Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Geographical Restriction

I assume that the dad lives in the same county that you do. It is not unusual for a court to provide a restriction in order for the child to maintain contact with both parents. To get this restriction removed or modified will require showing good cause for moving and a plan to keep the dad active. This can be very hard to do.

You should probably listen to your attorney. If the facts are not there to obtain the modification of the restriction, your attorney is doing you a favor in telling you so before you spend a lot of money. Unless the child has resided in another county for six months, you will not be able to change venue. As for a visiting judge, if you REALLY feel that the judge was unfair, you could ask him to recuse himself from the case. Don't do that unless you are absolutely sure that you have the evidence to win because if you lose, he or she will still be your judge. Very few recusal motions are successful.

Finally, although a child of 12 can tell the court which parent they want to live with (the court doesn't have to follow those wishes), the court has no statutory guidance as to specific issues, such as this one. You can ask that the court interview the child, but is will not likely help. If the court believes that you are attempting to influence the child against her father, that would be bad for you.

Good luck to you.