Do fathers have different rights than mothers in Texas? This is a question we frequently get as Fort Worth Child Custody Attorney. However, in Dallas-Fort Worth, the family code gives equal rights to both parents.
Learn today from Tyler Monahan, managing partner of Turner-Monahan, how the Dallas Fort Worth court system determines Father’ and Mothers’ rights when going through a divorce or child custody case.
We get the question all the time, fathers’ rights, and I’ve heard numerous people say, “Fathers don’t have the same rights as mothers do.”
Under the family code, you have three buckets, you have conservatorship, possession, and access and Child Support. These are generally what make up the components of a suit affecting the parent-child relationship portion of a divorce.
On the conservatorship side, you have a situation where you’re going to have either joint conservatorship or sole management. There’s really no concrete way that judges decide on whether a father has rights or a mother has rights.
The judge has to take all the facts that are put in front of them. Obviously, each attorney will try to put facts in a light most favorable for their clients, but the judge has to look at all of the facts.
Then uses the family code or case law to determine what’s in the best interest of the children.
The best interest of the children is always what the court keeps in mind. Father’s rights, I believe in the state of Texas, they’re the same as mothers rights, it’s just going to depend upon who the judge believes based on the fact is going to be the primary parent,
It is sometimes the Father, sometimes as the mother. Sometimes it’s just restricted to a school area or to a certain geographic restricted area where the parents share a 50/50 equal possession.
We’re seeing that more and more nowadays, especially in your more urban populated areas where people are living closer together, and they’re able to exercise a 5050.
We always try to approach it from what is in the best interest of the children and lay that in front of the judge. And hopefully the judge makes the determination based upon those facts that it’s in the best interest of the children to have both parents involved in their lives as much as possible.
