Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
I am divorced in Texas with a 6-yr old daughter in a private school. The father pays 100% of all school expenses according to the divorce decree and I pay for after-school care during my possesssion weeks. We trade possession every 7 days. The father often picks up the child during the after care that I pay for and returns her before I can pick her up after work. I have a few issues with this - A) I'm paying for nothing during that time, B) the school allows him to avoid clocking the child in/out so I can't track the time she's away, C) on the days when I'm available to pick her up early, she's not there and that violates my right to possession. The school claims that they have the right to release her to either parent on any given day. Is this true? What course of action would you suggest I take?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The most constructive appoach is for you and your ex for to work it out. Surely you don't mind that the child is with a parent rather than in day care but, as you said, when that is not coordinated with your schedule, it becomes an interference with your possession rights.
If you can communicate with each other constructively, you can let him know the day you will be off early so that he either returns the child in time for you to pick her up or he leaves the child there altogether.
If you can't be constructive because he is too difficult to work with, you probably need to file a motion for enforcement IF your final decree has a prohibition on interference. If it does not you'll need to file a motion to modify.
Legal action will cost you a minimum of $2,500 or so. That's why I encourage you to try to work it out with him.
A tool you can use is Our Family Wizard (www.ourfamilywizard.com). It costs $99 per year per parent but it has a great calendaring and messaging feature. What makes this system particularly nice (if you will both use it) is that the court can look at the interaction between the two of you and see who is causing the scheduling problems.
Good luck!!
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
