Originally published by 1p21.admin.
The nuclear family of the 1950s is no longer the norm in the United States,
if it ever was in the first place. In today’s world non-parents
(including Grandparents) play larger roles in their family’s lives
than in previous generations when parents are not able to fulfill their
duties as providers. If you are one of those persons and are interested
in pursuing
conservatorship rights over a child in your life today’s blog post is for you.
Conservatorship for non parents
In some circumstances, very limited to be completely honest, non parents
of a child can pursue and be granted conservatorship rights over a child.
Let’s examine those circumstances in some detail right now:
Non-parents in general who have had actual care, control and possession
of a child for at least six months continuously can pursue a conservatorship
case in the Texas family law courts. The legal term for this ability to
do so is called “standing”. The one catch is that six months
of continuous possession and control must not have ended more than 90
days prior to the beginning of your conservatorship case.
If you are a
foster parent, you can file for conservatorship over your child if that child has been
in your home for at least one year with the same requirement as above
that the one year period must not have ended more than 90 days prior to
the beginning of your conservatorship case.
Finally, grandparents can file for conservatorship of a child in the even
that there is sufficient proof in the eyes of your judge that your grandchild’s
present living conditions will present a serious risk to their physical
health or well being. The alternative to this standard would be that both
of your grandchild’s parents, or whichever parent is currently living
if one is deceased, has filed a petition requesting you be named a conservator
or has consented to your petition and request to do so.
Suits Affecting the Parent Child Relationships
Suits Affecting the Parent Child Relationships (SAPCR) are the type of lawsuit that are filed in this type of situation where
you are seeking conservatorship rights in regard to a child. Conservatorship,
visitation, possession, access and
child support are the issues that a SAPCR takes into consideration. These issues are
also decided, for what it’s worth, in divorce cases. The only difference
is that the rules of community property are not applicable in a SAPCR
like they are in a divorce case.
If you are in a position where the father of the child in question is not
known, parentage may be an issue that is raised in the SAPCR as well.
Genetic testing would be ordered of the child and any potential father
if a man does not acknowledge paternity on his own volition.
Parentage is obviously an important issue as any awarding of conservatorship rights
is dependent upon being the legal parent to a child. Outside of an acknowledgment
of paternity being signed or the child being born to a married couple,
there is no way outside of a parentage suit to determine paternity of
a child in Texas.
Married persons: How can you sue for conservatorship of your child?
If you are married to your spouse then there would be no prior orders in
place in regard to conservatorship of your child. This means that you
and your spouse share equally in the rights and duties associated with
rearing your child. In order to establish rights and duties in a court
of law a lawsuit would have to be filed, likely in the form of an Original
Petition for Divorce. Occasionally a SAPCR can be filed if the marriage
is still desired but orders are sought in regard to issues like child
support, possession and/or access to the child.
If you are concerned, for example, that your spouse may attempt to take
your child with him or her to another country or anywhere without your
permission it may be wise to file a SAPCR in order to alert the court
to this potential outcome and to seek orders that do not allow your spouse
to travel without prior permission. This is especially relevant in an
international city like Houston where many parents have roots outside
Texas or even outside the United States.
Unmarried parents: How can you sue for conservatorship of your child?
As opposed to persons who are married to one another while a child is born,
if you are the father to a child who was born to un-wed parents you must
prove that you are the father in order to be granted parental rights.
I’d refer you back to the section of this blog that discusses that
topic for additional information.
You can sign an acknowledgment of paternity at the time your child is born
and have that filed with the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin. This
will provide you with the legal rights and duties that you would normally
have to seek through a SAPCR or paternity suit in court. If you are a
mother who is seeking to formally establish a man as the father of your
child you can do so through the filing of a Suit to establish parentage.
In that suit you can request child support and the process of legally
determining the father of your child could be initiated.
Drama and SAPCR: What if you’re a man who has a child with a married woman?
A dramatic situation that you may unfortunately find yourself in as a man
is what happens if you have a child with a woman who is married to somebody
else? When the mother is married to another man that man is legally presumed
to be the father of your child. Her husband, and not you, would have the
rights and duties to the child that normally would go to you in most situations.
First and foremost you must acknowledge paternity and have that paperwork
filed with the Bureau of Vital Statistics. If your child was raised by
the mother and her husband you have until your child turns four years
old in order to file a lawsuit objecting to the husband having conservatorship
rights over your child.
Genetic testing would be ordered that would show the biological father of the child.
In the event that you are proven to be the biological father of the child
you would earn those rights and duties for your child. At that stage you
would have the standing you need in order to sue for primary conservatorship
or anything else related to your child. Obviously your chances of success
in such a case would depend on the contact that you have had with your
child, which is likely little to none. In that case it may be a better
move for you to simply seek to have visitation, possession and access
rights granted to you so that you may establish a relationship with the child.
Once you have had an opportunity to establish continuous and lasting contact
with your child you can attempt to go back to court in order to be awarded
more visitation time with your child or, in the alternative, or be named
outright as the primary conservator of your child if your goal is to have
him or her reside with you primarily.
Details of the SAPCR to be discussed in tomorrow’s blog post from
the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you are interested in bringing your own SAPCR then tomorrow’s
blog post will contain information on the ins and outs of a SAPCR case
including lesser known steps and processes that you may not be aware of.
Please come back to go through that important information with us.
As always, if you have questions about family law in Texas please do not
hesitate to
contact the
Law Office of Bryan Fagan. A free of charge consultation where one of our licensed family law attorneys
can answer your questions is only a phone call away.
Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.
from Texas Bar Today https://ift.tt/2znljXc
via Abogado Aly Website
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