How Tarrant County firms handle retired pay, SCRA stays and custody when orders move a parent
A reservist at NAS JRB Fort Worth who decides to end a marriage often starts at the base legal office, then learns two things in one visit. The office can explain how a divorce touches retired pay and housing, and it can’t represent anyone in a Tarrant County courtroom. Reservists who haven’t been activated may not qualify for its help at all. That makes the choice of a military divorce lawyer Fort Worth reservists can trust the real decision, and the firms below are the ones with a verifiable military practice in the county.
What makes a military divorce in Fort Worth different
Fort Worth’s base is a reserve installation, which shapes the whole case. NAS JRB Fort Worth opened on October 1, 1994 as the country’s first Joint Reserve Base, on the ground that had been Carswell Air Force Base. It hosts Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army and Texas Air National Guard units, some 40 commands and about 10,000 active duty members, Guard members, reservists and civilian employees. Many of the families who divorce here hold civilian jobs most of the year and answer to orders the rest of it.
That mix produces problems a civilian divorce never raises. A drill weekend can land on a hearing date. Activation can trigger protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, including the right to request a stay when military duties materially affect the member’s ability to appear. A reserve pension follows a different calculation than an active-duty one, and DFAS won’t pay a former spouse a dime unless the decree uses the language the agency requires. Custody orders need a plan for deployment, and support orders have to account for pay that arrives as allowances.
Tarrant County’s six family district courts (the 231st, 233rd, 322nd, 324th, 325th and 360th) sit at the Family Law Center, 200 East Weatherford Street. The Family Law Center supports remote hearings in appropriate cases, although procedures vary by court and setting. A lawyer who works these courts every week knows which judge wants what, and that knowledge is worth as much as any statute in a case where one party is stationed 1,500 miles away.
Base legal assistance and a civilian divorce lawyer
The Naval Legal Service Office branch at NAS JRB, in Building 1515 on Chenault Avenue, lists family law and the SCRA among the topics it covers. Its own page says reservists are ineligible for legal assistance in most cases until they’re called to active duty or deploying on orders. Military OneSource adds the second limit: because divorce runs on state law, a JAG can’t represent you in court. Base counsel is a good place to understand the rules. A civilian divorce lawyer is the one who files, negotiates and stands up at the Family Law Center.
Ten Fort Worth firms that handle military divorce
Every firm below has a military divorce page or guide on its own site, and every one keeps an office in Tarrant County or serves it from a neighboring county. The entries follow one shape so you can compare them line by line: what the firm is, what its military work covers, and its published consultation terms.
1. Marble Law
Marble Law runs a Fort Worth divorce as a sequence of priced steps. The client sees the price of each step and approves it before an attorney starts, so there’s no retainer to fund and no meter running by the hour. Meetings, texts and emails with the legal team never appear on a bill. The attorneys hold Texas licenses and bring an average of 15-plus years to the work; Julie Gray, the Texas managing attorney, has 17 years and 400-plus clients behind her.
- Online workspace with documents and case updates, open at any hour from any duty station
- Marble Legal Engine: the attorney draws on insights from 130K+ completed cases to spot patterns and risks and plan the next move, and the client gets answers and updates in one chat
- Calls, texts and emails to the legal team carry no charge
- Fort Worth office at 901 W Rosedale St; hours are on Marble’s Fort Worth office listing
- Deployed clients work the case from wherever orders put them
The engine informs the attorney’s judgment rather than replacing it. Marble’s Fort Worth page doesn’t describe a separate military team, so ask on the first call which attorney has handled retired-pay division and SCRA stays.
Consults and fees: An intake call is free and consultations with an attorney consultation thereafter for under $50.
2. Turner-Monahan, PLLC
Turner-Monahan has practiced in Fort Worth since 1973 and says it has spent more than five decades with service members, veterans and military spouses across Tarrant and Johnson counties. Its office sits at 150 Throckmorton Street downtown, with a second location in Cleburne. The firm handles divorce and family law alongside personal injury and criminal work, and Tyler R. Monahan, the managing member, has been named a Top Attorney in Family Law by Fort Worth Magazine six years running through 2025.
