Child Support

Standard Possession Presumption Does Not Apply to Child Under Three in Texas Custody Case

Published on: January 19, 2021 | by Francesca Blackard

iStock-839381426 Texas family law includes a presumption that parents should be appointed joint managing conservators. The law does not require, however, that the parents be given equal possession just because they are joint managing conservators. Tex. Fam. Code § 153.135. There is a rebuttable presumption that the standard possession order is in the child’s best interest, but that presumption only applies to children who are at least three years old. For younger children, the court must consider “all relevant factors.” The statute specifically requires the court consider who provided care before and during the proceedings, how separation from either party may affect the child, the availability and willingness of the parties to care for the child, and the child’s needs, along with other specified factors. Tex. Fam. Code § 153.254.

A father recently challenged the possession schedule and decision-making authority granted to the mother, arguing in part that the court should have awarded equal time or the standard possession schedule.

Meaning of “Multiple Households” for Purposes of Calculating Texas Child Support

Published on: January 13, 2021 | by Kelly McClure

iStock-1175949984 Courts often keep siblings together; however, in some Texas child custody cases, it is in the children’s best interest for them to be split up. When one or more children live with one parent and one or more children live with the other parent, each parent may be obligated to pay child support to the other. A father recently challenged how the court calculated the child support the mother would have to pay him after he received custody of one of their four children. In issuing its ruling, the appellate court’s opinion turned on the definition of “multiple households” under the Texas Family Code.

Texas Father Entitled to Child Support Credit While Living with the Mother and Children

Published on: December 26, 2020 | by Francesca Blackard

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Many couples attempt to reconcile after breaking up or divorcing. Moving back in together can effect a parent’s obligation to provide child support. If the parent who is obligated to pay child support is contributing to the support of the household, he or she may be entitled to a credit for their child-support obligation. In a recent case, a mother challenged a court’s order giving the father a credit against back child support for the period of time when they had lived together with the children.

Texas Court May Order Primary Custodial Parent to Pay Child Support

Published on: December 18, 2020 | by Francesca Blackard

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A court may order one joint managing conservator to pay Texas child support to another joint managing conservator. Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 153.138. The child’s best interest is the primary consideration in determining child support. There may, therefore, be occasions where a court orders the parent with primary physical custody to nonetheless pay child support to the other parent, when they are both joint managing conservators. A mother recently challenged an order to pay child support when she had been awarded the exclusive right to determine the child’s primary residence.

Texas Court Terminates Father’s Child Support Obligation

Published on: October 27, 2020 | by Spencer Page

Once a child turns eighteen, the Texas Family Code provides that child-support payments can continue as long as the child is still enrolled in school pursuing a high-school diploma. However, at what point is a child no longer considered to be pursuing a high-school diploma for child-support purposes? Recently, one Texas father found out. Continue Reading ›

Continuing Texas Child Support While Child Pursues High School Diploma

Published on: September 21, 2020 | by Kelly McClure

A Texas court may order child support beyond a child’s 18^th birthday if the child is still in high school, whether a public school, a private school, or course that provide joint high school and junior college credits. The child must comply with the minimum attendance requirements in the Education Code or the private school’s minimum attendance requirements. Tex. Fam. Code. Ann. § 154.002. A mother challenged the termination of child support for her son after his 18^th birthday in a recent Texas custody case.

The divorce decree ordered the father to pay monthly child support until one of the listed events occurred. Child support would continue if he was in compliance with the requirements in Tex. Fam. Code. Ann. § 154.002.

The father petitioned to terminate child support in September 2018, following the son’s 18^th birthday in April. The mother claimed the son was enrolled in an accredited secondary school. She then filed a petition for continuation and increase of child support and alleged her son was enrolled full-time in a private secondary school.

Parent Seeking Child Support Modification in Texas Must Present Evidence of Historical Income and Resources

Published on: August 7, 2020 | by McClure Law Group

When a parent seeks to modify a Texas child support order on the basis of a material and substantial change in financial circumstances, they must prove that such a change occurred. Doing so requires evidence of the parties’ current income and resources, but it also requires evidence of their income and resources at the time of the previous order.

