Prosper, TX Fathers' Rights Lawyer

Attorney Helping Fathers Protect Their Parental Rights in Prosper, TX

Married parents who choose to get divorced or unmarried parents who are separated will need to determine how they will address ongoing issues related to the custody of their children. In many of these cases, fathers may be unsure about their rights, and they may be worried that they will be forced to give up some of their parental responsibilities and face limitations on the time they are able to spend with their kids. When addressing these matters, fathers will want to work with a family law attorney to make sure they will be able to play a close and continuing role in their children's lives.

At Pfister Family Law, we provide fathers with dedicated legal representation, helping them address child custody issues successfully. Our attorneys have multiple decades of legal experience, and we will aggressively advocate for your rights. Whether you need to establish paternity for your child, protect your ability to make decisions about how your children will be raised, or ensure that your kids will be able to spend enough time with you, we can provide the legal help you need.

Fathers' Rights in Child Custody Cases

Fathers will have parental rights if they are named as a child's legal parent. A man is presumed to be a child's father if he was married to the mother at the time of the child's birth or if the child was born within 300 days after the couple's marriage ended through divorce or annulment. If parents were unmarried when a child was born, a man will be presumed to be the father if he lived in the same home as the child and represented himself as the child's parent during the first two years of the child's life. Unmarried parents can also voluntarily acknowledge that a man is the child's father, or parentage may be established by a court after DNA testing is conducted to verify that the man is the child's biological father.

Fortunately for fathers, Texas law takes a gender-neutral approach toward making decisions about child custody. Rather than presuming that either a mother or a father would be the best parent to make decisions about their children and provide ongoing care, courts look at what would be in children's best interests. In most cases, family courts prefer to have parents serve as joint managing conservators of their children. This means that parents will have the right to share in making decisions about how their children should be raised, and these decisions may include matters related to education, healthcare, or other areas of children's lives.

While joint managing conservatorship may allow parents to share legal custody of children, one parent will often be named the custodial parent. This parent will have the majority of the time with the couple's children and the exclusive right to decide where children will live. Even if a father is not named the custodial parent, he will still have the right to spend reasonable amounts of time with his children. Usually, the custodial parent's right to decide where children will live will be subject to geographical restrictions, which ensures that a mother cannot move children away from the father without receiving permission from the father or the court.

Contact Our Prosper, TX Family Law Attorney

If you are a father who is involved in a divorce or child custody case, you will want to take steps to protect your parental rights and ensure that you can maintain a good relationship with your children in the years to come. Pfister Family Law can provide you with legal representation in these types of family law matters, and we will fight to make sure your children's best interests are protected in the decisions that are made.

Contact our office today by calling 972-954-6455 to set up a consultation. Whether you are located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Collin County, Denton County, Tarrant County, or anywhere else in the state of Texas, we can provide you with representation and help you reach a positive outcome to your case.