Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

divorce or custody

Myself and my daughter's father have been divorced since 2001 and in August of 2006 I had some financial trouble so he and I signed a notarized paper giving temporary guardianship to my father in TX. I live in IN and our divorce and custody is in IN.Now when I called the state police of both states they said that as long as I had my divorce decree stating that I had custody all I had to do was go to TX and get her. I even inquired about it with an attorney here in IN. When I got to TX this weekend with the papers the officer at the town that my dad lives in basically told me that the papers were a fake and that they had to have some sort of stamp as well as the seal. The seal is on a couple of the papers including a clerk's verification stating that they are the true divorce papers. Needless to say I drove 16 hours and they did not release my daughter back to me. I have filed for emergency re-custody here in IN and there is no case open in TX. My dad is threatening to take me to court in TX and take my custody away from me. Can he open a new custody case in TX now when I filed more papers here in IN yesterday? Why didn't TX just let me bring my little girl home?


Asked on 6/12/07, 8:48 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
James Grissom Law Office of James P. Grissom

Re: divorce or custody

The reason that TX did not let your child go is because you had no document from a TX court. TX is required to give full faith and credit to IN orders when they have been officially recognized by a TX court.

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Answered on 6/12/07, 9:05 am


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