Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

I am the mother and custodial parent of 3 girls, ages 9y, 12y, and 15y. Their father has the typical non-custodial visitation schedule. My 15 year old has confided in me that she is no longer comfortable around her dad, and would prefer to not visit anymore. She has expressed things like: he makes her babysit her younger sisters and the kids of his girlfriend, which she doesn't want to do; he is constantly hounding her about her need to lose weight and gives her "disgusted looks" when she tells him her current weight (by the way, she is not overweight, not the healthiest eater, but not overweight); he throws temper tantrums with yelling and screaming, and occasionally throwing things (I've witnessed this behavior during our marriage, so I know she is not exaggerating). There has been no history of physical abuse, during our marriage, or with the girls since the divorce; however, my daughter has expressed a fear that one day he is going to hit her, either with his hand, or with an object he throws in one of his fits.

Let me just say now that I do NOT talk bad about their dad to them. While I don't always have the most confidence in his child raising skills, I have NEVER told the girls to stop visiting him....in fact, with my oldest, I have been continuing on with some sort of encouragement for her to go to her dad's house. It is getting so bad now though that my oldest has started exhibiting signs of extreme anxiety, from recent OCD like symptoms to all out panic attacks. She told me that her relationship with her dad has caused this...again, I did NOT steer her to this, nor did I say anything negative about him when she was telling me. I just listened.

My main question is is this some sort of mental abuse that would be worth going to court over? While I want to help my child out anyway I can, I just don't want to chase something that is not worth the time, or the money it will cost. I don't want to withhold visitation illegally, and I won't. I want her to be able to make decisions she's comfortable with legally. This is not the first time this has come up, and I have tried going to their dad with her concerns for her, and with her permission. This backfired though, because not only did he get angry and defensive with me, but he threw one of his yelling fits at her over this the next time he had her. I don't feel comfortable, for her sake, going to him and trying to reason with him. He's not the reasoning kind.

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody and Adoption questions and answers in Texas

Looking for something else?