What Are My Rights in a Custody Battle?

Custody battles are always difficult: anything to do with children has the potential to become the most contentious aspect of a divorce. A custody attorney in San Antonio can help you to understand what your rights are in a custody battle, fight for them, and come up with a custody agreement that is fair to you and best for your child.

What Are My Rights in a Custody Battle?

1. The Right to a Custody Attorney in San Antonio

This may be your most important right because this is the right that, when you exercise it, protects all the others most effectively. You don’t have to hammer things out with a difficult spouse all on your own, nor do you have to learn all the Texas Family Law Code and how it might apply to your situation. You have the right to seek out experience legal counsel and have them by your side at every step, not only as an advisor, but also as a negotiator and representative.

You will need a lawyer’s help to understand what exactly you can fight for and how to prove it. Texas recognizes two types of custody, which is called conservatorship under Texas law. Physical custody (or “possessory conservatorship”) refers to which parent has physical custody of the child. Legal custody (or “managing conservatorship”) refers to the right of a parent to make the most important decisions in their child’s life, such as where they go to school and what healthcare choices are made for them. The court can award sole physical or legal custody or joint physical or legal custody in any combination. You’ll want to talk to your lawyer about what exactly you’re asking for and how to make a good case for it.

2. The Right to Expect Equal Treatment

You also have the right to expect the court to treat you and your spouse equally with no favoritism during your custody battle. The court is not permitted to favor mothers or fathers in these situations when it comes to any type of custody. The law requires the court to assume that both parents have the same capacity to care for their child until it’s proven otherwise. This means that you can expect the court to default to giving you equal custody unless there’s some compelling reason why that should not be the case.

3. The Right to Make Decisions About Your Child’s Life

In a divorce, it’s common for a child to end up spending more time with one parent than another, not because the court doesn’t view the parents equally but simply because of the circumstances. For example, if one parent lives significantly closer to the child’s school and other areas where the child needs to be regularly, the court may decide that it’s in the best interest for the child to live with that parent most of the time for purely practical reasons. But no matter how physical custody is laid out, you still have the right to make decisions about your child’s life unless there are extremely unusual circumstances where it can be proven that you can’t be trusted with this right.

What’s not unusual, unfortunately, is a parent who has primary physical custody assuming that they don’t need to make decisions about their child’s life together with the other parent. Just because your child does not live with you does not mean that the other parent is entitled to unilaterally decide where your child will go to school, what kind of religious training your child will have (or not have), what healthcare they receive, and whether or not you are allowed to see them. You have the right to have a say in all important decisions in your child’s life, and if the other spouse is trying to interfere with that right, your lawyer can help you to take them to court over this so you can fully access your rights as a parent.

4. The Right to Expect Fair Treatment in Child Support Issues

The court always makes decisions in these cases according to what is in the best interest of the child. The court’s goal is to minimize the impact of the divorce on the child and also to allow for the child to enjoy the same standard of living after the divorce as before, no matter who they live with.

This means that if you are awarded primary possessory conservatorship, you can expect the court to order child support in an amount that will allow you to provide for your child, as much as possible, in the same way as before the divorce. You have the right to expect the court to consider your income and that of the child’s other parent and even things out so that you don’t have to undergo hardship to provide for your child.

If you do not have physical custody of your child, you have the right to expect that the child support requested of you will be fair and take into consideration the financial situation of the possessory conservator as well as your own.

5. The Right to Be Involved in Your Child’s Life

Texas law assumes that it is the right of both parents to remain involved in their child’s life unless it would not be in the child’s best interests for that to happen. This means that, even if you do not have physical custody of your child, you have the right to stay involved in their life unless the court has specifically forbidden you to visit your child.

Where this comes to play is when a parent sometimes tries to interfere with visitation rights. This can happen overtly and obviously, but it can also be done subtly, such as when the parent with physical custody changes times and dates on you with very little notice or puts pressure on the child to “come home early” or otherwise avoid spending time with you.

If the other parent is denying you visitation, trying to interfere with your ability to speak with your child by phone or video conference, or otherwise interfering with your relationship, your lawyer can help you to take this to court and defend your right.

6. The Right to Be Safe

While the court does assume that both parents have the right to be involved in their child’s life, Texas law also takes the safety of the child and parents very seriously. A parent’s right to be involved in their child’s life does not override the right of the child or the other parent to safety.

If one of the parents is abusive or violent, it’s the right of the other parent to go to the court and request protection. A lawyer can help you to get protective orders that will go into place immediately as you consider the situation and evaluate potential long-term orders. These orders can do all kinds of things, from make it illegal for the child’s parent to call you to keeping them a certain number of feet away from any place where you and your child might be. If you have concerns about your safety, talk to your lawyer immediately.

For help defending your rights as a parent, contact the HGC Law Firm in San Antonio now to schedule a consultation.