and your spouse agree on the major issues.
Check Residency First
A Texas court can only hear your case if one of you has lived in Texas for the previous six months and in the filing county for the previous 90 days.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 6.301 – General Residency Rule for Divorce Suit Either spouse can be the one who satisfies both thresholds, which matters when one of you has recently moved. A case filed without meeting these requirements gets dismissed.
Austin sits across three counties. Most of the city falls within Travis County, but neighborhoods on the north edge may belong to Williamson County (Round Rock, Cedar Park) and parts of the south edge to Hays County (Kyle, Buda). Your address controls where you file. If you try to file in Travis County but your home is outside it, the clerk will not accept the paperwork. Property tax records or voter registration will tell you which county you’re in if you’re unsure.
One narrow exception: a Texas resident stationed overseas on military orders still meets the residency requirement.4Army.mil. Texas Divorce Qualifications for a Texas Divorce
Prepare the Petition
The main document is the Original Petition for Divorce. It asks for your marriage date, the date you separated, your grounds for divorce, and whether you have minor children.5Travis County, Texas. Divorce – Travis County If you have children, you’ll also include information about custody, child support, and health insurance.
Most Texas divorces are filed on the no-fault ground of insupportability, meaning the marriage has broken down with no reasonable chance of reconciliation.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 6.001 – Insupportability You don’t have to prove any wrongdoing to use it. Texas also allows fault grounds (cruelty, adultery, felony conviction, abandonment, three years of living apart, or long-term confinement in a mental hospital), but choosing fault means proving it, which adds complexity and time.
Along with the petition, you’ll file a Civil Case Information Sheet, a cover document the court uses to categorize your case.7Texas Judicial Branch. Civil Case Information Sheet List all community property and debts as fully as you can. The court relies on this to evaluate the proposed division of your marital estate, and gaps invite problems later.
Where and How to File
If you live in Travis County, your filing goes to the Travis County District Clerk’s Family Division at 1700 Guadalupe Street, 3rd Floor, Room 3.200, Austin, TX 78701.8Travis County. Family Division If you live in Williamson or Hays County, file with the district clerk in that county.
Attorneys must file electronically through eFileTexas.gov.9eFileTexas.Gov. Official E-Filing System for Texas If you’re representing yourself, you can e-file as well, or you can file in person at the clerk’s office by appointment, or mail your documents to the District Clerk at P.O. Box 679003, Austin, TX 78767-9003.8Travis County. Family Division
The base filing fee in Travis County is $350 as of January 1, 2026.1Travis County, Texas. Fees – Travis County That amount rolls up the clerk’s basic filing fee, law library fee, courthouse security, alternative dispute resolution, and various state and local consolidated fees. Williamson and Hays County fees may vary.
If you can’t afford the fee, submit a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs. The sworn form documents your income, expenses, debts, and any public benefits. If the court approves it, your filing fees are waived. You can sign it in front of a notary or self-certify under penalty of perjury.
Once the clerk accepts your filing, you’ll get file-stamped copies back. That date is the official start of your case, and the 60-day waiting period begins running from it.
The Travis County Standing Order Takes Effect Immediately
The moment a family law case is filed in Travis County, a standing order automatically applies to both spouses.5Travis County, Texas. Divorce – Travis County It’s designed to preserve the status quo while the case is pending. In broad terms, neither spouse may hide or destroy property, make large unusual purchases, cancel insurance policies, or relocate children outside their normal geographic area without the court’s permission.
Violating the order can result in contempt of court. Don’t empty bank accounts, sell the house, or run up credit card debt after filing. The order stays in effect until the judge signs the final decree or modifies it.
Notify Your Spouse
Your spouse has to be formally notified before the case can move forward. The simplest route is a waiver of service: if your spouse is cooperative, they sign a notarized waiver acknowledging they received the petition. The signature must be made in front of the notary, not signed earlier and notarized after. Once filed, the waiver eliminates the need for formal delivery.
If your spouse won’t sign, you’ll need personal service by a constable, sheriff, or private process server. Travis County constable service for a citation costs $85.10Travis County, Texas. Fees – Travis County Private process servers generally charge $85 to $300 depending on speed and difficulty. The server hands over the papers in person and files a Return of Service documenting when and where that happened.
If you can’t locate your spouse at all, you can ask the judge for substituted service (leaving papers with someone over 16 at a known address) or, in some cases, service by publication. These require additional filings and a sworn statement explaining your efforts to find them.
After being served, your spouse generally has until the first Monday after 20 days have passed from service to file an answer. If they miss that deadline in a contested case, you may be able to proceed by default.
Wait Out the 60 Days
Texas imposes a mandatory 60-day cooling-off period. No judge can grant your divorce before the 60th day after the petition is filed.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 6.702 – Waiting Period The clock starts on your filing date, not on the date your spouse is served.
The waiting period can be waived if the respondent has been convicted of or received deferred adjudication for a family violence offense against the petitioner or a household member, or if the petitioner holds an active family-violence protective order. Otherwise, even a fully agreed divorce has to sit for the full 60 days.
Exchange Financial Disclosures
Within 30 days after the first answer is filed, both spouses must exchange financial documents under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 194.2. This is automatic. Neither side has to request it. The rule requires records going back two years, or to the date of marriage if you’ve been married less than two years:
- Deed and lien information for any real property you own, plus leases on anything you rent
- Statements for pensions, 401(k)s, profit-sharing plans, and IRAs
- Policy documents or statements for life, casualty, liability, and health insurance
- Statements for all bank, savings, credit union, and brokerage accounts
If child support or spousal support is at issue, add your two most recent pay stubs and your income tax returns for the previous two years. If you haven’t filed, provide your W-2s, 1099s, and Schedule K-1s instead.
Shortchanging these disclosures is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with the judge and invite sanctions.
Agreed Case or Contested Case
Whether your divorce is agreed or contested drives everything about cost and timeline. An uncontested divorce means you and your spouse agree on all the major issues: property division, custody, support, debts. You submit an agreed decree, the judge reviews it, and the case closes. Many uncontested divorces in Travis County finish within two to three months of filing.
A contested divorce means you disagree on at least one significant issue. The case enters discovery, where both sides exchange evidence and may take depositions, followed by mediation and potentially trial. Travis County courts generally require mediation before a contested divorce can go to trial, particularly when children or substantial property is involved. Mediation puts both spouses in a room with a neutral third party to work out an agreement, and it succeeds more often than people expect.
If mediation fails, the case goes to trial and the judge decides. Contested divorces can take six months to over a year depending on complexity and the court’s calendar, and attorney fees climb quickly along the way.
The Prove-Up Hearing
Every Texas divorce ends with a brief court appearance called a prove-up hearing, even uncontested ones. You testify under oath confirming the basic facts: your names, that you met residency, your marriage date and grounds, whether you have minor children, whether either spouse is pregnant, whether there’s been family violence, and that the proposed property division is fair.
If your spouse never responded (a default case), you’ll also tell the judge the value of the property being divided and explain why the split is fair. The judge reviews the proposed Final Decree of Divorce, confirms the 60-day waiting period has passed, and if everything is in order, signs it.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 6.702 – Waiting Period That signature ends the marriage.
For cases involving children, the decree has to include a full parenting plan covering conservatorship, a possession schedule, child support, and medical and dental support. A judge will not sign a decree with those provisions missing.