Texas Family Code § 6.702 requires a 60-day waiting period between the date the original petition is filed and the date the court can grant the divorce — with narrow exceptions for domestic-violence cases under § 6.702(c). That's the minimum; contested divorces in Bexar County frequently take many months longer. Our San Antonio divorce attorneys can walk you through a realistic timeline for your specific case.

Under Family Code § 156.102, a request to change the person who has the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence generally cannot be filed within one year of the current order unless the petitioner attaches an affidavit showing: (1) the child's environment endangers the child's physical health or emotional development, (2) the person with that right has consented and it is in the child's best interest, or (3) that person has voluntarily relinquished primary care for six months or more. Other types of modifications (possession, support) generally require a material and substantial change rather than a one-year wait.

Two important deadlines, both in Family Code § 157.005: a motion for contempt must be filed within 2 years of the date the child support became due (or the child's 18th birthday, whichever is later). A motion for a cumulative money judgment confirming arrears has a 10-year window from the same accrual date. So a parent can still collect past-due support by money judgment long after contempt is off the table.

Under Family Code § 154.131, Texas courts can order retroactive support. There is a rebuttable presumption that support should reach back no more than 4 years before the date the petition was filed. The presumption can be rebutted if the obligor knew or should have known of the child and sought to avoid the obligation. Retroactive support is separate from the 4-year-after-18 rule for collecting on an existing order with no prior payment history.

Generally yes. Under Family Code § 160.607, a proceeding to adjudicate the parentage of a child with a presumed father must be filed before the child's 4th birthday, with narrow exceptions where the presumed father and the mother never cohabited or had sexual relations during the probable time of conception, or where the presumed father was led to believe he was the biological father by mistake. Timing here is highly fact-specific.

Texas annulment deadlines vary by ground. For fraud, duress, or force (§ 6.107), suit must be filed within 4 years of the marriage, and the injured spouse must not have voluntarily cohabited after learning of the fraud or after coercion ended. For an underage marriage (§ 6.102), suit must generally be filed before the underage spouse's 18th birthday. Other grounds — impotence, mental incapacity, concealed divorce, marriage within 72 hours of license issuance — have their own rules.

Time a party is out of Texas can toll limitations under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.063, and interstate child-support enforcement is governed by the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) under Family Code Chapter 159. Interstate custody falls under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), Chapter 152. These statutes can complicate — and sometimes preserve — rights that would otherwise be barred.