Allen Divorce Lawyer
By Jill Coil, Founder and Family Law Attorney, State Bar of Texas
Quick answer: Allen is in Collin County, so an Allen divorce is filed and heard at the Collin County Courthouse, 2100 Bloomdale Road in McKinney. One spouse must have lived in Texas for six months and in Collin County for 90 days before filing, and Texas requires a 60-day waiting period between filing and the earliest date a decree can be signed.
Allen sits in the middle of Collin County’s technology corridor, and an Allen divorce lawyer spends a good deal of time on assets that do not show up on a pay stub. Restricted stock, annual bonuses and deferred compensation are common in households along the Sam Rayburn Tollway, and characterising and valuing them properly usually matters more to the outcome than any argument about the divorce itself. CoilLaw represents Allen families in divorce, custody and property division under the Texas Family Code.
Filing an Allen Divorce
Residency is the first hurdle. One spouse must have lived in Texas for at least six months and in Collin County for at least 90 days before the petition is filed. Once it is filed, Collin County’s standing order takes effect immediately and restricts both spouses from moving money, changing insurance or removing the children from the county without agreement or a court order. It applies whether or not anyone has read it, and violating it early in a case is a bad start in front of a judge who will be making decisions about you for the next several months.
The 60-day waiting period runs from filing, not from separation, and it is the reason an Allen divorce is rarely finished in less than three months even when nothing is contested. In practice the time is not wasted: it is the window in which financial disclosure happens and in which most cases reach a settlement at mediation.
What Allen Cases Usually Involve
Two patterns recur. The first is equity compensation. Where one spouse receives restricted stock units or options, the grant date, the vesting schedule and the reason for the grant all matter, because the portion earned during the marriage is community property and the portion attributable to future service generally is not. Getting that division wrong is expensive and difficult to undo after the decree.
The second is schooling. Allen ISD covers almost the entire city, so unlike most Metroplex suburbs there is no meaningful argument about which district the children attend while they remain in Allen. That makes the geographic restriction the real battleground: a parent proposing to move to Plano, McKinney or Frisco is proposing a change of district, and the restriction in the decree is what determines whether they can.
We also handle Allen matters that sit alongside a divorce, including modifications after a job change or relocation, enforcement where support or possession orders are being ignored, and protective orders where safety is a concern.
How We Help Allen Families
CoilLaw works across the Metroplex from our Dallas office and appears regularly in Collin County. For an overview of the wider practice, see our Dallas–Fort Worth divorce lawyer page and our Collin County divorce lawyer page. Where an estate is substantial or a closely held business is involved, our Dallas high-net-worth divorce practice covers the valuation and tracing work in more detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is an Allen divorce heard?
At the Collin County Courthouse, 2100 Bloomdale Road in McKinney, about fifteen minutes north of Allen. Collin County runs several district courts that hear family cases, and your case is assigned to one of them when it is filed. You do not choose the court, and the assigned judge sets the pace of the case.
How long does an Allen divorce take?
Sixty days is the statutory floor, counted from the day the petition is filed. An agreed case can be finalised shortly after that. A contested Collin County case more commonly runs six months to a year, and the drivers are mediation, discovery over income or business interests, and how quickly the assigned court can give you a hearing.
Is everything split fifty-fifty in Texas?
No. Texas is a community property state, which means property acquired during the marriage is presumed to belong to both spouses, but the court divides it in a manner that is “just and right” rather than automatically down the middle. Property owned before the marriage, or received by gift or inheritance, is separate property and is not divided, though proving it takes documents.
Can a custody order keep my children in Allen ISD?
It can. Texas orders routinely include a geographic restriction on the children’s primary residence, and in Allen that is usually written as Allen ISD and contiguous districts, or as Collin County. Allen ISD serves almost the whole city, so the restriction and the city line largely coincide, which makes an Allen restriction unusually clean to draft and to enforce.
Can the 60-day waiting period be waived?
Only in narrow circumstances, most commonly where there is a protective order or a finding of family violence involving the other spouse. It is not waived for convenience or because both spouses agree, so an Allen divorce should be planned around the 60 days rather than on the hope of avoiding them.
What does a standard possession schedule look like?
The Texas Standard Possession Order gives the non-primary parent the first, third and fifth weekends of each month, a Thursday evening during the school term, alternating holidays and an extended summer period. An expanded version begins at the end of school rather than at 6pm. Parents are free to agree to something different, and many Allen families do.
Nearby Areas We Serve
We also represent clients in Plano, McKinney and Frisco, and across the rest of Collin County.
Talk to a Allen Divorce Lawyer Today
Call CoilLaw at 469-552-5992 or request a consultation online. We represent Allen clients throughout Collin County and the wider Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex.
This page is general information about Texas family law and is not legal advice. Every case is different. For advice about your specific situation, speak with a licensed Texas attorney.
