Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Seeking full custody of my children

You should terminate his rights! If he is six

months behind on child support you can get him out

of the picture all together. I will not solicit

you on this page but if you would like to read my

web page, www.ThePracticeOnline.com, under FAQ

Family Law questions you can get a lot of answers.

Re: Seeking full custody of my children

You need to do a modification if you want to change from joint to sole managing conservator.

It sounds from your facts (arrest warrant issued) that he is in contempt for insurance and child support and that someone is handling that for you. I would use the same attorney for the modification.

However, why would you want to modify to sole custody? It sounds like he is not bothering you or the children. You might be stirring up a real can of worms that might better be left alone.

I find that most people are confused about joint versus sole managing conservators. The legislature in Texas has made the terms somewhat meaningless. What really matters are the rights and duties granted to each of you in the Final Decree of Divorce. You need to have an attorney review your Final Decree of Divorce and go over the rights and duties section of the Decree.

If you live in the Houston area, I offer a free consultation.

Best of luck to you.

Re: Seeking full custody of my children

You do have a chance of being granted sole custody, a good one. But do you really want to do that? Except for the fact that you are not being paid the ordered child support, there does not seem to be much wrong. A decent family law attorney should be able to solve your child support issue unless your former husband is destitute.

Do you really mean that you want him out of the picture together? In Texas, that is called terminating parental rights. You certainly have grounds for it, including abandonment and non-support. Most judges, however, would be reluctant to terminate a father's rights unless there is a danger to the child or there is a step-parent waiting to adopt. The reason is that if his parental rights are terminated and you become unable to support the child, then there would be no one to support the child.

Perhaps you are better off leaving things are they are now except for trying to get the child support that you are due. If you are in the Austin area, you may call my office for an appointment to further discuss this matter.