Sachse Child Custody Attorney

Child Custody Lawyer Serving Parents and Their Children Throughout Dallas and Collin Counties, Texas

Child custody in Texas involves more than deciding how much time you spend with your child. The court also decides who has the right to make important decisions about your child's life. Your parenting time and decision-making rights are also considered separately. Our Sachse child custody attorney can help you protect both.

Attorney Philip W. Moore brings more than 20 years of legal experience, and he approaches every custody case with the goal of protecting your rights as a parent.

How Texas Courts Allocate Conservatorship and Possession

Texas family law separates your parental rights from your parenting time. Conservatorship covers the rights and duties you have as a parent. That includes decisions about your child's education, medical care, and other major issues. "Possession and access" deals with when your child is with you and the other parent.

The court generally starts with the idea that joint managing conservatorship is in the child's best interests, unless family violence or another serious concern makes that inappropriate. Sharing conservatorship does not automatically mean sharing time equally.

In many cases, the court uses the standard possession order as a starting point for possession and access. You or the other parent may also receive the exclusive right to choose your child's primary residence, often subject to a geographic restriction.

Reaching an Agreement Instead of Going to Trial for Custody in TX

Most Texas custody cases end in an agreement between the parents. When parents reach an agreement, the court will generally sign an order that follows it, as long as the terms serve the child's best interests.

That gives you far more control than a hearing does. A judge who hears your case for a few hours cannot know that you work nights, or that your child has a standing Thursday therapy appointment. Good parenting agreements spell out exchange times and locations, holiday and summer schedules, who gets the first chance to watch the child when the other parent is unavailable, travel rules, and how the two of you will communicate. Vague wording tends to be what brings parents back to court.

Custody Cases Involving Children With Disabilities

Special needs children affect both the schedule and the long-term plan. A possession arrangement has to account for therapy appointments, equipment that lives in one home, medication routines, and whether your child handles frequent transitions well.

Decision-making rights may be more important in these cases. The right to consent to psychological treatment and the right to make educational decisions can matter more day to day than the number of overnights.

Support works differently here, too. A Texas court may order support for an indefinite period, continuing past your child's 18th birthday, if it finds all three of the following:

• Your child requires substantial care and personal supervision because of a mental or physical disability.
• Your child will not be capable of self-support.
• The disability, or its cause, existed on or before your child's 18th birthday.

That is a long-term obligation. It is better addressed in the original case than years later.

How Custody Connects to Support and Divorce in Texas

Child support is generally calculated from the paying parent's monthly net resources and the number of children being supported. Your parenting schedule does not automatically change the guideline amount.

Child support and possession also stay legally separate. Missing payments does not cancel the other parent's time, and being denied time does not excuse missed payments. Each has its own enforcement path.

When parents are married, these questions are decided inside the divorce. When parents are not married, these issues are usually handled in a separate case. If legal parentage has not already been established, that issue must also be resolved.

Changing an Existing Custody Order

Custody orders can be changed. A modification usually requires showing that there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances since the last order, such as a job relocation, a remarriage, or a change in your child's needs.

Texas allows two other paths. A court may modify the order after a child who is 12 or older tells the judge privately who the child wants to decide the primary residence. A court may also modify it when the parent holding that right has voluntarily given up primary care for at least six months. In every case, the change must still serve the child's best interests.

Contact Our Sachse, TX Child Custody Lawyer

At Moore Family Law, P.C., we help draft conservatorship agreements with enough detail to avoid future disputes, and we pursue enforcement when the other parent ignores the terms. Attorney Moore is an award-winning attorney whose client reviews include more than 100 five-star ratings from families across Dallas and Collin counties. Contact our Sachse, Texas child custody attorney at 214-764-8033 to schedule a consultation today.