Child Related Issues

When parties to a divorce have minor children of the marriage, the final divorce decree, in addition to providing the disposition of property and debts, must provide for custody, visitation, and support of the children. After a divorce, such child-related issues may be modified by subsequent Court order until the children are grown, so one or more "modification" suits may arise after the divorce.

Unless there has been family violence, parents who have shown the ability to effectively co-parent are typically named "Joint Managing Conservators", and are commonly said to have joint custody, sharing in some fashion the rights and duties associated with parenting, such as the right to make educational and medical decisions. The Texas Family Code establishes guidelines for the support of children and prescribes a "Standard Possession Order" for children of 3 or more years of age. The Court has the power to make orders which deviate from the support guidelines or Standard Possession Order, and, at McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing, L.L.P., we attempt to structure agreements concerning children in accordance with the actual needs of the family in question, recognizing that all families are different. Should settlement negotiations fail, we are prepared to litigate these issues, sometimes with the assistance of mental health experts who can offer opinions about the appropriate arrangements for the children in question. At all stages of these proceedings, we are committed to striving for arrangements that are in the best interest of the particular children in question.

In some instances, grandparents may want or need to have a court-ordered relationship with a child. The issues are greatly complicated by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision restricting grandparents' ability to such a legal connection with grandchildren. The law firm has experience on all sides of these situations, should you find yourself in this position.