Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

In October of 2009, the father of my 2nd daughter submitted an affidavit to the family court in the form of a two page letter and copies of 5 text messages I had sent him. This letter resulted in the judge giving him a TRO and temporary sole possession of my daughter. After a month I was given supervised visitation and by the end of December, after a multitude of tests and various hoops, she was returned to me and we have temporary orders similar to our parenting agreement which he has a motion to modify. My question is this: in this letter, he wrote numerous lies about me and my behavior and alleged I was a threat to my daughter's emotional and physical health. He made numerous false claims and I have the documentation to prove many, if not all of them. This letter cost me to date 20k in legal fees and other misc costs. It cost me 2 months without my girl. I lost 15 days of pay and much reputation at work. Do I have a defamation of character lawsuit?

Asked on 6/06/10, 11:27 pm

Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

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No. Generally, statements made in court (or in pleadings) are privileged.

However, you don't have to tolerate someone lying about you in Court; the remedy is to ask for Rule 13 sanctions against the guy who told the lies.

Answered on 6/07/10, 5:09 am

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