Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My boyfriend has a three year old daughter with his ex. They were never married (she was still legally married when she got pregnant) and he isn't on the birth certificate but his daughter has his last name. For the past two years they had agreed to a five month on five month off custody agreement and it was working great for both of them until last year when my boyfriend had his daughter in his possession and he wound up being arrested for misdemeaner marijuana posession (less than 2 oz). His parents were keeping his daughter the two months he was in jail (which he chose to serve instead of prolonging probation, he just wanted to get it over with) but the mom came back early saying she had moved back to Texas from South Carolina and wanted to take her daughter to go to a family BBQ and she would return her later that evening. She never came back and now she won't return any phone calls, emails or text messages. He is supposed to be getting his daughter again in December but he can't get in touch with his ex. What can we do to force her to allow us to see his daughter? He is devistated and knows he made a mistake and has done his time and paid his price for it but he REALLY wants his daughter back or at least visitation, a phone call, something!
1 Answer from Attorneys
He needs to hire an experienced family law attorney.
Mom needs to be served with paternity papers in order to establish his paternity. It appears that Dad has never established legally that he is the father of this child. A court of law needs to determine that he is legally the father of this child then he has the rights to have visits with this child and to pay child support and health insurance for this chid.
I do not recommend going to the TX Attorney General's office. They are not pro male at all.
They will establish child support but they will not help him get visits with his daughter.
HIRE A PRIVATE ATTORNEY!
If the mom and child live in South Carolina then he might need to hire an attorney in that state.
Quite frankly, I cannot tell from the facts. After the child left Texas, the father had 6 months to file a lawsuit to keep the case here in Texas.
So what would I do?
Contact a family law attorney in your county and talk to this attorney in person and discuss your options.
If the attorney cannot help you, then you need to look on this website & on www.avvo.com for an attorney where mom and the child are currently living.
Good luck!
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