Compassionate Support for Your Family's Future
Lawyers for Custody Cases in Colleyville, TX
You deserve an advocate who understands the emotional weight of custody decisions. At Setzer Law, we offer compassionate guidance to secure your child's best future.
Contact John and Jill Setzer.We have been serving Colleyville and the DFW region for decades. Our combined experience totals more than 30 years, and we apply all that experience to help our clients make it through some of life’s greatest struggles.
What Are the Different Types of Custody?
Custody in Texas is split into two different categories: conservatorship and possession/access.
Conservatorship
(also known as legal custody)
Defines who can make important decisions for the child, such as where they go to school, medical decisions, and decisions regarding psychiatric care.
Possession
(also known as physical custody)
Refers to who the child resides with, on what days the child is living with each guardian, and where the child spends holidays.
Access
Refers to how often and under what circumstances a parent with only visitation rights can see the child.
Frequently Asked Questions
A judge’s job is to be as objective as possible and to prioritize the needs of the child above all else. In order to do this, they’ll emphasize specific factors in the custody battle. Most of these factors revolve around living essentials: food, clothing, shelter, safety, education, and mental well-being.
These essentials will be weighed against the age of the child, each parent’s living situation, each parent’s work and criminal history, the child’s preferences, and elements of each parent’s relationship with the child. That’s a lot to cover, but it helps the judge establish conditions.
The judge is likely to favor the parent who can demonstrate financial stability, general safety, and overall better care conditions for the child. Histories of abuse, violent crime, and unemployment can all weigh heavily in a judge’s ruling.
This partially depends on the severity of the violation. There’s a difference between the other parent disappearing with the child and the other parent being a few minutes late one time for a drop-off. In general, the first violation will result in a warning. Most warnings will come with a layout of increasing punishments if the behavior isn’t amended.
In more severe cases, the judge can skip the warning and dole out legal consequences. These can include amendments to the custody or visitation agreement, fines, and even jail time. Obviously, the severity of the punishment will be intended to match the severity of the violation.
These types of rulings will only happen after you choose to involve the courts. The primary way to take a settled custody case back to court is to file a motion. This will get you under the review of a judge who will then determine what — if any — punishment is necessary in your situation.
How to Get a Child Custody or Visitation Modification
There are two ways to pursue child custody/visitation modifications: formally or informally. An informal modification involves you and the other parent coming to an agreement on your own terms. If you go this route, your modifications cannot contradict any court mandates in the original agreement. To do so is a violation of a court order and is punishable by law.
In most cases, even if you and the other parent agree on the changes, it’s best to get the court to log those changes to avoid any unintended consequences.
If you can’t come to an informal agreement, you can still pursue a court-ordered modification. This is potentially more challenging when the other parent opposes the changes. You can file for a court to review your case, and the modification will be heard. To successfully change a custody order, you have to demonstrate that circumstances have changed significantly since the original agreement was made. This can include a new job, a new family, or any number of other events. Realize that the burden to show why there should be a modification will be on you.
