Child custody matters are often frustrating and overwhelming; but sound legal guidance provides knowledge so you can make decisions in your child’s best interest with confidence and peace of mind. Attorney Paula S. Pierce-Nichols helps parents with child custody matters in Conroe, Magnolia, The Woodlands and surrounding communities in Montgomery County and Harris County, Texas.

There are two types of custody in Texas. The first type is called conservatorship (legal custody).  This refers to the legal rights and duties a parent has to and owes a child.  The legal rights include the right to make child rearing decisions and the right to receive child support.  Legal duties include the duty to keep your child safe and the duty to pay child support. There are multiple legal rights and duties the Judge has to determine how to allocate between the parents as a parent’s exclusive right, the parent’s joint right, or each parent’s independent right.

The second type of custody is called possession and access (physical custody).  This refers to the amount of time each parent has physical possession of or access to their child. Generally a standard possession order is entered which basically divides parenting time with one parent having the child on the 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th weekends of each month, a weekday dinner date or an overnight during the school year, parents alternating holidays, and both parents having time during the summer.  A situation may warrant a modified standard possession order giving a parent(s) more or less time prescribed in a standard possession order, or ordering conditions that have to be met before a parents gets possession of or access to their child, or ordering supervised visitation, or ordering that a parent gets no possession of or access to their child at all.

When determining conservatorship, child support, and possession and access. The best interest of the child is the paramount consideration; that means the court considers what is in the child’s best interest above everything else. Factors the court may consider when determining a child’s best interest are:

• The desires of the child;
• The child’s emotional and physical needs now and in the future;
• The emotional or physical danger to the child now and in the future;
• The ability of the parent(s) to adequately take care of the child;
• Available Programs to assist an individual seeking custody to promote the best interests of the child;
• The plans for the child by the individuals seeking custody;
• The stability of the home or propose placement of the child;
• A parent’s acts or omissions that may indicate the existing parent-child relationship is improper;
• A parent’s excuse for the act or omission that indicates the existing parent-child relationship is improper;
• Any other relevant factors.