Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

My daughter is engaged to a young man who cheated on her about 19 months ago, resulting in a child with one of his ex girlfriends. He is seeking visitation, he already pays support and medical without court orders. In the first hearing in the case, the mother asked, that my daughter not/never be allowed around the child because of a statment made on the day my daughter learned of the child. It seems that the judge will agree. My daughter is an outstanding young person, church member, well known in the community.. it was simply an angry, emotional outburts. Can this be put into a court order? will there be a restraining or order of protection ( which I know she can fight because they have to have her appear) or can it be simply included in any custody order? As it stands now, my daughter will stop seeing the young man before it costs him the right to see the child.


Asked on 6/08/13, 8:48 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Fran Brochstein Attorney & Mediator

You might want to consult with a family law attorney nabout this matter.

You don't give me much useful information to answer this question.

Apparently your daughter said something really bad.

It appears she is young.

Family court judges can do whatever they want. They want to protect children. Therefore, they can restrict your daughter from ever being around the children if the judge believes it is in the children's best interest.

The term best interest is not defined in the State of Texas. You can certainly read the Texas Family Code which is available on-line for free. The TX Family Code gives judges a lot of latitude on what they can do to protect children.

It appears that you are in Harris County. Boyfriends and girl friends often injure the children of the people that are dating or married to -- I assume that you watch television. Judges are very aware of this. Most of the Harris County judges are up for re-election in the coming year. Most are very conservative in their rulings because they want to be re-elected.

I hope this is helpful.

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Answered on 6/15/13, 11:51 am


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