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As part of the procedural requirements to get a lawsuit going, you must either be the server or the servee. In family law cases, sometimes you are served with more than one document at a time. For instance, you could be served not only with the petition, but also with a notice of hearing. The key is what do you once you are served. If anything, never just sweep it under the rug. While it is something that you do not want to be troubled with, unfortunately, the process has begun and now you are forced to deal with it. If you do not take some form of action, a default judgment will be obtained against you. In divorce and child custody cases, this is especially problematic. It is either your property, debts, and or child on the line. You do not want to miss your opportunity to fight.

Also, many people operate under the misconception that you can do this alone. The Texas Family Code is very complex. Not only that, there are procedural issues to consider in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. There might even be some criminal issues mixed in which would be covered, in part, by the Texas Penal Code. Given that, the very task of filing an answer to the petition can be daunting and intimidating. Where do you get the document? What is an answer? How do I file an answer? These are just a few of the introductory questions.

The key is to never do this alone, or what is called pro se. An example of how this could go south quickly is in a recent appellate decision rendered by the Dallas Fifth District Court of Appeals in Friedman v. Friedman. In this case, the woman filed a petition for divorce and had her husband served. He did not do anything, and the woman obtained a default judgment and the judge signed a final decree of divorce. The husband did not file an answer and he had been properly served, thus the judge could do this. The final decree of divorce dispensed with the marital property and debts. This was not enough for Mr. Friedman to learn his lesson, because he then filed his own appeal in the form of a motion for new trial and drafts the document himself.

A motion to modify the parent-child relationship has been filed. You, even though you are not a parent of the child, would like to participate in this hearing and ask that the judge allow you either custody of the child or at least some visitation with the child. You contact your attorney at Guest & Gray, P.C. and discuss the issues with them.

In order to intervene and become a part of the court proceedings, you must establish standing. There are different ways to do so. A recent appellate opinion discussed the actual care, control and possession form of standing.

That is, a nonparent seeking to intervene in an already pending modification suit, as part of the standing requirements, must establish that they had actual care, control and possession of the child for at least 6 months and that couldn’t have ended more than 90 days before the petition to modify was filed. The question becomes what constitutes actual care, control and possession. In particular, what does “actual” mean for these types of court proceedings. While it may seem simple, this concept is quite convoluted.

You are an aunt, uncle, grandparent, stepparent, or someone with a third party relationship to a child. And, you are interested in seeking custody of the child because you have established a strong and lasting bond with this child. However, in seeking such, you realize that you do not have an easy road ahead of you. That is when you contact your attorney at Guest & Gray in Kaufman County.

Your attorney advises you that in an original proceeding to establish the parent-child relationship, there is a parental presumption when it comes to conservatorship–parents should be appointed as conservators unless there’s reason to the contrary. However, the 14th District Houston Court of Appeals in In the Interest of R.T.K. made the distinction that in modification proceedings, this parental presumption doesn’t exist. Thus, in modification suits, conservatorship is ultimately determined upon the best interests of the child.

Despite this, in both original and modification proceedings, if you can produce evidence that appointment of a parent as conservator would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development, then that would be sufficient to appoint a non-parent as conservator.

At the conclusion of a divorce or suit affecting the parent-child relationship, when parents are appointed joint managing conservators, they are given equal rights and duties with respect to the child or children. This means equal rights to make decisions for your children as well, whether they be education decisions or medical decisions for operations, etc.

With respect to medical decisions, normally within your orders you’ll see that when a child requires an “invasive procedure,” both parents’ consent is required for the child to undergo such procedure. This begs the question of what would constitute an “invasive procedure”, which is important to define because, as with everything in life, some parents’ definitions may be different from others’.

You and your ex-spouse are currently arguing over whether you both have to consent to your child having a medical procedure. Your stance is absolutely no. You don’t believe this to be an invasive procedure. So, you contact your attorney at Guest & Gray, P.C. in Kaufman County.

Few people truly understand the strength of the bond that grandparents and their grandchildren share. A grandparent’s love for their grandchild is unfailing and they always want to protect them, keep them in their lives, and cherish the time that they have together. You understand because you are a grandparent who is concerned for your grandchild’s safety and well-being and you are frustrated that they are not receiving the proper care and attention that they need. You love your grandchild very much and have been in their lives for a long time. There are circumstances in your life right now that make it necessary to ensure that you have legal rights with respect to your grandchild.

Unfortunately, we see in many cases the necessity for grandparents to step in and fight for the best interest of their grandchildren. There are several circumstances which can lead to this such as a parent dying, a parent abandoning their child(ren) with grandparents or another party, a parent consuming alcohol or ingesting controlled substances. The reality is the reasons grandparents intervene in these cases are different with respect to each case. However, grandparents do not have automatic rights in Texas and so there are steps and one must go through the legal channels to obtain these rights.

In the state of Texas, we are seeing more and more grandparents wanting either custody of their grandchildren or at least visitation with their grandchildren. And, in some cases this is possible. But, it is important to know the law and be informed so that when you hire your attorney at Guest & Gray, P.C. in Kaufman County, you will know what to expect when it comes time to file petition in your case.