Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Visitation rights after parent abandonment

Your ex would have the same rights he has had all along to visit his children. Child support and visitation are not related to one another. Failure to pay child support is taken very seriously by the courts, judges can and will place persons in jail for refusing to pay court ordered support. Failure to allow court ordered visitation is taken very seriously by the courts, judges can and will place persons in jail for refusing to allow court ordered visitation. The fact that he did not pay is not a defense in visitaion issues and vice versa. If he was ordered to pay support, a very sizable arrearage has accrued. The reality is that if children strenuously object to going for visitation, and they are teenagers, I do not know of any judges who would insist that you force them to go. As a mom with a child who was abandoned by the father, I can tell you the kids will probably want to see him, at least a few times to see if they can judge for themselves what he is like.