Can a Respondent to a Divorce in Texas cancel the divorce?

[Shenderson]

My situation is this: The divorce was filed back in September of 2000, in Austin, Texas. My husband is the petitioner, I am the respondent. I signed and had notarized a Waiver saying that I did not need to be served with papers, nor did I have to show up in court. However, since that date, he has not gone to court to get the final decree signed.

The court clerk I have spoken with has told me that the divorce will vanish if he does not finish it by the date in September 2002. I have moved to Minnesota, and cannot afford to travel back and forth to Texas to get his to go to court.

Is there any way in which I can get the divorce cancelled, so that I can begin the process here in Minnesota (where I have lived for 16 months) and finally get the divorce over with?

Thanks for any help in advance!

Sue Henderson

 

[Grandma B]

Think about it. The only logical people with the ability to cancel a divorce case would be the petitioner or the court itself. You'd better hope he doesn't take it to court before if you don't plan on returning to TX for the hearing. If you're a no-show, things won't go in your favor at all.

If the clerk was correct that the case would vanish if not taken to court by September, you should by then have established residency in your new state and could file there. I'm a bit skeptical about the case vanishing because many divorces take much longer than a year to get into court, and they are still valid cases. Could well be true in TX though.

 

[Shenderson]

Actually, I'd be thrilled if he would go into court and finish it. I've been trying to get him to do that for over a year now! The way it works in the state of Texas, at least in Travis County, there are no court dates for divorces unless you have an attorney, and then I believe you would set up the date with your attorney and his attorney. I don't know that for certain, as this divorce is being done without lawyers. I couldn't afford a lawyer at the time.

I have spoken with the Court Clerk many times in the 16 months, and they have all told me that with no action being taken on the case, it will just go away after two years. The fee that I paid will be lost, and it just simply ceases to be. I'm just trying to find out if I can cancel it as the latest Court Clerk believed that I could.

I have residency established here for over a year as well. So filing here in Minnesota wouldn't be a problem. This time I get a lawyer though.....