Tracy is the mother of a 7 year old physically and emotionally challenged boy.  He had been born prematurely and suffered from a variety of ailments, including various psychological disorders.  When her son was several years old, the stress of caring for the child caused the breakup of her already troubled marriage to Alan.   

Tracy had worked her whole adult life, until she had given birth to their son.  She then became a stay at home mother and spent her time dealing with her sons various conditions, ailments and behavioral problems.  When she and her husband separated, Tracy stayed in the marital residence with her son, even though it was her husband’s before marriage.  He continued to help support them. 

However, due to a variety of circumstances, her husband became increasingly violent towards Tracy.  Finally, she obtained a Protective Order against him.  He violated it and was prosecuted for that.  Tracy then decided that she needed to get a divorce, and move on with her life and concentrate on taking care of her son and rebuilding her life.  

Tracy and Alan had married in May of 1995.  The divorce was filed in December of 2004.  Alan agreed to Tracy having primary conservatorship and to paying child support.  Tracy moved out of the marital residence, which was Alan’s separate property.  Legal Aid sought spousal maintenance for Tracy, since she had been out of the workforce for so long and needed re-training and additional help to care for their son.  

The case went to trial in July of 2005.  By the time the case went to trial, they had been married ten years.  We argued that Tracy now qualified under Texas law for spousal maintenance.  Opposing counsel argued that since they had been separated for two years and that the divorce had been filed before the ten year mark, the statute did not apply.

The judge agreed with Legal Aid’s position and awarded Tracy spousal maintenance.  Neither the opposing counsel nor I could find any case law on point for this particular issue.  

Husband appealed and in the Fifth District of Appeals in Dallas, the court decided that ten years of marriage means ten years from start to finish, whenever that might be, and the spousal maintenance award was affirmed! 

(Article written by Roger Jacobsen, Attorney for Legal Aid’s Dallas office)