In a recent case, a father challenged a court’s denial of his petition for modification. The parents divorced in 2012 and signed an Agreed Final Decree of divorce. The mother was given the exclusive right to designate their primary residence, but the possession schedule gave each parent possession 50% of the time.

Under the decree, the father was required to pay $1,047.95 in child support each month. The decree stated it was in accordance with the guidelines in the Texas Family Code, based on the father’s monthly net resources of $4,191.81.

Texas Appeals Court Allows Adult Daughter to Pursue Outstanding Child Support

Published on: July 31, 2020 | by McClure Law Group

If a parent fails to pay court-ordered child support in Texas, the obligee may pursue a number of cumulative remedies. The obligee may seek a contempt of court order, a cumulative money judgment, a child support lien against certain property, a judicial writ of withholding, and an administrative writ of withholding. The court keeps jurisdiction to confirm the amount of arrearages and render a cumulative money judgment for a motion for enforcement that is filed within 10 years of termination of the obligation or the child reaching adult hood. Tex. Fam. Code §157.005.

In a recent case, the appeals court allowed an adult to pursue the child support her father owed after her mother’s death. The father was ordered to pay $250 per month in child support at the time of the divorce in 1980, but did not pay. The mother initiated an enforcement action in 2011, but it was never heard and she died in 2016.

In 2017, the daughter, then 41 years old, served a notice of application for judicial writ of withholding on her father. The father moved to stay the issuance of the income withholding order. The daughter argued the father had failed to timely contest the notice so the arrearages sworn to in the notice had been determined as a matter of law.

Biological Father Ordered to Pay Child Support to Mother’s Ex-Husband in Texas Custody Case

Published on: April 20, 2020 | by McClure Law Group

A Texas custody case can become complicated when a person learns he is the biological father of a child years after the child’s birth. Although a potential father of a child with a presumed father generally must file for adjudication of paternity prior to the child’s fourth birthday, in some cases, a delay may be excused. TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 160.607. In a suit adjudicating parentage, the court may order retroactive child support based on the child support guidelines if the parent has not been previously ordered to pay child support and was not party to a suit where support was ordered. TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 154.009.

In a recent case, a biological father challenged an order requiring him to pay retroactive child support and granting custody to the mother’s ex-husband. The mother was not sure who the father was, but married during her pregnancy. The mother and her husband also had a child together. The husband was the presumptive father and was adjudicated the father of both children when he and the mother divorced. The husband was named managing conservator with the right to establish the primary residence for both children.

The mother had told the biological father about the pregnancy when she realized she may be pregnant, and he acknowledged he was aware he could be the father from that time. He went to the hospital the day the child was born. He said the mother told him he was not the father and he did not pursue paternity at that time. The mother told him he may be the father when the child was four years old and a paternity test confirmed that he was the probable father.

Texas Court Finds Same-Sex Spouse Is Parent of Child Born to Spouse through Artificial Insemination

Published on: February 5, 2020 | by Francesca Blackard

Texas family law was written before marriage between same-sex partners was recognized. Many of the statutes are written in gendered terms that do not contemplate the possibility of marriage between same-sex partners or parents who are the same sex. A recent case considered whether the female spouse of a child’s biological and birth mother was a parent under Texas law.

The appellant had a child at the time of the marriage and the parties discussed having a child together. A friend of the parties agreed to be their sperm donor. They agreed the appellee would carry the child. According to the appeals court’s opinion, the appellant performed the insemination in the parties’ apartment. The appellant accompanied the appellee to most of her doctor’s appointments. She was at the hospital when the baby was born and took family leave to be with the baby. When the parties divorced, the trial court found the appellant was also a parent to the child and ordered her to pay child support. She appealed.

The appellant argued “parents” are defined as a mother and father in the Texas Family Code. The appellee argued that same-sex marriage and related benefits are recognized in the United States pursuant to U.S. Supreme Court decisions and Texas law must be read in light of those decisions.