If you and your children’s other parent are together, your parental rights – except under extreme circumstances – are above question. However, if you and your children’s other parent are divorcing, are already divorced, or are simply no longer a couple, the matter of your parental rights can prove challenging.
Your parental rights are important and worth protecting. Having an experienced Austin parents’ rights attorney in your corner can make a significant difference in the outcome of your case.
Parental Rights
Parents in the State of Texas have rights and responsibilities concerning their children. When the parents are a couple, they share these rights and shoulder these responsibilities together. However, when the parents are not together, these rights and responsibilities are addressed in accordance with their child custody arrangements.
Texas courts focus on upholding the children’s best interests, and the goal is for children to remain close to both parents. In response, Texas courts strive to maximize each parent’s rights and responsibilities to the degree possible.
Legal Custody
A primary component of parenting is making primary decisions on behalf of our children. These are the decisions that guide their upbringing and help mold their lives. Decision-making authority in this arena is referred to as legal custody. The kinds of decisions involved go beyond everyday concerns to more fundamental issues like the following:
Where your children attend school or daycare
The health care your children receive
The extracurriculars and travel that your children participate in
Where your children make their primary residence
Your children’s religious education
You and your children’s other parent can share joint legal custody and continue to make these decisions together, but there are other options that include the following arrangements:
Sharing joint legal custody with one of you having the authority to break a tie when you’re unable to reach a consensus
Dividing the decision-making authority according to the category of decision that needs to be made
Assigning one parent sole legal custody
Physical Custody
Physical custody sets the parenting time schedule that determines when the children are with one parent or the other. Some parents share this time equally. Others choose to give one parent the primary custodial role – having the children for the majority of overnights – while the other parent has visitation.
When parents are able to resolve this term between themselves, they can adopt whatever schedule makes sense for them. If they are not able to come to an agreement, the court addresses both situations with a range of standard schedules.
Considering Your Children’s Best Interests
Your parental rights will be addressed in relation to your children’s best interests, and Texas courts look to best interest factors like the following when making child custody decisions:
Each parent’s preference
The preference of each child who is considered mature enough to voice his or her reasonable opinion
Each child’s physical, educational, and emotional needs, including any special needs
Each parent’s ability to effectively address these needs
Each parent’s commitment to effectively supporting the other’s close, ongoing relationship with the children
Each parent’s commitment to effective co-parenting
Whether addiction, domestic violence, child abuse, or child neglect is an issue
Each parent’s overall mental and physical health
Any other factors the court deems relevant to the child custody case at hand
Learn more about how these factors may apply in your case by consulting with a skilled Austin family law attorney.
Determining Parentage
When a couple is married at the time of a child’s birth, the law deems them the child’s legal parents. However, when the parents are not married, paternity – or legal fatherhood – must be established. If both parties agree on the matter, paternity can be established via legal filing. Otherwise, paternity must be established through court-ordered DNA testing.
Establishing parental rights becomes more complicated for same-sex couples. While the State of Texas employs presumptions for parental rights, these presumptions do not extend to LGTBQ couples – who must take additional steps to protect each parent’s rights.
Second-Parent Adoption Texas
Second-parent adoption in Texas allows a child’s second parent – who is not a biological parent – to legally adopt the child and assume the parental rights and responsibilities that come with parenthood. While second-parent adoption is distinct from traditional adoption, the process is identical.
After filing adoption papers in Texas, the path forward is legally challenging and can take several months to complete. Having a seasoned Texas parents’ rights attorney on your side is always to your advantage.
Stepparent Adoption Texas
When neither member of the couple is one of the child’s biological parents but one spouse has already adopted him or her, the other can gain parental rights through stepparent adoption. While stepparent rights in Texas are a distant second to parental rights, stepparent adoption bridges this divide.
Child Custody Modifications
The child custody terms you received upon divorce or breakup may have worked well at the time of your divorce, but times change, and your family’s needs evolve. If your current parenting time schedule no longer works for you and your children, the court will consider your request for a modification.
Just like your original child custody terms, any modifications will be predicated on your children’s best interests at the time the modification is made. Consult with a seasoned Austin family lawyer to discuss your child custody modification case.
A Material and Substantial Change
In addition to supporting your children’s best interests, the proposed child custody modification must be based on a material and substantial change in the involved circumstances. All of these situations are common examples of a material and substantial change:
Either parent’s work schedule has changed considerably.
The child’s schedule has changed considerably, including school activities, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, and more.
The child has a driver’s license and a car.
The modification addresses travel miles related to visitation.
The child is old enough and mature enough to voice a reasonable preference on the matter.
