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Serving LGBTQ+ Couples In Divorce And Family Law Matters In Houston

Marriage equality rulings by courts in recent years have put same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ domestic partnerships on an even keel with traditional families. The needs of divorcing partners in divorce and other family law matters can be just as – or more – complex than issues affecting traditional couples.

If you are struggling with child visitation issues or seeking to grow your mixed Texas family through adoption – or if you are in need of customized solutions relating to prenuptial agreements, adoptions or child custody situations – our experienced family law firm can help.

During his 30-plus years of practice, firm founder Travis Thompson has used his knowledge and skills to make positive differences for individuals, couples and families of all persuasions, and from all walks of life. He handles same-sex family law matters with sensitivity, with an understanding that people going through a gay or lesbian divorce still face unique challenges. He will guide you through all the complexities that can arise.

s a certified family law specialist, he is a Texas attorney who cares about your brighter future and works hard to secure it.

A Helping Hand At The Brink – Law Thompson, P.C., In Houston

As your lawyer, Travis Thompson wisely advises and actively advocates in same-sex family law practice areas such as:

Regardless of your legal need, Mr. Thompson strives for favorable outcomes that are tailored to your unique situation. Along the way, you receive the very best of his attentive personal service – whether you are divorcing your partner or facing another legal issue – and utmost accessibility to your spontaneous questions and concerns.

How Your Parental Rights Get Established If You Are Not A Biological Parent

For same-sex couples, it is common to use methods like artificial insemination and surrogate pregnancy to have children. If you and your spouse had children this way and are now getting divorced, you need to know that Texas law might not automatically recognize your right to child custody or parenting time if you are not your children’s biological parent.

One of the best options for securing your parental rights is second-parent adoption. This legally establishes your parenthood and preserves your rights if you and the children’s biological parent ever get divorced. If you use a surrogate, a surrogacy contract between you, your spouse and the surrogate mother can establish everyone’s rights and obligations.

If you are going through a gay divorce or lesbian divorce and are worried your relationship with your kids is under threat, Travis Thompson will do everything possible to secure your custody rights.

Prenuptial Agreements for LGBTQ+ Couples in Texas

For many same-sex couples, legal marriage came years or even decades after their relationship began. This creates a financial planning challenge that opposite-sex couples rarely face: a significant portion of the wealth you built together may not qualify as community property under Texas law, simply because you were not legally permitted to marry when you accumulated it.

A prenuptial agreement allows you to address this directly. Rather than leaving the characterization of pre-marital assets to a court’s interpretation, a well-drafted agreement can define how those assets will be treated if the marriage ends – providing both partners with clarity and protection that Texas community property law alone cannot guarantee.

Beyond the pre-marital history question, prenuptial agreements are valuable for the same reasons they are for any couple: protecting business interests, defining separate property, establishing spousal support terms, and preventing costly disputes over asset characterization in a divorce.

What a prenuptial agreement cannot do is predetermine child custody or support arrangements. Texas courts retain full authority over those matters based on the best interests of the child at the time of divorce.

We help LGBTQ+ couples draft prenuptial agreements that reflect the full financial reality of their relationship – not just the portion the law automatically recognizes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How could the retroactive recognition of marriage affect my gay divorce?

A: While Texas law did not recognize same-sex marriage until 2015, it has long recognized common-law marriage when a couple agrees to get married, lives in Texas as a married couple and represents themselves to others in the state as a married couple. While the question of whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage should be applied retroactively, there are some indications that Texas courts believe it should.

Therefore, a same-sex couple that got legally married in another state before 2015 and have lived in Texas as a married couple since then could be considered to have been a married couple here since the date of their out-of-state marriage.

This could have important implications for how your property gets divided if you get divorced. As a community property state, Texas law requires spouses to divide most assets acquired during the marriage 50-50. Assets acquired before the marriage are generally separate property that each spouse gets to keep. Determining the date your marriage legally began in Texas could dramatically change what counts as community property. It could also affect whether the court will grant spousal support.

We will untangle these complex matters and apply them to your case to best defend your financial position.

Q: How long does a typical LGBTQ+ divorce process take in Texas?

A: The duration of a same-sex divorce process in Texas can vary depending on several factors. Under Texas law, the minimum amount of time for finalizing a divorce is 60 days from the date the divorce petition is filed. However, the timetable depends upon factors such as the willingness (or lack of willingness) of the couple to cooperate and negotiate an agreement, the complexity of the marital assets that must be divided, and the court’s schedule.

Q: What Is Second-Parent Adoption, And How Does It Affect A Divorce Case?

A: Second-parent adoption is a process that allows a nonbiological parent to become a legal parent to their partner’s biological or adoptive child. In the context of a divorce, a second-parent adoption can significantly impact custody and visitation rights.

The nonbiological parent may have legal rights and responsibilities concerning the child, including custody, visitation and child support obligations, similar to those of a biological parent. Thus, in a divorce, issues related to children are more complex, as both partners may have legal parental rights that need to be addressed and adjudicated by the court.

Q: Can LGBTQ+ couples with children face different issues in divorce proceedings?

A: Yes, same-sex couples with children may encounter unique legal issues in divorce proceedings. These issues can include determining parental rights and responsibilities, establishing custody and visitation arrangements, and addressing financial support for the children.

Q: What are the legal requirements for a same-sex couple to get divorced in Texas?

