Changing or modifying court orders related to child custody is certainly possible. You need to have a plan to achieve your goals, however. When you think through all the issues you want to change on behalf of your child custody orders where do you start? What issues are the most important to your child? What issues are the most important to you? Before you can consider these important questions, you need to be able to understand the modification law in Texas.
This is where the Law Office of Bryan Fagan comes in to assist you and your family. We offer you several resources on these subjects. What’s more- they are all free and accessible. We strive to put the cookies on a shelf where everyone can reach them. The resources we provide to you are understandable, relatable, and most importantly- accurate. We serve our clients with the heart of a teacher as well as an unmatched motivation for success.
Interested in learning more? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan today. We offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone and via video. When you have a strong base of knowledge on a subject you gain confidence to move forward. That is exactly what we aim to do with these consultations Contact us today to learn more.
What is child custody?
Child custody refers generally to the relationship between parents and children. As a parent, you have a very special and integral role to play in raising your child. The state of Texas agrees with this assessment. Custody of your child encompasses everything from visitation and possession of your child to their financial support and well-being.
More specifically, child custody equates to “conservatorship” in the Texas Family Code. However, custody is such a widely used term in Texas family law that you will see the Law Office of Bryan Fagan use it widely in this modification primer. However, the more correct term is conservatorship. When you see “conservatorship” start to think about the rights and duties concerning your child.
These rights and duties are a part of your parenting life from the moment your child is born. Mothers and fathers are conservators as soon as legal parenthood attaches to them. As a mother, you are a conservator of your child from the time your child first takes a breath. The same is true for married fathers. Unmarried fathers can attain conservator status in several different ways, as well.
What are conservatorship orders?
Conservatorship orders are a listing of all the rights and duties that you have concerning your child. Think about all of the different areas of your child’s life. Interested in the rights you have regarding educational decisions on behalf of your daughter? Conservatorship orders encapsulate those elements. Want to be able to understand better who has to pay child support. In your conservatorship orders, you can find these elements, as well.
Everything from the right to consent to your child enrolling in the military to the duty to provide your child with health insurance is included in your conservatorship orders. Once you go through a divorce or child custody case you must learn these conservatorship orders as well as possible. This means reviewing them before signing your final orders. Once your family law case is over with that means reading through them periodically, as well.
These conservatorship orders form the backbone of your child custody orders. The aspiration with going through a family law case is that you will never have to do so again. However, that is not always possible. This is what we are here to talk about. Changing or modifying conservatorship orders is not only possible but sometimes it is necessary. Here is what you need to know about how to modify your child custody orders.
Something no longer fits with your child custody orders
For starters, it is normal to notice that the child custody orders from your initial family law case no longer fit your family all that well. Think about these custody orders like a boy’s suit. When you bought him that suit at age five it fit him great. The sleeves were just the right length. The pants were a little baggy, but you assured yourself that he would grow into him. Everyone who saw your son in that suit commented that he looked so handsome.
Fast forward a few years. Now that suit doesn’t fit so nicely. The sleeves and pants are way too short. No longer baggy- you had to extend the waist so it could still fit your son. All in all that suit no longer fits, you can’t hide it. This metaphor also applies to child custody orders. What you had in place a few years ago may no longer work well.
What could happen over a few years with child custody orders? Let’s examine a situation that very well could mirror a situation that you are going through currently. Does any of the following sound familiar to you?
Does this situation fit your family?
The last time that your family went to court was five years ago. That was when you and your wife got divorced. At that time your son was eight years old. At that time your ex-wife was awarded primary conservatorship of your son. That means she was able to determine the primary residence of your son. With that came the right to receive child support payments from you. This made sense at the time given the age of your son. You also worked a job that required you to travel frequently.
Fast forward to today. There is a lot that has changed since that time. For one, you no longer work a job where you need to travel all the time. You were promoted two years ago and work from home now for the same company. Next, your child is older and wants to spend more time with you. As a result, you and your co-parent have not been explicitly following the child custody orders from your divorce five years ago. Your son tends to come to your house and spends more time with you now than previously.
All this adds up in your mind to a situation where you need to be able to address these changes in your life through these custody orders. You are not sure exactly how to do that, however. What you do know is that you would like to avoid a situation where you are involved in a long custody battle with your co-parent. She may not like the idea of you trying to modify custody. However, you want to avoid a battle with her. How can you do this?
Start here to avoid a modification battle with your co-parent
Learning the basics of a child custody modification has as much to do with learning your co-parent as it does with the law. Are you surprised to read that on a family law attorney’s website? It is understandable if you are. We will focus a great deal on the legalities of this process here on this webpage. However, we also want you to understand the importance of co-parenting, negotiation, and mediation throughout this process.
Ultimately, how you approach this case from the perspective of your co-parent will determine how smooth a process it is. There are some cases where you will not be able to avoid some rocky, bumpy parts of a case. Modifying huge portions of your child custody orders will see to it that you and your co-parent disagree or two. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t minimize the disagreements.
Minimizing disagreements opens several positive and powerful realities for your case. Number one, co-parenting and being honest with your co-parent increases the likelihood that you will achieve your most important goals in the modification. Don’t know what your most important goal is? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. We will help you turn your vague idea for a modification case into an intentional and goal-oriented effort to better the life of your child.
