Know your parental rights in a child custody or divorce case in Texas

Many people enter into a family law case in Texas with the mistaken idea that they are, above all else, attempting to win as much time with their children as possible. Every other issue comes in a distant second to being able to tuck their little ones into bed at night as often as possible. As a parent of two small kids, I will not disagree that being with your children is among the most important aspects of parenting. Without it, everything else doesn't amount to much.

As much as it may surprise you to learn, I think there is an aspect of your divorce or child custody case that is even more important than a possession or visitation schedule. Specifically, I believe that your ability to make decisions for your child after your divorce is essential. It is so important that I wanted to devote a chunk of today's blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan discussing that very subject.

The best interests of your child are what matters.

We hear all the time about doing something in the best interests of a person, a group of people, or a fill-in-the-blank. That is also the legal standard that a judge will use in your child custody or divorce case if you ever sit before a court in a temporary orders hearing or trial. When it comes to your kids, the judge will need to decide what alternative, usually one posed by you and the other by your spouse or ex-spouse, is best for your kids.

It is a purposefully vague and open-ended standard that allows Texas family court judges to use their experience, intuition, and the law as a basis for deciding what circumstances will best enable your child to thrive and succeed as they grow older. What you want and what your spouse wants is not relevant here. It could be that what you wish to coincides with what is in your child's best interests, which in that case is a good thing. However, the judge won't be overly concerned with your wants versus what is in the best interests of your child.

Your child's mental health, physical well-being, the stability of their home environment, and conflict minimization are all crucial factors that judges will use to consider what ultimately is in your child's best interest.

You will need to figure out a way to tolerate your ex-spouse.

The irony of all ironies when talking about family law cases is that although you are working towards ending a relationship with your spouse, the truth is that you are also working at creating a bond with that person through parenting a child despite living in the same house. Think about how difficult it can be to raise your child with another person who lives in the same home as you do. Now imagine how difficult it will get to do that when you only talk occasionally and never see one another.

Think again if you have kids for those of you who are celebrating your divorce as the end of the days when you and your spouse have to work together or even communicate. The burden will be placed squarely on your shoulders to work together to raise your child. The parenting orders of your divorce decree will force you to do so. Your child's well-being will benefit greatly if you can look past your differences and coordinate and collaborate on how to raise a child after a divorce.

You are the adult in the room. Your child is a child. You may look to your older child as a confidant of sorts. You may look to your younger child as a distraction and perhaps a reminder of a more innocent time in your life. However, none of this changes that you are grown up, and your child is a child. You have to do the changing once a divorce begins. Your child is busy learning how to grow up and develop into a solid citizen.

Think about your ex-spouse as someone with whom you don't have to be best friends, but you do have a common goal: to help a little person create success in life. Different people define success in different ways, and that in and of itself is a challenge for two people who probably don't see eye to eye. Remember that the more you fight and go back and forth with your ex-spouse, the person who is hurt the most by that is your child. This is the time that you could have devoted to them.

What are your rights as a parent in Texas?

Whether you are married, single, or somewhere in between, all parents have the same rights in conjunction with their children. The exception is if you have been to court and have had a judge issue orders regarding your parental rights. In that case, those rights that you have could have been expanded or contracted by some measure based on your case's circumstance.

We can go over a handful of those rights that most parents have in Texas. These are the rights you will be pushing for in your family law case.

First off, you have the right to be able to work with your child's other parent when it comes to making decisions regarding your child's health, education, and well-being. For people who have never been to court, the assumption under our state laws is that you and your child's other parents make decisions that are in the best interests of your child. The most fundamental areas that we, as parents, are entrusted with when it comes to decision-making are in school, at the doctor, and in any place of worship.

Next, consider how important it is to request and receive information about your child from their school, the doctor, or the other parent. To not be able to receive test results from a doctor or a report card from school can severely disconnect you as a parent from the life of your child. Similarly, if your child's other parent takes your child to the doctor, you have the right to ask them to provide you with a copy of any paperwork from either the school or the doctor.

