Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

If there are no court orders then either parent can take the child. It is not parental kidnapping. However, there is a waiting period to re-establish residency in another state. Therefore, the parent still in Texas can file for divorce and ask for temporary orders and if the other parent does not appear in court the parent filing automatically wins custody of the child. After there has been a hearing, then the parent that has left the state & "disappeared" lose custody of the minor child.

What you are asking is quite technical so I recommend that you meet with an attorney and person and discuss your options.

If you are the parent thinking about leaving, recognize that if you don't appear in court you will lose custody of the child if you try to run and hide. You will be forced to come back to Texas to fight this divorce and custody battle. You can postpone the fight but it will be in Texas.

If you are the parent that is left in Texas and you cannot find the other parent and child, you will have to hire an aggressive family law attorney who is willing to file for temporary orders and get you into court and get a judge to issue orders granting you custody without your spouse being present. Then you have to find your child and have the police (or another policing agency) in the other state remove the child and hand the child over to you. This gets to be expensive because you often have to travel to the other state and be present to get the child handed over to you.

Custody battles are harmful to the minor child. They are also very expensive. The child is a Texas resident for the next 6 months. If either parent tries to remove the child from Texas, mostly likely Texas will retain jurisdiction over this child. Texas judges don't like to give up jurisdiction over minor children. Think long and hard before beginning a "battle". The biggest loser in these cases are the children.