200+ Free TX Family Law Specialist Practice Questions

You must be an active member of the State Bar of Texas in good standing, demonstrate substantial involvement in family law over the period preceding application, satisfy minimum task/experience requirements covering divorce, property division, conservatorship, and support, complete the required family-law continuing legal education, obtain references from qualified attorneys and judges familiar with your work, and pass the TBLS family law specialty examination. Certification is administered by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

The TBLS family law exam is a full-day written examination, generally about six hours, combining a roughly three-hour essay portion with a multiple-choice portion of approximately 100 questions. It tests the Texas Family Code and Texas case law across divorce, community property, conservatorship and possession (SAPCR), child support and spousal maintenance, enforcement and modification, and parentage, adoption, and protective orders. The reported passing standard is a 350 scaled score; confirm current fees and rules on tbls.org.

Texas uses guideline percentages of the obligor's monthly net resources under Family Code Section 154.125: 20% for one child, 25% for two, 30% for three, 35% for four, and 40% for five or more. Net resources are defined in Section 154.062 (wages, self-employment, and most income, less taxes, Social Security, and the child's health-insurance cost). Effective September 1, 2025, the guideline percentages apply to net resources up to a cap of $11,700 per month; amounts above the cap require proof of the child's proven needs.

Family Code Section 7.001 requires the court to divide the marital estate in a manner the court deems just and right, having due regard for the rights of each party and any children. A just-and-right division need not be equal; under Murff v. Murff the court may consider factors such as fault in the breakup, disparity of earning capacities, health, and the size of the parties' separate estates. The court divides only community property and may not divest a spouse of separate real property (Eggemeyer v. Eggemeyer).

Under the inception of title rule, the character of property is fixed at the time the right to own or claim it arises. If the right arose during marriage, the property is community even if titled in one spouse's name and even if only one spouse signed the note or deed. Paying a separate-property note with community funds does not change characterization but may create a reimbursement claim under Family Code Section 3.402, which gives the conferring estate a claim against the benefited estate rather than an ownership interest (FC 3.404).

Under Family Code Section 8.051, a spouse may be eligible for maintenance if the other spouse was convicted of or received deferred adjudication for family violence within two years before filing (or while the suit is pending), or if the marriage lasted 10 years or longer and the spouse lacks sufficient property and ability to earn income to meet minimum reasonable needs (disability paths also exist). Maintenance is capped at the lesser of $5,000 or 20% of the obligor's average monthly gross income (FC 8.055), and durations are limited to 5, 7, or 10 years based on the length of the marriage (FC 8.054).

The standard possession order (Family Code Sections 153.252-153.317) gives the possessory conservator possession on the first, third, and fifth weekends of each month, a weekday period (commonly Thursday), alternating major holidays, and extended summer time. Since 2021 amendments, the expanded standard possession order is the default for parents living 50 miles or less apart unless a party elects otherwise or the court finds it not in the child's best interest; for parents more than 100 miles apart, special election and extended summer provisions apply.