So much of your child's life revolves around their social engagements, extracurricular activities, and school pursuits. You have the right to attend any of these events. You cannot break the law or the terms of your court orders while at one of these events, but even if it is not "your weekend," you can go to your daughter's basketball game. It may be awkward to see your ex-spouse there, but this gets back to working with them even in circumstances that don't always feel natural.

One last right that is very important to note is the right to make decisions for your child when it comes to emergency medical or dental procedures that may be necessary to save your child's life. Hopefully, something like this never comes up for your child. However, if it does, you will be in a position to be able to consent to surgical intervention that is needed to save the life of your child. In most circumstances, when it comes to the surgery, you would need your ex-spouse's consent to allow your child to get a procedure done. However, when time is of the essence, you can move forward with surgery even without your spouse's express written consent.

Duties of raising a child in Texas

Just as there are rights that you are entitled to as a parent in Texas, you are also duty-bound to provide your children with certain conditions, items, and essentials that will allow him or them to live.

We just finished talking about having the right to access medical information about your child and consent to emergency procedures on his behalf. A duty that you have associated with these rights is to inform your child's other parent about any vital information regarding their health, education, or general welfare.

Hopefully, two duties you have that will never be relevant to you or your child are the twin duties to notify the other parent if your child resides in the same home as a person who is the subject of a protective order or is a registered sex offender. You can look to the language of your final divorce decree to see just what is expected of you in these areas. This is intended to allow the other parent an opportunity to assess the situation and be aware of any circumstances that could potentially put your child at risk of harm.

Superior rights of the custodial parent

So far, we have been discussing rights and duties that you and your child's other parent possession in tandem with one another. I want to let you know that if you are named as the parent who has the right to determine your child's primary residence, there are two rights that you will hold over and above any of those for the other parent.

Those rights are the exclusive right to determine the child's primary residence and the exclusive right to give a receipt for child support payment. You are then responsible for taking those child support payments and utilizing them to better your child.

In most circumstances, these are the two rights that you or your ex-spouse will hold that are superior to the other parent's rights. It is assumed that you and your ex-spouse have essentially equal rights in your child's best interests. This is known as a joint managing conservatorship of your child.

The most significant area of contention in a divorce: determining which parent gets to determine where your child lives primarily

In most family law battles, it is almost always the truth that the most highly contested issue is primarily where the child should live. Having this right means that you can decide where your child lives, where he goes to school, and what he does most days during the school year. Often, a geographic restriction limits how far a child can live from their other parent. Many families use Harris County and any other county contiguous to Harris.

Others pick a school district where their child is currently enrolled. The point is that the court wants to do everything it can to encourage both you and the other parent to develop meaningful relationships with your child without fear of that child being moved away.

More about the right to designate the child's primary residence will be discussed tomorrow.

We will pick up right where we left off today in tomorrow's blog post. In the meantime, if you have any questions or seek clarification on anything you read today, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week here in our office. These consultations are an excellent opportunity to learn more about your case and our office.

Our attorneys and staff take a great deal of pride in representing the people in our community. These folks were in the same position you are now- a little worried about their family and not knowing exactly where to turn next. We want to educate our clients about their cases so that they are equipped to make decisions that will positively impact themselves and their families now and in the years to come.

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Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC | Houston, Texas Child Custody Lawyers

The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, routinely handles matters that affect children and families. If you have questions regarding child custody, it's essential to speak with one of our Houston , TX, child custody lawyers right away to protect your rights.

Our child custody lawyers in Houston, TX, are skilled at listening to your goals during this trying process and developing a strategy to meet those goals. Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC by calling (281) 810-9760 or submit your contact information in our online form. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, handles child custody cases in Houston, Texas, Cypress, Klein, Humble, Kingwood, Tomball, The Woodlands, Houston, the FM 1960 area, or surrounding areas, including Harris County, Montgomery County, Liberty County, Chambers County, Galveston County, Brazoria County, Fort Bend County, and Waller County.