Texas Custody

In Texas, custody is called “conservatorship.” Conservatorship is used to describe the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent. A judge may give conservatorship to one or both parents. A judge can grant:

• sole managing conservatorship
• joint managing conservatorship
• possessory conservatorship.¹

Generally, conservatorship (custody) includes the right to:

• get information from the other parent or another conservator of the child about the health, education, and welfare of the child;
• confer with the other parent, if possible, before making a decision concerning the health, education, and welfare of the child;
• have access to medical, dental, psychological, and educational records of the child;
• talk to a physician, dentist, or psychologist about the child;
• attend school activities, including school lunches, performances, and field trips;
• talk to school officials concerning the child’s welfare and educational status, including school activities;
• be listed on the child’s records as a person to be notified in case of an emergency;
• consent to medical, dental, and surgical treatment during an emergency involving an immediate danger to the health and safety of the child; and
• manage the estate of the child.²

¹ Tex. Fam. Code § 153.005(a)
² Tex. Fam. Code § 153.073(a)

Joint managing conservatorship (JMC) is when the rights and duties of a parent are shared by both parties. However, exclusive right to make certain decisions (like where the child lives) may be awarded to one party.¹

JMC can be established either by an agreement from the parents or a court order. If the parents come to an agreement about sharing managing conservatorship, the agreement must be approved by a judge.²

When making a decision about JMC, the judge will consider what is in the best interest of the child, which includes:

• whether the physical, psychological, or emotional needs and development of the child will benefit from joint managing conservators;
• the ability of the parents to give first priority to the welfare of the child and reach shared decisions in the child’s best interest;
• whether each parent can encourage and accept a positive relationship between the child and the other parent;
• whether both parents participated in child upbringing before the filing of the suit;
• the geographical closeness of the parents’ residences;
• if the child is 12 years of age or older, the child’s preference, if any, regarding the person to have the exclusive right to decide where the child will live; and
• any other relevant factor.³

If both parents are made conservators, the judge will specify the responsibilities each parent has separately and jointly.⁴

Even if the judge grants joint managing conservatorship, s/he may still make one parent the primary joint managing conservator, also known as the “custodial parent” and the other parent would be the possessory joint managing conservator. Generally, the custodial parent has the right to determine the primary (main) residence of the child but all other decisions are made by both parents.

Note: When a judge makes both parents joint managing conservators it does not mean that each parent will necessarily get equal or nearly equal possession of and access to the child.⁵

¹ Tex. Fam. Code § 101.016
² Tex. Fam. Code § 153.133
³ Tex. Fam. Code § 153.134(a)
⁴ Tex. Fam. Code § 153.071
⁵ Tex. Fam. Code § 153.135

There are several ways to establish paternity (legal fatherhood) in Texas. Paternity is presumed (assumed) when a man is:

• married to the mother of the child and the child is born during the marriage or born before the 301^st day after the date the marriage ended (Note: 301 days accounts for the length of a typical pregnancy);
• married (but not a valid marriage) to the mother of the child before the birth of the child and the child is born during the invalid marriage or before the 301^st day after the marriage ended;
• married to the mother of the child after the birth of the child and voluntarily acknowledged paternity, and:
  • the acknowledgment is in a record filed with the bureau of vital statistics;
  • he voluntarily named himself the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate; or
  • he promised in a record to support the child as his own; or
• lived with the child in the same household for the first two years of the child’s life and he presented himself as the father to other people.¹

If the parents are not married, they can sign an acknowledgment of paternity (AOP) if both parents agree to this.² There is no filing fee to file the AOP.³ You can get an AOP form at a hospital, the local registrar, the Child Support Office or at the Vital Statistics Unit. For more information, see the website of the Texas Attorney General. Note: Signing an AOP generally means that the father has full rights and responsibilities as a parent, equal to the mother’s, unless a court order limits his rights.

Another way to establish paternity is when a parent files a paternity proceeding in court and the judge orders a genetic test to prove legal fatherhood.⁴

¹ Tex. Fam. Code § 160.204(a)
² Tex. Fam. Code § 160.301
³ Tex. Fam. Code § 160.306
⁴ Tex. Fam. Code § 160.502