Texas Family Legal Questions

Your marriage and your loss of your job are both material changes in circumstances which would support a modification of the medical support order, including quite likely a modification to end it altogether.  If both you and your wife agree, it is likely that such a modification can be accomplished by a competent family law attorney quickly and relatively easily.... Read More

Whether your judge will lift or change the geographic restriction (GR) swings on convincing the judge that such a change is in the "best interests" of the child.   This is a fact specific test.   That is, the more facts you have that such a change is in your daughter's best interest, the more likely the judge will lift the restriction.   In addition, the purpose of the GR is so the dad can have regular and meaningful contact.   If he is not exercising that right, the purpose behind the GR is no longer valid.... Read More

The fact that your ex is not working is not on its own enough to get the court to modify visitation.  However, if the children are not being properly cared for or are not thriving in the care of their mother, then it might be wise to explore the possibility of modifying custody so that the children would live with you primarily.  It is impossible to evaluate the strength of such a case in this type of format.  The best thing you can do is to reach out to a family law attoney and have a consultation where you can discuss the specifics of your situation and get a much better idea of whether your potential case is strong enough to take the chance to file.... Read More

If there has never been an order in place regarding your children then it sounds like TX would be considered the home state of the children and all litigation regarding custody and visitation and access should be tried in TX.  However, if there is already an order in place from another state, then that state would have to relinquish jurisdiction in order for TX to exercise jurisdiction.  In terms of your question regarding joint custody, I think you need to understand the terminology used by the Courts in Texas.  We do not give a parent "custody."  Texas will appoint parents, or in some cases, non-parents as conservators of the children.  The most common type of conservatorship ordered is called joint managing conservatorship.  However, this label can mean many different things.  If the parties live close together it CAN mean that you are both equals in terms of decision making and time with the kids.  But most of the time one joint managing conservator still has the majority of possession time with kids and the other parent visits with parent via a standard possession order schedule.  I say all this just to let you know that even if your children's father is awarded joint conservatorship that doesn't necessarily mean that he would not have to pay child support.... Read More

The answer is in your order, and the order may be enforced. You should review the section of your order where it likely says that you are both to pay 50% of unreimbursed medical bills. If you have a standard order, your ex is probably also ordered to carry the health insurance or reimburse you (or the state) for the premium you pay for the child. A standard order says that you must give notice of the bill in writing. That may include email. In order to get your ex to pay, you may have to file an enforcement. The court will require that you gave him notice in writing so be sure to read the order and follow the instructions if you plan to proceed with an enforcement.... Read More

The court will likely require that the biological father do a paternity test after you file for divorce, and you will need to indicate in your divorce petition that he is the father. The first step is to file for divorce. If you have an email for your husband in Mexico, you may get him to sign a waiver of citation so you can move forward with the divorce.... Read More

If the house and car were paid off prior to the marriage, then it almost certainly falls under your separate property instead of community property, and therefore your estranged husband has no legal interest in either. However, if you used any community funds on the house or the car while married, your husband may be entitled to some reimbursement. For example, job income is considered community property, so if you used money you earned from working to do an expensive repair on the car or to renovate the house, your husband may be entitled to some dollar amount for that. There is also an offset for his reimbursement claim based on how much he benefitted from that expense. For example, if you used your community funds to repair the car but it was also his primary means of getting to work, his reimbursement claim would be reduced because of that. If you're planning on getting a divorce, it's important to speak with an attorney based on the specific facts of your case to ensure that any reimbursement claims your husband may have are dealt with appropriately to protect you from having to over-reimburse your husband.... Read More

The new agreement takes the place of the old agreement as long as it covers all the provisions required in an order. A final order modifying the old order needs to be drafted based on the Mediated Settlement Agreement. Sometimes, the provisions of a previous order are still in affect if they are not modified by the new order. However, in this case, the provisions for no child support would replace the previous child support order. (Be aware that in some counties, the attorney general will contest this type of order if the child is on Medicaid.)... Read More

You need to know whether you're the father or not before you consider child support issues. In Texas, when determining child support, the court would want to know if you had reason to know that you were the father or if you had no idea you were the father. Since it's been so long, it's not likely that you would have to pay child support for 10 years of the child's life. You should also find out if the mother told some other man that he was the father and if the child knows that man as the father. If you are the father, requesting to terminate your rights is not a good idea unless there is another man who has been acting as the child's father. The Texas Family Code contains a lot of reasons to request termination of parental rights, but avoiding child support is not one of them.... Read More

