Dallas Divorce Lawyer Blog
So, could someone come to your home and take you kids? It is a fear, or maybe depending on a night of unending shrieking, a fantasy of all parents. The answer is, as any good attorney worth his/her salt will tell you, “It depends.”
Are you using hard illegal drugs in front of your children? Are you leaving them at the tender age of 5 alone for hours on end? Are you feeding them only when you remember to on a weekly basis? Are you knowingly letting your children be abused or mistreated by registered sex offenders?
I sure hope you said no to all of these questions. If you did say yes to any of the above, know that there is help. Stop what you are doing right now. Call CPS on yourself immediately. Do it for your children. You are not ready to be a parent, maybe ever (probably ever, but we have other blog posts for you to read).
So now that we have that out of the way.
For the rest of you: I know you have critics. You can work really hard at your job, come home make a meal, that is (let’s be honest) less than nutritious just with the sliver of hope that your kid will eat it, take 3 hours trying to get your kid to lie down and go to sleep. Then some relative, neighbor, or otherwise “do-gooder” comes and points out to you everything you are doing wrong and how if you would just feed them that broccoli rutabaga watermelon puree they read about on Pinterest, then your little darling would stop throwing fits immediately. These are the people you can ignore.
Then there are some serious assholes in this world who will not only tell you how to raise your kids, but file a lawsuit against you because they don’t think you are doing it right.
So what are your rights in Texas?
This is where the Parental Presumption comes into play. The Texas Legislature and the Texas Supreme Court have stated and held, respectfully of course, that a nonparent could only be appointed as managing conservator of a child instead of the parent when they can show that they child would be Significantly Impaired, either physically or emotionally. Just putting of evidence that the nonparent would be a better parent to the child is not enough.1
That’s right. YOU are presumed to be best for your kid, unless you significantly impair them. We, as parents all feel the extreme guilt of doing something that will permanently damage your kid. We are already walking balls of anxiety and guilt. Our kids will probably blame us for lots (read ALL) of the issues they have later on in life. They may even claim to be impaired. But the law believes at the end of the day, WE, the parent, what is best for them (unless of course you answered yes to any of the above questions and we have another blog for you to read).
If someone is trying to take your kid away call us now. Do not stick your head in the sand. Do silently hope that the “authorities” will simply see the truth and return your kids. These are your kids. You ARE what is best for them. Let Guest & Gray fight for your family.
1 Lewelling v. Lewilling, 796 S.W.2d 164 (Tex. 1990), Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 153.131(a), (b).