More benefits of an amicable child custody modification case
That’s not all, however. By working towards an amicable modification case, you allow your child the best opportunity to live out his or her best interests. This is the legal standard that you and your co-parent are presumed to uphold under the law. A court will be tasked to make decisions in the best interests of your child if your case makes it that far. Working with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan will help you avoid having to cross the threshold of a Texas family court any time soon.
Your best interests are not necessarily the same as your child’s best interests
This is a point that needs to be made. Unfortunately, a child custody modification case does not always have your best interests line up with your child’s best interests. For many of you, this realization may hit you like a ton of bricks. To think that what is in the best interests of your child may not be in your own best interests is difficult to contemplate. You’ve always considered yourself to act in your child’s best interests. However, there are many ways that your interests can diverge from the best interests of your child.
Bear this in mind as you proceed into your child custody modification case. What you are trying to accomplish in the modification case can make sense, be better logistically, or even be to your advantage without being in the best interests of your child. Sometimes in moving forward quickly in a modification case, this reality can be easy to lose track of. For that reason, it merits mentioning here in this space.
The well-being of your child mentally and emotionally- both now and in the future, factor into a best interests determination. Your ability to parent your child compared to the ability of your co-parent to do the same are also factors. The physical health and safety of your child matter. Health as far as any medical conditions, and who can better care for them, matters. Growth and development, fostering a relationship with extended family, and an ability to maintain family bonds all matter in this discussion.
Discussing the issues with your co-parent
Depending upon your relationship with your co-parent this may not be a viable option. However, you should investigate it as closely as possible. Before you file a modification case try to talk to your co-parent about the issue at hand. It may be that he or she won’t even consider discussing the subject with you. In that case, go about your business as planned.
However, if he or she will discuss your issues then that is a good sign. Going through the case and your thoughts on what needs to be updated or changed is fair. Allowing your co-parent to provide feedback to you is appropriate. The two of you may see eye to eye on these subjects more than you thought. In this case, negotiation on the subjects is possible. Middle ground cannot be found unless it is searched for.
Fostering an open and honest perspective with your co-parent throughout your relationship lays the foundation for having these types of discussions. This is not something you can start doing a week before you intend to file the modification case. Rather, these are steps you must take well before the case is filed. For this reason, showing respect to your co-parent is essential throughout your co-parenting relationship.
What is a material and substantial change in circumstances?
In a modification case, it is essential to have the proposed change be in the best interests of your child. However, in any modification case (whether it is related to child custody, or not) the proposed change must also be based on a material and substantial change in circumstances. That change must have been experienced by you, your opposing party, or your child since the last time you were in court for a family law case.
What is a material and substantial change, practically speaking? In a word- big. This needs to be a major change in circumstances to get your case across the finish line. A change that is significant enough to make the former court orders no longer workable. Not a little tedious or slightly uncomfortable. Rather, this change is something so major that it demands a judge revisit those court orders to look at more closely.
Do you have questions about whether the change in your case is “material and substantial”? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan if you do. This is not something that has a right/wrong or substantial/not substantial determination set up where a judge immediately knows the answer. Rather, this is subjective- in the eye of the beholder. What one judge thinks is a material and substantial change may not pass the test for another judge. This is a complicated issue that depends in large part on the facts of your case.
An experienced family law attorney is the great equalizer in a modification case
In a complex case like a modification, you are looking for advantages wherever you can find them. Looking for that advantage within the facts and circumstances of your case is reasonable. Trying to find that one fact, that one issue that will put your case over the top. However, if you do not know where to look it is hard to find that advantage. What can you do to help you pinpoint the issues in your case which are to your greatest advantage?
Working with the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan is a great way to gain this advantage. We are a group of attorneys who care about our clients and their families. We do not only represent our clients or advocate on their behalf. Rather, we serve our clients. This is the attitude that we enter into a family law case with.
We will help you develop a strategy for your case. Not sure if your facts measure up to being a material and substantial change in circumstances? Contact our office and we can set you up with a free consultation to ask questions and receive feedback. Not sure where to begin overall? Let us go over the elements of a modification case with you. We will tie these elements of a case into your facts and circumstances. From there, you will have a much better idea of where and how to proceed.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material contained in today’s blog post, 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 in person, over the phone, and via video. Interested in learning more about how your family is impacted by the material in this blog post? Contact us today. Thank you for spending part of your day with us today. We look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow. We share unique and interesting information on Texas family law each day of the week.
Evan Hochschild was raised in Houston, TX and graduated from Cypress Creek High School. He went on to graduate from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX with an undergraduate degree in Political Science. While in college, Evan was a four-year letterman on the Cross Country team.
Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle before him, Evan attended law school after he completed in his undergraduate studies. He graduated from St. Mary’s University School of Law and has practiced in a variety of areas in the law- including family law.
Mr. Hochschild is guided by principles which place the interests of clients first. Additionally, Evan seeks to provide information and support for his clients with the heart of a teacher.
Evan and his wife have four small children together. He enjoys afternoons out and about with his family, teaching Sunday school at his church and exercising. A veteran attorney of fourteen years, Mr. Hochschild excels in communicating complex ideas in family law simply and directly.
