Family law is an important and complex branch of the law that addresses concerns families face. These include divorce, post-decree modifications, child custody arrangements, and child support outside of divorce, adoption, and issues that Child Protective Services handles. If you have a family law case, you are likely experiencing emotional upheaval in addition to the legal challenges you face. Help to ensure an optimal case outcome by discussing your unique situation with an experienced Troy family lawyer today.  

Family Law Cases Often Involve Children

Many family law cases relate to children, including child custody arrangements, child support, and post-decree modifications for both. Texas always bases these determinations on the best interests of the involved children. 

Parents Can Generally Expect to Share Parenting Time

As long as there is not a compelling reason for limiting the amount of time one parent spends with the children or for requiring supervision, parents can expect to share possession and access rights. This includes parenting time, and the prevailing wisdom is that spending a significant amount of time with both parents bolsters children’s best interests.

One Parent May Take on the Primary Custodial Role

Sometimes, parenting time is shared more or less equally, but in other situations, it makes more sense for one parent to take on the primary custodial role. This means having the children for the majority of their overnights and determining where they make their primary residence within the geographic restrictions set by the court.  

The kinds of factors that tend to support one parent assuming the primary custodial role include the following:

• When the parent has played a far more significant role in raising the children to date
• When the status quo in terms of the children’s current home, school, and community is serving them well
• When the arrangement simply makes sense in terms of the other parent’s work schedule

Both Parents Are Responsible for Supporting Their Children Financially

When parents are no longer together, they each continue to bear a financial responsibility for their children. This is addressed by child support, which is calculated according to well-established state guidelines. 

When neither parent has the primary custodial role, the higher earner typically makes the child support payments. When there is a primary custodial parent, however, the other parent can generally expect to bear the child support obligation.

Additional Divorce Terms

In addition to child custody arrangements and child support, divorcing couples must address the division of marital property and spousal maintenance. 

The Division of Marital Property

Marital property in a Texas divorce refers to everything that the couple came to own during the marriage, whether separately or together. All these assets must be divided between spouses upon divorce, and a wide range of relevant factors are taken into consideration in the process.

Assets owned prior to marriage and kept separate during the marriage are separate assets. The spouse who claims that an asset is separate, however, must prove its separate nature because Texas begins with the presumption that all assets are marital.  

Spousal Maintenance

Spousal maintenance, or alimony, is only awarded under specific circumstances. To begin, the divorce must have left one spouse without the financial resources to cover their own minimum reasonable needs. Further, the other spouse must have the means to help.

Divorce Term Modifications

Other than the division of marital property, divorce terms can be modified after the fact. Such modifications, however, must be based on a significant change in relevant circumstances. 

Adoption

The adoption process involves a wide range of legal intricacies, but it is an excellent opportunity to grow a family and to strengthen family bonds. Adoption in Texas is always based on the children’s best interests, and the process includes each of the following critical steps:

• Terminating the biological parents’ parental rights
• Working closely with a trusted family attorney
• Completing the home study
• Being matched with a child
• Having the child placed in the home
• Finalizing the adoption process, which involves background checks as well as the court’s approval for establishing the adoptive parents’ parental rights

Child Protective Services

Child Protective Services (CPS) in Texas is within the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). Their role is investigating reports of child abuse and neglect, as well as providing family support and initiating cases that are designed to protect children. This can ultimately result in reunification efforts, placement with a relative, or termination of parental rights.

Discuss Your Case with an Experienced Troy Family Attorney Today

Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is an accomplished Troy family lawyer with an impressive track record for skillfully protecting our valued clients’ rights – in focused pursuit of advantageous case resolutions. We are here for you, too, so please do not delay contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 for more information today.