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How Do You Petition for a Custody Modification in Texas?
If you need a custody order modified in Texas, it’s important to talk with a custody attorney in San Antonio right away to find out what you need to do and whether your petition is likely to be accepted. The courts do not lightly overturn custody orders, and a lawyer can help you make a good case for why your situation qualifies for a change.
How Do You Petition for a Custody Modification in Texas?
In Texas, custody is referred to as “conservatorship,” and it describes who spends time with a child and where the child lives, or about who has the legal right to make important decisions for the child, depending on the type of conservatorship you’re talking about.
In most cases, the courts will only consider a modification request if there has been a significant change in circumstances. This could be a change in the circumstances of the child’s life, such as if the child starts going to a new school that is much closer to one parent’s home than the other or a significant change in the life of one of the parents. For example, if one of the parents develops a serious illness and requires constant care themselves, it may be necessary for the child to live with the other parent.
Whatever the reason, you must be able to show the court that the change you are suggesting is in the best interests of the child. If the child is 12 years or older, they will likely be asked by the court to weigh in about their preference. This is not binding on the court, but the older the child is, the more weight their opinion will carry with the court.
Step 1: Evaluate Your Situation With a Custody Attorney in San Antonio
The first step is to assess whether your situation qualifies for a modification. You want to gather up all the evidence you have related to the change in circumstances. If both you and the child’s other parent agree on this modification, the process will usually be a lot simpler, but you still need the approval of the court. If the other parent is opposed to making a modification, you’re going to need a lot of evidence to convince the judge that a change is warranted. Go over all this with your custody attorney, who will help you make sure you have all the evidence that is needed, arrange it well, and then present it before the court convincingly.
Step 2: File a Petition to Modify
To start, you’ll need to file an official document called a “Petition to Modify the Parent-Child Relationship” with the court that issued the original custody order. This document outlines the changes you’re requesting, and it thoroughly explains the change in circumstances that is causing you to make this request. Work with your lawyer to make sure this document is filled out properly, because it will need to include plenty of specific details about why the current order no longer works as well as why your proposed changes are in the child’s best interests.
Step 3: Serve the Petition
Once you have filed a petition, you have to notify the other parent or whomever has legal rights of conservatorship by “serving” them the petition. The best way to do this is usually to hire a process server or a sheriff to deliver the documents, because you need to make sure that the other party is notified formally and on the record. They have 20 days to respond, plus the next Monday if the deadline falls on a weekend. They have to file an answer with the court before 10 AM on that date or the court can issue a default judgment in your favor.
A default judgment does not mean the court will do whatever you ask automatically, but it does mean that the other parent has no chance to argue against your request, and the court can consider your request simply as it is. However, it’s rare for a parent not to respond to this, and the courts prefer for parents to respond so that all sides can be considered.
Step 4: Mediation
It’s very common for the courts to require parents to go through mediation whenever there is a dispute regarding conservatorship. Mediation is much less adversarial than court, and if you and the child’s other parent can come to an agreement this way, it will often go a long way towards preserving relationships. Your lawyer can still help you here to prepare and think through what you’re discussing. If you and the child’s other parent come to an agreement, you’ll submit this to the court for approval. If you can’t come to an agreement, you’ll move to a court hearing.
Step 5: Court Hearing
If mediation fails, you’ll need to get ready for court, and your lawyer will help you to do so. You’ll need all the evidence you have that supports your case, whether this is documents, witness testimony, or electronic records. Again, you’ll need to prove both that there has been a change to the circumstances and that the modification you’re requesting will be in the best interests of the child. Your lawyer will help you be prepared to answer questions about your parenting plan and why you want to change it. Your lawyer will also prepare to defend your plan against the other parent if they intend to bring a challenge against your request.
Possible Outcomes
Once the hearing has concluded, the judge will make a decision based on the evidence you presented and the laws laid out in the Texas family code. The judge may approve your changes, completely deny the petition, or propose a modification. Whatever the court decides becomes the new court order for conservatorship, and both parents must follow it.
Post-Hearing Steps
With the new order issued, you’ll want to get a certified copy of it from the clerk of the court and review it to make sure that the order is exactly what you understand it to have been from when you were in the courtroom. Your lawyer can help you go over it and make sure that it is an accurate reflection of the ruling and that you understand all parts of it thoroughly.
If you have problems with the other parent refusing to follow the new order, talk to your lawyer. There are various types of enforcement that the court can bring in these cases, and it will help if you can show concrete evidence of the other parent’s refusal to follow the order, such as texts or emails refusing to do something ordered by the court or the testimony of witnesses to that effect.
Getting the Texas court to change a custody order is not easy. You need to have a good reason for the change and be able to back it up with evidence. The best way to do this is with the help of an experienced family law attorney. Call us at the Aida Rojas Law Firm today at 210-299-4600 for help. We have over 20 years of experience helping families in the San Antonio area.
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