Making the Modification between Yourselves
If you and your children’s other parent are able to reach an agreement regarding a child custody modification, you’re doing well, but you shouldn’t stop there. The bottom line is that the original court ruling remains legally binding until it’s modified, which could leave you in contempt of court if your ex changes his or her mind later.
To protect your parental rights to the fullest and to allow you to enforce your child custody terms, you’ll need to address your child custody modification with the court. If you and your ex present a united front, the court is likely to accept your proposed modification. However, if you need the court’s intervention, the ruling will be guided by the best interest factors discussed above.
Child Support
When one parent takes on the primary custodial role, the other parent generally pays child support. However, the parent who is the higher earner typically has the child support obligation, regardless of the parenting time schedule.
The amount paid is determined by the number of children supported, and the basic calculation is as follows:
20 percent of the parent’s net income for 1 child
25 percent of the parent’s net income for 2 children
30 percent of the parent’s net income for 3 children
35 percent of the parent’s net income for 4 children
40 percent of the parent’s net income for 5 or more children
Child support is calculated in accordance with the payor’s net income, which is the amount he or she earns minus allowed deductions, such as taxes and union dues.
FAQ
Parental rights are of primary concern, and it’s not uncommon to have pressing questions on the topic. The answers to the following frequently asked questions can help. If you have additional questions about your case, contact an Austin family law attorney to get the answers you seek.
What Rights Do I Always Have as a Parent?
Unless the court has limited either parent’s rights, the following rights apply to both parents:
The right to receive information about the children’s health, education, and welfare
The right to confer with the other parent – to the degree possible – regarding the children’s health, education, and welfare
The right to access the children’s medical, educational, and psychological records
The right to consult with school officials regarding the children’s educational status, participation in school activities, and welfare
The right to be listed on the children’s records as an emergency contact
The right to consent to emergency medical or surgical treatment that relates to your children’s immediate health and safety
The right to manage the estate of each of your children – to the degree that it was created by you or your family
What Responsibility Do I Have to My Ex in Terms of Sharing Information?
Except when the court rules otherwise, each parent is responsible for sharing important information pertaining to their shared children’s health, education, and welfare with the other. The following additional information must also be shared between spouses:
Your new address after a move
Your new phone number after a change
What If I Plan on Moving with the Children?
Moving with the shared children can prove complicated. Even if you are the primary custodial parent, moving more than 100 miles away from your current residence will likely need to be addressed by the court. Child custody rulings are based on the children’s best interests, and the court will need to consider many factors in relation to your proposed move.
Can I Deny Visitation until My Ex Pays Child Support?
You cannot withhold visitation from your ex, even if he or she is not making the required child support payments. The court is always focused on the children’s best interests, and withholding visitation only compounds the negative consequences of unpaid child support.
It’s universally accepted that – in the vast majority of cases – children’s best interests are best served when they are allowed to regularly spend time with and deepen their relationships with both parents. As such, refusing to allow visitation does not support your children’s best interests.
If your ex isn’t paying child support according to court orders, the best course of action is to take the matter up with the court. A seasoned Austin family lawyer can help you enforce your child custody orders and get the support you need.
What If My Children Don’t Respond Well to Going Back and Forth Between Our Homes?
Divorce is hard on children, and it’s your job as a parent to make it less so. While going back and forth between houses can be challenging, your children will follow your cues. Maintaining a positive attitude and honestly addressing their emotions will help calm your children’s anxieties and bolster their peace of mind about their new circumstances.
If, on the other hand, you’re genuinely concerned about your children’s health, welfare, safety, or well-being when they are with their other parent, you shouldn’t hesitate to address the matter with the court. A dedicated Austin parents’ rights attorney can provide you with the skilled legal guidance you need.
What If I Have a Scheduled Conflict that Interferes with Visitation?
No matter how carefully you schedule parenting time, life has a way of intervening. If you anticipate a situation in which you won’t be able to pick your children up when you’re scheduled to or won’t be able to provide them with the care they need during a scheduled visit, you should inform their other parent as soon as possible.
Court orders generally allow parents to swap or reschedule visitation in the face of life’s surprises, and affording your ex with ample warning sets the right tone. A healthy co-parenting relationship involves cooperation. Even if you aren’t quite there yet, pitching in for one another when scheduling conflicts arise shows your commitment to your children’s best interests.
An Experienced Austin Parents’ Rights Attorney Can Help
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard – proudly serving Austin – is a trusted parents’ rights attorney who appreciates the significance of your concerns and has the legal insight and resources to help protect your parental rights.
We offer a FREE consultation for family law cases, so please do not wait to contact us online or call us at (254) 781-4222 for more information today.