Williamson County, TX · Free Consultation
Georgetown, TX Contested Divorce Lawyer
What Our Clients Say
Written and reviewed by Shane M. Boasberg, founder of SMB Law, PC · Licensed in Texas since 2003 · Updated September 2026
In a long marriage the fight is almost never about the furniture. It is about the retirement accounts, the pension, and whether one spouse can afford to live on what is left. A Georgetown contested divorce lawyer is worth having for that arithmetic specifically. Shane M. Boasberg has been licensed in Texas since 2003 and works these files himself.
Georgetown divorces often involve long marriages, Sun City retirees, and Southwestern University households — situations where retirement accounts, pensions, and a paid-off home make property division the central fight.
Where a Georgetown contested divorce is filed
Georgetown is the Williamson County seat, so these cases stay in town at the Justice Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Street. In a contested divorce that means several hearings within a few miles of home rather than a day lost to I-35 each time.
There is a threshold first. Tex. Fam. Code § 6.301 requires that one spouse has been a Texas resident for the preceding six months and a resident of the filing county for the preceding ninety days. Couples who retired here from out of state occasionally have to wait out the six months before anything can be filed.
How Texas divides community property
Texas is a community property state. Tex. Fam. Code § 3.003 presumes that everything on hand at dissolution is community property, and rebutting that presumption takes clear and convincing evidence. Separate property — what you owned before the marriage, or received by gift or inheritance — is not divided, but only if you can prove it is separate.
That proof is called tracing, and in a thirty-year marriage it is real work. An inheritance deposited into a joint account in 2004 and spent down and replenished a hundred times since does not announce itself. Bank records, closing documents, and account statements are what make the argument. Most people who lose separate property in a Texas divorce do not lose it on the law; they lose it because nobody kept the paper.
What is left gets divided under § 7.001 in a manner the court deems just and right. Not equal. A court may weigh fault in the breakup, the disparity in earning capacity, health, age, and the size of each separate estate. In a long marriage where one spouse stayed home, a division well off fifty-fifty is common and defensible.
Retirement accounts, pensions, and the order nobody tells you about
In a Georgetown divorce the retirement accounts are frequently the largest asset in the case, larger than the house, and dividing them is not something the decree does by itself.
A 401(k) or pension is divided by a separate order, a qualified domestic relations order, drafted to the plan administrator’s requirements and signed by the court. Tex. Fam. Code § 9.101 keeps the trial court with continuing jurisdiction to render one. Two things go wrong routinely: the QDRO never gets drafted because the divorce is over and everyone is exhausted, or it gets drafted without addressing gains and losses between the valuation date and the transfer date, which in a moving market is real money.
An IRA is different again, divided by transfer incident to divorce rather than by QDRO, and doing that wrong creates a taxable distribution. These are the details that decide whether a settlement on paper is the settlement you actually receive.
Spousal maintenance after a long marriage
Texas is stingy with alimony compared to most states, and the rules are worth knowing before anyone negotiates.
Under Tex. Fam. Code § 8.051(2)(B), a spouse may be eligible for court-ordered maintenance if the marriage lasted ten years or longer and that spouse lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to provide for their minimum reasonable needs. Section 8.053 layers on a presumption against maintenance unless the spouse seeking it has exercised diligence in earning income or developing skills.
Even when awarded, it is capped both ways. Section 8.055 limits monthly maintenance to the lesser of $5,000 or twenty percent of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income. Section 8.054 caps duration by length of marriage: generally five years for a marriage of ten to twenty years, seven years for twenty to thirty, and ten years for thirty or more.
Contractual alimony agreed in settlement is a separate matter and is not bound by those caps. That distinction is often where a workable deal is found.
What will this actually cost?
Our divorce cost calculator walks through the factors that drive a Texas divorce bill and gives you a realistic range before you commit to anything.
Try the Texas Divorce Cost CalculatorWorking with us from Georgetown
Our downtown Austin office is about 30 miles south of Georgetown, a 35-to-40-minute drive on I-35. Most Georgetown clients meet by phone or video.
At SMB Law, PC you work with Shane M. Boasberg directly. He has been licensed in Texas since 2003 and has spent those years in Central Texas family courts. You get his read on your case in plain English, including the parts you may not want to hear.
Why clients choose SMB Law, PC
- Direct attorney access — you talk to Shane, not a call center or a rotating case manager.
- Straight answers about cost — if a position will cost more to litigate than it is worth, we say so before you spend the money.
- The paperwork after the decree — retirement orders drafted and entered, not left for you to chase a year later.
- Fees in writing — the rate and the retainer, explained before you sign.
What working with us looks like
- Confidential consultation to understand your goals and the law that applies.
- Strategy and records tailored to your situation.
- Negotiation or court — we settle when we can and litigate when we must.
- Resolution implemented correctly so you can move on.
A Georgetown divorce rarely involves just one question; we also handle an uncontested filing, protecting significant assets, and parenting and custody rights, supported by our Austin contested divorce practice.
Frequently asked questions
Is everything split fifty-fifty?
No. Texas divides the community estate in whatever manner the court deems just and right under Tex. Fam. Code § 7.001, weighing fault, earning capacity, health, age, and the size of each separate estate. Equal is common. Equal is not the rule, and in a long marriage with one earner it is often not the outcome either.
How do I prove something is my separate property?
With records. Section 3.003 presumes everything is community and requires clear and convincing evidence to rebut it, which means tracing the asset from its separate origin to the present. A pre-marriage brokerage account that stayed untouched is straightforward. An inheritance that went through a joint checking account is a document project. Start pulling statements before you file, not after.
Can I get alimony after a thirty-year marriage?
Possibly, and the ceiling is lower than most people expect. Court-ordered maintenance under Tex. Fam. Code § 8.051 requires a marriage of at least ten years plus an inability to meet minimum reasonable needs, and § 8.055 caps it at the lesser of $5,000 a month or twenty percent of the payer’s average monthly gross income. Contractual alimony agreed in settlement is not subject to those caps, which is why the negotiated version is frequently the better one.
What happens to the retirement accounts?
The community portion is divisible, and dividing a 401(k) or pension takes a separate qualified domestic relations order signed by the court and accepted by the plan. Section 9.101 keeps the court with jurisdiction to enter one. Do not treat the decree as the end of it: a QDRO that never gets drafted is a settlement that never gets paid.
Do I have to travel to Austin from Georgetown?
No. Our office is about thirty miles south on I-35, and we handle Georgetown consultations and case updates by phone and video whenever that is easier for you.
In a long marriage a divorce is mostly a financial case wearing an emotional coat, and the outcome turns on documents more than arguments. If you are considering filing, or you have just been served, the most useful thing you can do this week is get an honest read on where you stand. Call SMB Law, PC at (512) 561-5003 for a free and confidential consultation.