- Dedicated military divorce page that names NAS JRB Fort Worth
- Decrees drafted in the language DFAS requires for direct payment
- TSP division through a Retirement Benefits Court Order rather than a standard QDRO
- VA disability pay and retired-pay questions
- Family Care Plans, temporary custody changes during deployment and PCS relocations
- Remote legal services for members stationed elsewhere or deployed overseas
Monahan’s background includes work as a financial advisor and coursework in the Certified Financial Planner program at Rice, which fits cases where the largest asset is a pension. The firm describes its rates as structured and competitive.
Consults and fees: free consultations, including virtual ones; rates aren’t published.
3. Law Office of Carole Cross
Carole Cross practices from Hurst, at 464 Mid Cities Boulevard, and her site puts military family law at 95 percent of the firm’s work. Admitted to the Texas bar in 1992, she is a past board member of the State Bar of Texas Military and Veterans’ Law Section and a service member’s widow. The firm has represented military families across Texas since 1996, and Cross says the last 15 of her 20-plus years have been focused on military cases.
- Military divorce for active, reserve and retired members
- Retirement calculations, including REDUX and active or reserve formulas
- Separate pages on military custody, relocation, reassignment and deployment
- Child and spousal support in military cases
- Consultations scheduled in any time zone, with evening and weekend appointments
- English, Spanish and French spoken
Many of her cases arrive by referral from past clients and other lawyers, and she has taught military family law to the Tarrant County family bar. The firm is a single-attorney practice with one office.
Consults and fees: the first meeting is free for any service member; the firm charges by the hour on a sliding scale tied to military rank, and it accepts credit cards.
4. Justice Law Firm, PC
Justice Law Firm works from Southlake, at 1100 E Southlake Blvd, Suite 400, and its military divorce page is the most Tarrant-specific of the group. It walks through filing at the Family Law Center, serving a deployed spouse, and the documentation local courts want to confirm military status before they set hearings. Tracey L. Justice has been a certified mediator since 2000 and a Fort Worth Top Attorney every year since 2009; the firm also lists attorneys Rachel Ponder, Genine Ware and James E. Coleman.
- Residency rules for members stationed at NAS JRB Fort Worth
- Custody protections under Texas Family Code sections 153.702 through 153.709
- USFSPA division, SBP elections and concurrent receipt
- Interim support under each branch’s guidelines before a court order exists
- Mediation and collaborative divorce for military families
- The 60-day waiting period and Tarrant County scheduling
The page notes that Tarrant County judges often send family cases to mediation before a hearing date, which is where Justice’s mediator certification earns its keep.
Consults and fees: free consultation; fees aren’t published.
5. Schneider Law Firm, P.C.
Schneider Law Firm keeps three offices around the county: 400 E. Weatherford Street downtown, a north office on N. Tarrant Parkway in the Alliance and Keller area, and a Mansfield office on Hunters Row Court. It handles family law and criminal defense, and it says military families are one of the groups it serves best. Three of its family lawyers list military divorce as a practice area, including Melissa Swan, who is double board certified, and Jessica Phillips-Presswood, board certified in family law since 2019.
- Military divorce page covering support, custody, retirement benefits and modifications
- FAQs on SCRA timing and on filing when a spouse is stationed out of state
- Pension division for active and reserve members
- Clients living in Texas or stationed elsewhere in the U.S. and overseas
- Each attorney concentrates on one practice area
For a deployed client, the firm conducts correspondence by email and phone and mails documents that need a signature.
Consults and fees: free consultation and case evaluation; fees aren’t published.
6. Melone Hatley, P.C.
Melone Hatley’s Fort Worth office is at 600 W 6th Street, Suite 439, and its Fort Worth military divorce page is one of the more complete explanations of the rules on any local site. It covers jurisdiction for members stationed in Texas, SCRA protections including reopening a default judgment, community property, the USFSPA, and health and commissary benefits after divorce. The firm cites more than a decade of family law work across several states and says its lawyers have helped hundreds of military spouses.
- 10/10 rule explained as a DFAS direct-payment rule
- Division of up to 50 percent of disposable retired pay
- Survivor Benefit Plan elections addressed in the decree itself
- TSP, BAH and BAS treatment
- TRICARE under the 20/20/15 rule, CHCBP and commissary access
- Deployment custody under Texas Family Code Subchapter L
Weekday hours run to 7 p.m., and the office offers remote-only appointments on Saturdays, which suits a drilling reservist.
