Georgetown Divorce Lawyer & Family Mediator

Steps from the courthouse

Georgetown is where every Williamson County family case ends up: the district courts, the clerk, the mediation rooms. Practicing here regularly means we know the local judges’ preferences, the docket pace, and what an agreed decree needs to sail through.

For Georgetown families that usually means fewer trips. Agreed decrees are drafted to the form the local courts use. Custody schedules are written the way the family courts here expect to see them. And mediation is where most of these cases resolve.

The court cannot grant the divorce until the 60th day after filing, though it can sign temporary orders, a protective order or temporary support at any time before that. So the earliest a Georgetown divorce can end is about two months from the day it starts, with narrow exceptions where there is a family violence conviction or an active protective order.

Grey divorce and the retirement question

Georgetown has Sun City, the largest active retirement community in Texas. That changes what a divorce here is about. Couples separating after fifty rarely argue over who keeps the house. They argue over the pension, the 401(k), the IRA, and when each of them can draw Social Security.

These are often high-asset divorces without either person feeling wealthy. Two pensions, a paid-off house and thirty years of saving add up to more than most young couples ever divide.

We draft the QDRO alongside the decree so the plan will accept it and the split itself is not a taxable event. A QDRO defers tax rather than erasing it. If the receiving spouse rolls the money into an IRA there is no tax now, and if she takes it in cash it is ordinary income to her, though the 10% early withdrawal penalty does not apply.

Long marriages also raise spousal maintenance, though length of marriage on its own does not qualify anyone. The spouse asking for it has to lack enough property, separate property included, to meet her minimum reasonable needs, and then fit one of the statutory routes. A marriage of ten years or more combined with an inability to earn enough to meet those needs is the usual one. Both the amount and the duration are capped by statute. We tell you early whether it is realistic in your case, because planning around a number that never arrives helps nobody.

What a Georgetown divorce costs

Cost follows one thing more than any other: whether you agree. An uncontested divorce, where both of you sign the same paperwork, is the cheapest way through. It is the route we point clients toward whenever it is honest to do so. A contested divorce with hearings, discovery and experts costs several times more, and takes longer.

Mediation sits between the two. Our rates are published and flat. A four hour session is $550 per party and a full day is $1,100 per party. Two people who settle in one session avoid the hearings, the discovery fights and the expert fees that make a contested case expensive.

Custody and support for Georgetown parents

Texas starts from the Standard Possession Order and the guideline percentages, and Williamson County judges apply both as defaults. Where the possessory parent lives within 50 miles of the child’s home the court must order the expanded version of the possession schedule, with the longer Thursday and weekend periods, unless that parent declines it in writing or the court finds it is not in the child’s best interest. An agreed plan built around the children’s actual week is also approved routinely when it is written properly.

The terms you will meet, and how support is calculated against the September 2025 cap, are on our child custody and child support pages. If an old order no longer fits, modifications and enforcement explains the routes back to court.

Why a Georgetown case should start with mediation

Living near the courthouse does not make litigation cheaper. Williamson County courts expect the parties to have mediated before a contested final hearing, so you will do it at some point; doing it first is where the saving is. Victoria mediates over Zoom, which suits a retiring couple as well as it suits two working parents, and the agreement signed at the end is binding under the Texas Family Code and becomes the decree the court signs. Rates are flat and published: see how a session runs and what it costs.

Practical notes on the Williamson County courthouse

Georgetown cases are filed with the Williamson County District Clerk and heard at the Williamson County Justice Center, 405 M.L.K. Jr. Street, which for many Georgetown clients is a short drive from home. Being local does not change the process, but it does mean in-person hearings, when they happen, cost you an hour rather than a day.

A county standing order takes effect the moment a divorce or custody case is filed, covering things like moving children out of the area, cancelling insurance and running up debt. Agreed finals and uncontested orders are handled by submission or a brief Zoom prove-up, so most Georgetown clients still finish without setting foot inside.