Unfortunately, it is common for the noncustodial parent to seek a 50/50 schedule with the goal of paying no child support. If the coparenting relationship is not good and if the dad does not already exercise his full possession time and ask for more time, it is not likely that he will get a 50/50 schedule ordered by the court. If a parent is not already super active in the children's lives, the court generally sees the request for 50/50 as a ploy to get out of paying child support. Also, a court could order a 50/50 schedule and still order child support to be paid. As far as your next steps, you should attend all the hearings. Your ex should file a suit for modification to be heard on his 50/50 request. However, the AG may ask you if you agree to the 50/50 schedule. If you do not agree, make sure to let the AG and the judge know that you want to keep the standard possession order in place.... Read More

Hi Stefani, Generally, yes. Depending on your county and your judge, if you show up at the hearing on Monday even without having filed a Motion for Continuance, the judge may just give you a continuance regardless. Obviously, if you can, it would be best to file a formal Motion for Continuance and in that Motion you would state that the purpose is to have time to retain an attorney. Please note though, that for many judges they will give you once continuance to find a lawyer, but if you haven't found one by the next hearing, they may not give you another for that purpose, so I would recommend you try to find one quickly. Best, James Ringel... Read More

It depends on the specifics, but as you describe it, not generally. She may be entitled to some reimbursement if community property funds were used to pay for improvements or repairs on the house, but since you bought it prior to marriage, it would be considered separate property and not something she'd be entitled to half of in the event of a divorce.   The above is assuming that when you say you bought the house prior to marriage, you mean you paid it off completely. If you purchased it prior to marriage but have been paying the mortgage while married, then you've almost certainly been using community property to make those payments (in Texas, income from your work while you're married is considered community property). In that case, she may be entitled to a significant chunk of the equity you have in the house.... Read More

Did you let the Attorney General know that there was family violence? That is very important so that your safety is protected in the order. Do you know if the order is a temporary order or did you sign a document for a final order?   It's not likely that the judge will flip custody just because the dad got an attorney, but you should certainly have an attorney to represent you. You are not entitled to a court-appointed attorney. You would have to hire your own attorney to represent you.... Read More

The most important question for you is whether you already have orders concerning your son. If the father does not have order adjudicating him to be the father then he is not legally the father of your son. If he does have orders adjudicating him as the father, then he would be the next person in line if something happens to you unless he agrees otherwise. Some people in this situation also ask if the dad's parental rights can be terminated. In your case, if he has already been adjudicated as the father of your child, he is not likely to terminate his parental rights. Courts generally do not terminate parental rights unless there is going to be an adoption of the child. If you already have orders, the best option is to just ask the dad if he would agree that your child stay with your relatives if something happends to you. Then you should get a document drafted that appoints your relatives as guardians of the children in the case of your incapacity or death. That would be done through an estate planning attorney. If there are no orders, then the dad would have to prove his paternity if he wanted to assert parental rights if you died before him.... Read More

In your SAPCR order you are probably required to give the other side notice of your intended move.  Once you provide this notice you may find that the other side files something with the Court seeking to modify the order to request that a geographic restriction be put in place. Obviously visitation under an SPO schedule may very likely be unworkable when the parents live that far apart.  You can seek to have visitation order amended and/or seek long distance travel provisions be inserted into the order.  If you file a Motion to Modify I would be prepared to expect that the other side may want to revisit child support issues, as the cost to exercise possession of child will be significantly higher than if everyone was still residing in Texas.  Usually in the standard language in many SAPCR orders the visitating parent is ordered to return the child to the custodial parent at the end of the visitation period.  However, if both parties live in the same county when the order is put in place and then the custodial parent moves out of county and the noncustodial parent does not move out of county, then effective on the date of the move you would be responsible for picking up the child from the noncustodial parent at the end of the visitation period. To maximize your chances of being able to relocate you should likely plan to work with an experienced family law attorney in your area.... Read More

If you were served with a Petition to Adjudicate Parentage and did not file a response with the Court then the Court could allow the other side to proceed against you on a default basis.  That would allow them to present evidence to the court and request whatever relief that they are requesting regarding conservatorship, visitation and access, and support.  Under those circumstances a judge could order child support without you agreeing to pay or having previously signed an acknowledgement of paternity.... Read More

If your order say $0.00 is to be paid each month, then that is what you owe.  However, I would want to double check that the actual court order signed by the Judge actually says zero.  Sometimes people refer to drafts of orders that may have been changed before they were submitted to the Court. Visitation with a 16 year old can be very difficult, especially when the child expresses a desire not to go. You can spend a lot of money trying to enforce the order, but a lot of judges take the position that if the child is refusing then the custodial parent is not actually denying the visitation.    ... Read More

If your girlfriend is married then her husband is the presumed legal father of any child born to her during their marriage.  You can sign an acknowledgment of paternity but her husband would need to sign the denial of paternity portion of the document for it to be valid.  However, if your girlfriend files for divorce then in the divorce the Court can make a finding that the child was not a child of the marriage and confirm your paternity of the child.... Read More