Consults and fees: free consultation; fees aren’t published.
7. Goranson Bain Ausley
Goranson Bain Ausley calls itself the largest family law firm in Texas, with eight offices from Austin to Midland. Its Fort Worth office grew out of local family law practices that joined the firm in 2023, and its lawyers here include Cindy V. Tisdale, Cassidy Pearson, Gary L. Nickelson and Chris Nickelson, all board certified in family law (Chris Nickelson in civil appellate law as well). The firm says its ranks include a past president of the State Bar of Texas and two past chairs of its Family Law Section.
- Statewide military divorce page covering litigation, negotiation and settlement
- Valuation and division of military retirement and other property
- Collaborative divorce, which the firm presents as often faster when an active-duty spouse is involved
- Lawyer-assisted mediation and a self-representation mediation model for couples
- Custody and support in military cases
- Service to Fort Worth, Southlake, Westlake, Arlington and Westover Hills
The military page is written for the whole state rather than for Fort Worth, so ask about Tarrant County experience at the consultation.
Consults and fees: confidential consultation; fees aren’t published.
8. Law Office of Michael Muñoz
Michael Muñoz founded his Mansfield firm in 2003 after managing the Arlington field office of the Texas Attorney General’s Child Support Division, where he oversaw 34 staff and some 54,000 cases. That background shows on the firm’s military divorce page, which names NAS JRB Fort Worth three times and explains how support can be structured through military allotments. Muñoz has practiced in Tarrant County for more than 19 years and has been named a top family law attorney by Fort Worth Magazine.
- Jurisdiction and residency for members at NAS JRB
- SCRA protections and what happens when a spouse is overseas or can’t be located
- 10/10 rule for direct DFAS payment
- TSP and TRICARE
- Parenting plans built around deployment and PCS orders
- Six-step process laid out on the page
Clients get direct access to Muñoz throughout the case, meetings can be virtual, and the staff speaks Spanish. The firm also handles personal injury and criminal defense.
Consults and fees: free consultations and flexible payment plans; fees aren’t published.
9. Youngblood Law, PLLC
Youngblood Law practices from 2501 Parkview Drive in Fort Worth and publishes a long guide to military divorce in Texas rather than a practice page, complete with a firm video on jurisdiction. Paul N. Youngblood, the founder, holds a Superb peer rating on Avvo and has appeared on Fort Worth Magazine’s Top Attorneys list; Holly L. Youngblood, an attorney and the firm’s COO, handles large-asset and business-valuation cases. Both say their own experience of divorce and blended families shapes the firm’s approach.
- Two routes to Texas jurisdiction for service members
- Remote court appearances
- Possession schedules with travel terms, including who pays and where exchanges happen
- Make-up time provisions for possession lost to deployment
- SCRA, USFSPA and TRICARE overview
- Online booking for consultations
The guide is thorough on custody logistics for parents who live far apart. The firm runs a four-and-a-half-day week, closing at noon on Fridays.
Consults and fees: free consultation booked online; fees aren’t published.
10. Cordell & Cordell
Cordell & Cordell is a national firm whose attorneys practice family law only, with a Fort Worth office at 801 Cherry Street, Suite 275, staffed by attorneys Jasmine Avery and Grayson B. Ford. Its military family law page is national rather than Texas-specific, but it is precise on federal points: which pay items count toward child support, how Family Care Plans work, and the rule that applying for an SCRA stay doesn’t count as an appearance for jurisdiction. The firm has handled family matters since 1990, and its military page addresses itself to male service members.
- BAH, BAS, hazard, special and combat pay in child support
- SCRA stays for Reserve and Guard members called to active duty
- Domicile, jurisdiction and the USFSPA
- Case example of a court lacking jurisdiction to divide a pension without the member’s consent
- Filing at the Tarrant County Family Law Center, with a note that Tarrant has no standing orders
- Spanish spoken at the Fort Worth office
The office serves Arlington, Keller and Southlake as well as Fort Worth.
Consults and fees: a no-obligation consult with an attorney, and a limited-time 10 percent discount on attorney rates for eligible new military clients; specific rates aren’t published.
