Evans Family Law Group: Serving Williamson County, TX
At the Evans Family Law Group, our divorce attorneys routinely serve clients in Williamson County, TX, just north of Austin.
A good portion of our divorce, family law, and child custody practice is in Williamson County, including in the communities of Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, and Hutto. Our family law attorneys routinely practice before the courts in Williamson County and are active members in good standing of the Williamson County Bar Association.
As a result, our attorneys are familiar with the local rules, processes, and work to maintain good relationships with the courts and the staff there in order to best assist our divorce and family law clientele who are from Williamson County.
How to File for Divorce in Williamson County
Filing for divorce or a custody matter in Williamson County is very different from in, say, Travis County.
Assigning a Judge
First, when you file a family law matter in Williamson County, such as divorce or custody, your case will be randomly assigned to one of about four different courts. While this is generally true in other counties, in Williamson County all matters will be heard by the Judge presiding over that particular court in which the case is assigned.
In some other counties, for example, Travis County, while your case is technically assigned to a particular court all hearings are assigned by a “central docket” system. This means you as a party never know which judge will hear their case on any given day. However, in Williamson County, the same judge presides over all hearings related to your case. Overall, this is generally seen as an advantage in that you will know which judge is assigned to hear and preside over your case from beginning to end.
If you have a divorce matter pending in Williamson County, you should discuss with your attorney the nature of the personality of the judge and the experience of the attorney as it relates to the judge assigned to your case.
Williamson County Standing Orders
Some counties have adopted what are known as “standing injunctive orders”. These are “standing orders”, meaning they apply in every case that is filed regardless of the facts. See Williamson County Standing Orders.
Temporary Restraining Orders
However, in divorce cases in particular, often times tensions are high and Judges are immediately interested in taking steps to preserve the status quo between spouses and protect their property and the children if any. These Orders are known as “Temporary Restraining Orders” (“TRO”) and eventually become what are known as “Temporary Injunctions”.
A TRO is designed to restrain a party from engaging in a specific behavior, act, or taking certain action that is prohibited by the TRO. For example, TRO’s are used to prohibit withdrawals from bank accounts, selling or destroying property in which the other spouse may have an interest, incurring certain kinds of debt, or from removing a child or un-enrolling a child from school or daycare.
At the inception of a case, these TRO’s are most often times presented “ex-parte”, meaning they are presented to a court without notifying the other party. As a result, a party is often surprised to find that when they are served with the citation for the Original Petition for Divorce, that a Court has already issued an Order in the case. Most parties feel that somehow this gives their spouse an advantage or the court has a bias about the case.
However, remember, these restraining orders are quite common. Especially given that Williamson County does not have a standing order. Thus, don’t be alarmed and, before engaging in any kind of knee jerk reaction, talk to a competent and experienced divorce attorney because this is typically routine and standard at the beginning of a case. For more on Temporary Restraining Orders, click here.
Vacating or Modifying the Temporary Restraining Order
In the event, a restraining order is overreaching and prohibits you, say, from completing payroll or conducting your normal and ordinary course of your life and business, upon 2 days’ notice or even shorter notice by permission of the Court your attorney may file a motion to vacate or modify the temporary restraining order. See Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 680.
Carefully Consult a Divorce Attorney with Experience in Williamson County
On the other hand, temporary restraining orders are very real orders of the court. Meaning, they are enforceable and a violation of the Order whether intentional or unintentional can land you in very hot water with the Court. Thus, once you are either made aware of the existence of a Temporary Restraining Order from Williamson County or you are served with you need to very carefully consult with your attorney and review the particulars of the Order to make sure you understand them or you could find yourself being sanctioned by the Court and have to pay fines, costs, or attorney’s fees for the other party or even temporarily losing custody of your children.
No Charge for Travel from Austin
While our principal offices are located in Austin, because we routinely practice in Williamson County, we generally do not charge for the time on the road to travel to the Williamson County courthouse.
Williamson County Courts: How to Contact
If for any reason you need to contact the courts in Williamson County regarding your divorce case, here is the contact information of each:
277th District Court, Georgetown TX – (512) 943-1277
368th District Court, Georgetown – (512) 943-1368
26th District Court, Georgetown – (512) 943-1226
395th District Court – (512) 943-1395
425th District Court – (512) 943-3380
County Court at Law No. 1 – (512) 943-1201
County Court at Law No. 2 – (512) 943-1410
County Court at Law No. 3 – (512) 943-1160
County Court at Law No. 4 – (512) 943-1681
Contact our Experienced Williamson County Divorce Attorneys Today
Our Divorce Attorneys serve clients residing in Williamson County. Our Williamson County Divorce Attorneys offer a free consultation and oftentimes can make arrangements to work through phone conference or electronically, such as skype, if necessary. If you feel you need to file for a temporary restraining order or you have been served, put the extensive experience of Williamson County, Texas divorce attorney James W. Evans at the Evans Family Law Group to work for you.
Call us today at (512) 628-2550 to discuss your case, or call Mr. Evans at (512) 628-2571 to reach his direct office line. He can also be reached at his cellular number (512) 689-8319, or emailed at service@evansflg.com.