Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

I am not seeking help on behalf of myself, but on the behalf of my boyfriend. I have been with this man for a little over a year now. I met him several years ago, at which time he hooked up with a girl I was in high school with. Not too long afterward, she became pregnant with his child. After this I had lost touch with the both of them for some time. Before the child reached the age of one, they split up, and she ended up filing for a restraining order against him. Soon after, her and her family moved to another state, taking the child with her, and completely losing touch. It is now almost three years later, the child will be 4 in October. To the best of my knowledge, the mother does not have full legal custody of his son. And he is yearning to have his boy back in his life. He feels helpless as to what he can do, being as to how there was a restraining order, and they have no contact, and the mother and child live in another state. What can we do to get his son back into his life? For this has been eating away at him for so long, and I know he would be willing to do anything for this, if only he had a direction and some hope.


Asked on 6/16/11, 6:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bob Leonard Bob Leonard Law Group, PLLC

He will have to file a suit to establish his rights to the child. The suit will likely have to be filed where the child lives, so he needs to get an attorney in that state. The court could establish his parentage, give him a possession schedule, and order him to pay child support. It is unlikely that he could get primary conservatorship after not having contact with the child for over three years.

He also might be hindered in his possession by the facts behind the need for the restraining order.

I am confused by your comment that the mother does not have full legal custody. Unless a court determines otherwise, all parents have full rights to their children. Since they were not married, he is not presumed to be the father and she would have those rights exclusively until a court determines otherwise.

He needs to hire an attorney immediately; the long that he waits, the harder his case will be.

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Answered on 6/17/11, 8:06 am


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