Factors to weigh before you hire
Drills, deployment and hearing logistics
Ask how the firm handles a client who can’t be in the room. Tarrant County’s family courts hold most hearings by Zoom, so the practical questions are whether the firm will prepare you for a remote hearing, how it gets documents signed from a ship or a forward base, and whether it will request an SCRA stay when orders make a date impossible. Firms that describe email, phone and mail workflows for deployed clients have thought about this. A workspace you can open at 3 a.m. in another time zone answers the same question a different way.
Retired pay and the 10/10 line
Under federal law, a Texas court may divide disposable retired pay as community property, and the decree has to say so in terms DFAS accepts. The 10/10 rule decides only whether DFAS itself pays the former spouse’s share: that requires ten years of marriage overlapping ten years of creditable service. Fall short of the 10/10 requirement and an otherwise valid court-ordered share can still exist, but DFAS cannot make the direct payments. DFAS direct payments are capped at 50 percent of disposable retired pay. Ask any firm you interview to explain that distinction in its own words, because several local web pages get it wrong.
Custody when orders move a parent
Texas Family Code Subchapter L covers custody during deployment: temporary orders, a designated person who can exercise the deployed parent’s possession, expedited hearings and extra time after the deployment ends. A good Fort Worth military lawyer drafts the possession schedule with travel in it from the start, including who pays for flights and where exchanges happen.
How the fee is set
Only two firms on this list publish anything about their rates: one charges by the hour on a scale tied to rank, and one offers a temporary percentage discount on its rates for new military clients. The rest quote after a consultation. Marble prices each step before it starts. Whichever model you pick, get the terms in writing before the first filing.
Texas military divorce rules in brief
Filing in Tarrant County as a service member
Texas Family Code section 6.301 requires six months in Texas and 90 days in the county before filing. Two separate rules adjust that for service members. Under section 6.303, a Texan who left Tarrant County on military orders keeps Texas and county residence while away; time served out of state or overseas counts as time at home. Under section 6.304, a person who was never a Texas resident but has been stationed at Texas installations for the last six months, and at an installation in the county for the last 90 days, is treated as a resident, and so is the spouse who came with them. Time stationed outside Texas doesn’t count toward section 6.304. Section 6.302 also lets a spouse living elsewhere file in the county where the Texas-domiciled spouse lives.
SCRA stays
Under 50 U.S.C. section 3932, a member in service, or within 90 days of leaving it, can ask the court to pause a civil case, including a custody case. The application needs a letter explaining how duty prevents an appearance and when the member could appear, plus a letter from the commanding officer. The court must grant a stay of at least 90 days and can extend it; if it refuses an extension, it has to appoint counsel. Applying doesn’t waive any defense. Military OneSource confirms the protections cover Guard and reserve members on active duty. The stay pauses a case; it doesn’t bar one.
The 60-day wait
Section 6.702 keeps a Texas court from granting a divorce before the 60th day after filing. The exceptions involve a family violence conviction or deferred adjudication, or an active protective or magistrate’s order.
Health coverage, housing and the move home
TRICARE continues for a former spouse who meets the 20/20/20 rule: a marriage that lasted 20 years, a member who served 20 creditable years, and 20 years in which the two overlapped. Under 20/20/15, with 15 years of overlap, coverage lasts one year after the divorce. Both end on remarriage or on enrollment in an employer health plan, and CHCBP can bridge up to 36 months after TRICARE stops. Installation family housing ends within 30 days, in most cases, of the service member or the family moving out. When a nonmilitary spouse returns home from an overseas station, the military may pay the moving expenses.
Choosing a Fort Worth military divorce lawyer
Start with the two things base counsel can’t give you: a filing in Tarrant County and someone to stand in front of the judge. Then sort the firms by what your case needs. A pension split with a decade of reserve points in it rewards a firm that talks about DFAS language and retirement orders without prompting. A custody fight across a deployment rewards one that drafts make-up time and travel terms into the order. A family on a junior enlisted budget rewards a fee model it can see the end of.
Marble Law is the pick for the last group and for anyone who expects to run the case from a distance, because every step carries a price you approve first and the whole file lives online. The nine Tarrant County firms behind it offer decades of local courtroom time, board certifications and, in Carole Cross’s case, a practice built around military families. Any military divorce lawyer in Fort Worth worth hiring will explain the 10/10 rule, the SCRA stay and the two residency routes without looking them up. Ask, and listen for the answer.
