Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

My and ex-wife and I have shared joint custody of my daughter since she was 6 yrs old. She is now 14 and has expressed to me that she wants to come live with me. Her living situation at home is not a very good one. She has told me over the past weekends that she's not eating lunch at school because her mother refuses to give her lunch money, she's has eaten out of the trash can at school on one occasion, according to my daughter. I pay child support on my daughter and I have given my daughter money aside on several occasions just to make sure that she is eating at school. She also tells me that her mother has threatened her against coming to live with me, telling her that she will sign over her parental rights if she does go through with it. And her cousin and aunt have also said that they will not talk to her is she does come to live with me. Her mother has always tried to alienate her from me.

Just this past Thursday (02/02/12) my daughter called me asking me to come get her because her mom had been physically abusive towards her the previous day (02/01/12), and claims that she kicked her out of the house, and took her house key and told her that she was to move in with me this past Friday (02/03/12). I called her mom that same day she told me to see what was going on but she denied everything and said everything was fine. However, my daughter still claims that its true and has complained that she has bruises on her head. I picked her up on Friday 02/03/12 as it was my designated weekend to have her in my possession. However my daughter does not want me to take her back home. I have had many issues with my ex-wife since our divorce. My communication with my ex-wife is very minimal, as she can be very difficult to deal with and there have been times when I have had to get the police involved just to be able to pick my daughter.

I want custody of my daughter. I'm just not sure what my options are or where to start. Can you please help?


Asked on 2/04/12, 7:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
M. Elizabeth Foley The Law Office of M. Elizabeth Foley

You'll need to file a petition to modify custody, which if your child is at least 12 is typically left more or less up to the child IF there's no indication that there's something else going on there that would not be in the best interest of the child (like mon disciplines her appropriately, but you don't, or mom's letting her stay out all night and get mixed up with alcohol and drugs, or one of you has a drug or alcohol problem yourself, or are out of town on a regular basis and just can't be there all the time to care for her). You can also file a request for the court to issue temporary orders which would grant you temporary custody while the case is pendIng, before the judge makes a final decision. If her mom's not going to go along with it, realistically this is just not something to try to handle by yourself. It sounds like you have a good case factually, but he procedural end of things is a bit complicated. Good luck.

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Answered on 2/04/12, 9:26 pm


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