A: In Texas, the legal requirements for same-sex couples to get divorced are generally the same as those for opposite-sex couples. To file for divorce in Texas, one spouse must have lived in the state for six months and be a resident of the county where the filing is done for at least 90 days. Additionally, Texas law requires a 60-day period from the date the petition is filed before the divorce can be finalized.

Q: What happens to a child conceived through IVF or surrogacy if the parents divorce?

A: When a child is conceived through IVF or carried by a surrogate, the legal questions surrounding parentage become significantly more complex in a divorce – particularly when only one spouse has a biological connection to the child.

If a surrogacy agreement was properly executed prior to birth and both spouses are named as intended parents, Texas courts can generally recognize both parties as legal parents regardless of biological connection. Without that documentation, the nonbiological parent may face a much more difficult path to establishing their rights.

For children conceived through IVF, disputes over remaining frozen embryos can become one of the most emotionally and legally contentious issues in the divorce. Texas courts will look to any embryo disposition agreement signed at the time of IVF — and where no agreement exists, the court must weigh the competing interests of both parties.

If your divorce involves children conceived through assisted reproduction, early legal intervention is critical. Establishing parentage, protecting custody rights, and resolving embryo disposition questions all require careful legal strategy from an attorney who understands both family law and modern reproductive technology.

Q: Can a nonbiological parent be ordered to pay child support in Texas?

A: Yes – and this surprises many people. In Texas, child support obligations are tied to legal parentage, not biological connection alone. If a nonbiological parent has established legal parental status – through second-parent adoption, a court order, or a recognized surrogacy agreement – they can be ordered to pay child support just as a biological parent would be.

This cuts both ways. The same legal parentage that gives a nonbiological parent the right to seek custody and visitation also creates a financial obligation to support the child. Texas courts apply the same income-based formula regardless of whether a parent is biological or legally recognized.

For LGBTQ+ couples with children, this is precisely why formalizing parental rights through second-parent adoption or a court-recognized parenting agreement matters – not just to protect your relationship with your child, but to ensure financial responsibility is clearly established for both parties.

Q: Does Texas recognize domestic partnerships for divorce purposes?

Texas does not have a statewide domestic partnership registry, and the state does not recognize domestic partnerships as a legal status equivalent to marriage. If you and your partner were in a domestic partnership, you cannot file for divorce in Texas to dissolve it the way you would a marriage.

That said, Texas does recognize common-law marriage when three conditions are met: the couple agreed to be married, lived together in Texas as a married couple, and represented themselves to others as married. If your domestic partnership meets these criteria, a Texas court may treat it as a common-law marriage — making it subject to the full divorce process and community property division.

If your partnership was formally registered in a state that recognizes it as a legal status, you may need to dissolve it there, even if you now live in Texas. For couples in long-term partnerships that were never formalized, property division and parental rights may not be automatically protected. Consulting with an attorney before a relationship ends can help you understand your exposure and take steps to protect yourself.

Q: What should LGBTQ+ couples know about prenuptial agreements in Texas?

Prenuptial agreements carry particular significance for LGBTQ+ couples — especially those who were together for years or decades before same-sex marriage became legally recognized in Texas in 2015.

For couples with a long pre-marriage history, a prenuptial agreement can address the financial reality of a relationship that functioned like a marriage long before the law treated it as one. Assets built during those years may not qualify as community property, but they are often the product of a shared life and shared effort. A well-drafted agreement can define how those pre-marital assets will be treated, providing clarity that Texas law alone does not guarantee.

Prenuptial agreements can address characterization of separate versus community property, treatment of business interests, spousal support, and how specific assets will be handled upon separation. What they cannot do is predetermine child custody or support — Texas courts retain authority over those matters based on the best interests of the child.

For LGBTQ+ couples, a prenuptial agreement is also an opportunity to have a candid financial conversation with the guidance of legal counsel — one that accounts for the unique history many same-sex couples bring to their marriages.

Q: How is property divided if we were married in another state but divorce in Texas?

Texas courts apply Texas law – including community property rules – to divorces filed in Texas, regardless of where the marriage took place. Even if you were married in New York, Massachusetts, or another state, a Texas divorce court will use Texas community property principles to divide your marital estate.

The more complex question is determining when your marriage legally began for Texas purposes. Courts have shown willingness to recognize the date of an out-of-state same-sex marriage as the legal start of the marriage — even if it predates Texas’s recognition of same-sex unions. If applied, assets accumulated from that date onward may be treated as community property, significantly expanding the marital estate subject to division.

For couples who lived in multiple states, the analysis becomes more layered still. Some states follow equitable distribution rather than community property rules, and assets acquired while living there may be treated differently than those acquired in Texas.

The bottom line: where you got married matters far less than where you are getting divorced. In Texas, community property law governs – with all the complexity that entails for couples whose legal marital history does not follow a straightforward timeline.

Where Do I Begin?

  • Are you looking to start the process of divorcing your partner?
  • Do you have questions about your rights as the nonbiological parent of your child in a same-sex divorce?
  • Do you have other questions about the complex legal issues that may arise in LGBTQ+ family law cases?

We invite you to contact us to arrange an initial consultation, where your legal issues will be discussed with candor and confidentiality. Contact Law Thompson, P.C., by phone at 281-369-8665 or by email message. We represent clients in Harris County, Montgomery County and surrounding counties.