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How Does a Family Law Attorney Help Resolve Child Custody Disputes?
Child custody disputes can be some of the most difficult legal issues to deal with, and while they are most common during a divorce, unfortunately, a dispute can arise long after the divorce is finalized when circumstances change or there are other reasons to modify a custody order. At any point in the process, you could find yourself going head-to-head with the child’s other parent, but a Houston, TX family law attorney can help you get through a dispute.
How Does a Houston, TX Family Law Attorney Help Resolve Child Custody Disputes?
By Digging Into the Details
The first thing that your family law attorney will do is to dig into the details of the situation, and that includes all the legalities involved. Your lawyer will ask specific questions, and it’s important that you be completely honest. Your lawyer wants to understand exactly what you want for child custody and why you think it’s best for your child. If you’re seeking a modification, your lawyer will be asking questions about exactly what your life is like so they can argue for you about why this modification is necessary.
If you’re trying to fight a spouse who is demanding a modification that you know isn’t in your child’s best interest, your lawyer needs to understand what might be going on behind the scenes. Is it possible that the child’s other parent wants to change things just to mess with you, for instance? If you’re in the midst of a custody dispute, you need to be aware that the other parent may not be above making up things in order to get custody or deny it to you.
The Texas courts will take it very seriously if it can be proven that one parent is lying about the other, but you still need a strong defense. If the other parent is trying to somehow paint you as an unfit parent, you must share things frankly with your lawyer, be honest about what struggles you may actually be having, and then let your lawyer go to work building a strong strategy on your behalf.
By Helping You Understand All the Options
Sometimes, disputes arise because one or more of the parties involved don’t actually understand all of their possible options. They may think they are locked into just a couple of choices, when in reality there may be creative ways to get around the problem. Texas generally recognizes two types of custody: possessory conservatorship, which is what is colloquially known as physical custody; and managing conservatorship, which is what is often called legal custody.
Parents can have either of these types of conservatorship, just one, or, in some rare cases, the courts may give neither parent either type of conservatorship. The two types are not linked. Just because a parent has managing conservatorship and therefore has input on all the major decision decisions of the child’s life, such as where they go to school or what kind of healthcare they get, does not mean that they are entitled to possessory conservatorship.
One of the things parents may not realize is that if they leave all the custody decisions to the court, the court will simply follow the laws of Texas and set up custody and visitation schedules that may not work very well for the parents. Things always go much better when the parents can come up with a solution that works for them. Unless there is a compelling reason why the child’s other parent should not be allowed to have any custody, it’s always best if you can sit down and talk through the situation with the other parent to come up with a creative solution that works for your family.
By Helping You Negotiate
Sitting down to talk with the other parent is easier said than done. If you and the child’s parent are no longer together, your romantic history and whatever it was that drove you apart in the end can be impossible to ignore, and you may find it impossible to have a discussion without it devolving into an argument. Unfortunately, that can be the case even if one parent is completely committed to having the discussion and making it work. If the other parent simply will not discuss anything without being insulting, pointing fingers, or otherwise creating issues, it can be impossible to have a profitable give and take.
Having a lawyer at this stage can be a huge help. If you and the other parent have lawyers, you can all sit down together, and the presence of your lawyers will go a long way towards diffusing any difficulties you may have in speaking to each other. Your lawyer can help you stay focused on the goal, which is the best interests of your children, and coming up with a custody agreement that works for all of you, while also protecting you and your interests so that any agreement you come to is fair and reasonable.
And if you and the other parent simply can’t have a civil discussion even with lawyers present, there’s another option: allow your lawyers to hammer out the agreement in direct discussion. Your lawyers can come back to you and keep you informed on the progress that’s been made.
By Proving What’s Really Going On
If you need to protect your child and yourself from an abusive or controlling ex-partner, it can feel overwhelming to try to fight for this in court, especially if the other parent acts one way in the courtroom and another way in private. In the courtroom, they may be presenting themselves as calm, reasonable, and perfectly trustworthy. They may even have gotten friends to give testimony on their behalf to their good character and why they should have custody of your child.
Your lawyer can defend you here by doing an investigation to discover what’s really happening and by petitioning the court for protective orders or other special orders that can keep you and your child safe. Again, be very frank with your lawyer about what’s going on. Tell your lawyer about your concerns about the other parent, and your lawyer may be able to turn up evidence showing what your ex is really like. Your lawyer can also argue for you before the court to show why past behavior is such a concern to you.
By Taking Care of the Legal Aspects
Making a legal mistake can change everything, and not for the better. If your paperwork is not done correctly, if you don’t present the right evidence, if you miss a hearing or are late, or if you try to do something outside the bounds of what the law allows because you aren’t aware of what the law allows, you could not only delay your case but even prejudice the court against you. Your lawyer will protect you from all of this.
Your lawyer will help you to present and file your case properly from the beginning, will keep you advised of everything that you need to do legally, and will go with you to hearings to help you present yourself in the best possible light and argue clearly for what you know to be best for your child.
For help with your child custody case, reach out to us at the Clark Law Firm, P.C. in Houston today to set up a consultation.
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