San Marcos Texas Legal Blog

For Texas parents, there are few things more terrifying than potentially losing access to their children. These fears may be realized when under investigation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Maintaining a strong child protection defense is often essential for parents who are eager to be reunited with their children or to maintain custody.

When facing false claims, many parents think that the truth will ultimately come out and their name will be cleared. While most people want to believe that truth always prevails over lies, it is much better to assert the truth in a professional manner rather than wait for it to hopefully make its way out. Since neglect or abuse claims involving minors are a delicate matter, this often involves working alongside a professional.

In general, whichever parent has primary custody of their child will also receive support payments from their ex. However, with custody increasingly trending toward joint custody and shared parenting, how are Texas parents to handle child support payments? Ultimately, it comes down to the individual needs of each family. 

The co-founder of two prominent organizations -- including the Center for Parental Responsibility -- Molly Olsen recently spoke about how the historical precedent of kids staying with mom 26 days out of the month is not only outdated, but also not supported by research or data. As most people know by now, dads are also incredibly important to their children's lives, and not just because they used to be the main payers of child support. Spending around 50 percent of their time with their dads is an emotionally healthy thing for kids. 

Joint custody may be edging its way toward being the new norm after divorce, but that does not mean it is the right choice for every family in Texas. Child custody should always reflect the best interests of the individual child. For some, sole custody might be a more appropriate choice. 

Sole custody can apply to either legal or physical custody and means that one parent has the exclusive rights regarding a child. The other parent is considered to be the noncustodial parent. In sole physical custody, a child lives exclusively with only the custodial parent, and he or she may also have periods of visitation with the noncustodial parent. 

Parents usually address issues of custody, parenting time and visitation during divorce, but what about more complex issues such as discipline? Although the idea of determining how one parent can discipline a child in his or her own home can be uncomfortable, there is some merit to dealing with complex issues, such as smart phone use, during child custody proceedings. Otherwise, parents could potentially find themselves in uncomfortable legal situations. 

The arrest of an out-of-state mother seems to eerily mirror the arrest of a Texas father some time ago. According to reports, the mother disciplined her 15-year-old daughter, taking away the teen's smart phone as punishment. Her ex-husband then called the police, claiming the mother had actually stolen the phone since he had purchased it. She was arrested earlier in 2018 but did not go to court until September, when the charges were dropped. As it turned out, the daughter -- not her ex-husband -- owned the phone.