Custody question for joining the military

[tiffanyd0315]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

So I am the sole managing conservator for my 5 1/2 year old son. His dad sees him on every other weekend. Well his dad is in the Marine reserves and I am thinking about joining the military myself. His dad is married already and I am getting married in June 2009. When I plan to leave for basic, it will be during the summer and his dad's time to have him. I will be gone for 2 more weeks after my son will be back from his dad's for the summer. What I would like to know is if his dad can take me to court and try to get full custody or sole custody of my son since I am making this decision? This is like the basis of my decision on whether I am going to go or not. I know that since I live in Williamson County in Texas, they don't award the father custody unless the mother has done something really bad, but thats just off what I have heard from other people who have been in the child custody process. So if anyone could shed some light on this and let me know about the Texas Law that would be great and much appreciated. And I am sorry if this is not the right forum to post on, please let me know and I will post it somewhere else. Thank you

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

So I am the sole managing conservator for my 5 1/2 year old son. His dad sees him on every other weekend. Well his dad is in the Marine reserves and I am thinking about joining the military myself. His dad is married already and I am getting married in June 2009. When I plan to leave for basic, it will be during the summer and his dad's time to have him. I will be gone for 2 more weeks after my son will be back from his dad's for the summer. What I would like to know is if his dad can take me to court and try to get full custody or sole custody of my son since I am making this decision? This is like the basis of my decision on whether I am going to go or not. I know that since I live in Williamson County in Texas, they don't award the father custody unless the mother has done something really bad, but thats just off what I have heard from other people who have been in the child custody process. So if anyone could shed some light on this and let me know about the Texas Law that would be great and much appreciated. And I am sorry if this is not the right forum to post on, please let me know and I will post it somewhere else. Thank you

You joining the military could potentially be a change in circumstance, particularly if you would be active duty and deployable, and dad is only in the reserves.

However, the bigger change in circumstance would come after you were stationed somewhere (if its a move away) or are being deployed.

Basically yes, most likely there would be some change in circumstance, somewhere in there, that would allow dad to try to change primary custody.

 

[Ohiogal]

I agree with LD and i also want to point out that you are wrong about mothers only losing custody if they do something wrong. Courts are NOT allowed to make that decision based on gender. It is illegal.

 

[txmom512]

I agree with LD and i also want to point out that you are wrong about mothers only losing custody if they do something wrong. Courts are NOT allowed to make that decision based on gender. It is illegal.

Honestly, working in the legal field in Williamson County, Texas, I can tell you that while that Should be true..... Williamson County is extremely conservative - the good ol' boy system is still firmly in place; they believe moms belong at home and the kids belong w/ moms and it happens more than it maybe should....

 

[Silverplum]

Honestly, working in the legal field in Williamson County, Texas, I can tell you that while that Should be true..... Williamson County is extremely conservative - the good ol' boy system is still firmly in place; they believe moms belong at home and the kids belong w/ moms and it happens more than it maybe should....

I believe it.

 

[OldandTired]

I can assure you that there are a lot more counties in Texas that play by their own rules. May not be legal, but they do it.

I was very hard-pressed as a man gaining primary of my 2 daughters, who were then 4 and 5 years old. My county tried the good 'ol boy stuff, but my attorney was just a little smarter than that.

 

[tiffanyd0315]

So maybe someone can give me some insight on what this means. I will change the names and put insert your name here cause I don't feel that yall should know our names.

The court finds that, in accordance with section 153.001 of the Texas Family Code, it is the public policy of Texas to assure that children will have frequent and continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in the best interest of the child, to provide a safe, stable, and nonviolent environment for the child, and to encourage parents to share the rights and duties of raising their child after the parents have seperated or dissolved their marriage. It is ordered that the primary residence of my child's name shall be the State of Texas, and the parties shall not remove my child's name from the State of Texas for the purpose of changing the primary residence of my child's name until modifed by further order of the court of continuing jurisdiction or by written agreement signed by the parties and filed with the court. It is further ordered that my name shall have the exclusive right to designate my child's name primary residence within the State of Texas. It is ordered that this geographical restriction on the residence of my shild's name shall be lifted if, at the time my name wishes to remove my child's name from the State of Texas for the purpose of changing the primary residence of my child's name, his dad's name does not reside in the State of Texas.

Does anyone know exactly or have a good idea of what this means? Also he could probably take me for sole custody of my child for anything he wants to. Now if he tries when I enroll in the military, it doesn't really mean that he will get custody as long as he is doing fine where he is at in his current situation, right?

 

[Ohiogal]

So maybe someone can give me some insight on what this means. I will change the names and put insert your name here cause I don't feel that yall should know our names.

The court finds that, in accordance with section 153.001 of the Texas Family Code, it is the public policy of Texas to assure that children will have frequent and continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in the best interest of the child, to provide a safe, stable, and nonviolent environment for the child, and to encourage parents to share the rights and duties of raising their child after the parents have seperated or dissolved their marriage. It is ordered that the primary residence of my child's name shall be the State of Texas, and the parties shall not remove my child's name from the State of Texas for the purpose of changing the primary residence of my child's name until modifed by further order of the court of continuing jurisdiction or by written agreement signed by the parties and filed with the court. It is further ordered that my name shall have the exclusive right to designate my child's name primary residence within the State of Texas. It is ordered that this geographical restriction on the residence of my shild's name shall be lifted if, at the time my name wishes to remove my child's name from the State of Texas for the purpose of changing the primary residence of my child's name, his dad's name does not reside in the State of Texas.

Does anyone know exactly or have a good idea of what this means? Also he could probably take me for sole custody of my child for anything he wants to. Now if he tries when I enroll in the military, it doesn't really mean that he will get custody as long as he is doing fine where he is at in his current situation, right?

That means the child lives in Texas. You can change the child's residence from Texas (move him out of Texas) if DAD has moved out of Texas and is out of Texas at the time you want to move. If dad lives in Texas the child cannot be moved from Texas. In other words, if you get stationed in another state, you cannot move the child without permission of the court or dad.