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Texas Law: Missed pick up time = forfeited visitation?

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Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Here's the deal. I AM the original replier and I gave you the LEGAL answer. Per texas law:

§ 153.075. DUTIES OF PARENT NOT APPOINTED CONSERVATOR.
SUBTITLE B. SUITS AFFECTING THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

SUBCHAPTER B. PARENT APPOINTED AS CONSERVATOR: IN GENERAL

The court may order a parent not appointed as a managing or a possessory conservator to perform other parental duties, including paying child support
Per your words dad does NOT forfeit visitation. Per the standard order outlined in Texas law it does NOT provide that dad forfeits visitation:
§ 153.312. PARENTS WHO RESIDE 100 MILES OR LESS APART.
SUBTITLE B. SUITS AFFECTING THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

SUBCHAPTER F. STANDARD POSSESSION ORDER

(a) If the possessory conservator resides 100 miles or less from the primary residence of the child, the possessory conservator shall have the right to possession of the child as follows:

(1) on weekends throughout the year beginning at 6 p.m. on the first, third, and fifth Friday of each month and ending at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday except that, at the possessory conservator's election made before or at the time of the rendition of the original or modification order, and as specified in the original or modification order, the weekend periods of possession specified by this subdivision that occur during the regular school term shall begin at the time the child's school is regularly dismissed and end at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday; and

(2) on Thursdays of each week during the regular school term beginning at 6 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m., or, at the possessory conservator's election made before or at the time of the rendition of the original or modification order, and as specified in the original or modification order, beginning at the time the child's school is regularly dismissed and ending at the time the child's school resumes, unless the court finds that visitation under this subdivision is not in the best interest of the child.

(b) The following provisions govern possession of the child for vacations and certain specific holidays and supersede conflicting weekend or Thursday periods of possession. The possessory conservator and the managing conservator shall have rights of possession of the child as follows:

(1) the possessory conservator shall have possession in even-numbered years, beginning at 6 p.m. on the day the child is dismissed from school for the school's spring vacation and ending at 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes after that vacation, and the managing conservator shall have possession for the same period in odd-numbered years;

(2) if a possessory conservator:

(A) gives the managing conservator written notice by April 1 of each year specifying an extended period or periods of summer possession, the possessory conservator shall have possession of the child for 30 days beginning not earlier than the day after the child's school is dismissed for the summer vacation and ending not later than seven days before school resumes at the end of the summer vacation, to be exercised in not more than two separate periods of at least seven consecutive days each; or

(B) does not give the managing conservator written notice by April 1 of each year specifying an extended period or periods of summer possession, the possessory conservator shall have possession of the child for 30 consecutive days beginning at 6 p.m. on July 1 and ending at 6 p.m. on July 31;

(3) if the managing conservator gives the possessory conservator written notice by April 15 of each year, the managing conservator shall have possession of the child on any one weekend beginning Friday at 6 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday during one period of possession by the possessory conservator under Subdivision (2), provided that the managing conservator picks up the child from the possessory conservator and returns the child to that same place; and

(4) if the managing conservator gives the possessory conservator written notice by April 15 of each year or gives the possessory conservator 14 days' written notice on or after April 16 of each year, the managing conservator may designate one weekend beginning not earlier than the day after the child's school is dismissed for the summer vacation and ending not later than seven days before school resumes at the end of the summer vacation, during which an otherwise scheduled weekend period of possession by the possessory conservator will not take place, provided that the weekend designated does not interfere with the possessory conservator's period or periods of extended summer possession or with Father's Day if the possessory conservator is the father of the child.
While the holiday per law extends dad's time:
§ 153.315. WEEKEND POSSESSION EXTENDED BY HOLIDAY.
SUBTITLE B. SUITS AFFECTING THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

SUBCHAPTER F. STANDARD POSSESSION ORDER

(a) If a weekend period of possession of the possessory conservator coincides with a school holiday during the regular school term or with a federal, state, or local holiday during the summer months in which school is not in session, the weekend possession shall end at 6 p.m. on a Monday holiday or school holiday or shall begin at 6 p.m. Thursday for a Friday holiday or school holiday, as applicable.

(b) At the possessory conservator's election, made before or at the time of the rendition of the original or modification order, and as specified in the original or modification order, periods of possession extended by a holiday may begin at the time the child's school is regularly dismissed.
Even in § 153.316. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS. regarding possession it says nothing about forfeiting time. It states that the parent must give notice if they cannot exercise time:

(7) a parent shall give notice to the person in possession of the child on each occasion that the parent will be unable to exercise that parent's right of possession for a specified period;
Dad did that. It does not state what that notice needs to be. So he doesn't forfeit time. He has also informed mom he cannot exercise Monday.

Dad is within the bounds of TEXAS law. Unlike what the other poster stated. I would like the citation of where dad forfeits as no where in the statutes I read does it state anything like that. Oh and OP, quit acting like your user name if you want help here. This info was a freebie. Next time you better mind your Ps and Qs or I will let the idiots who gave you the wrong info lead you.

I was correct in my original response. YOU were defensive, insulting and stupid for the remainder of the thread. Expect to be given a vacation for your attitude. If not banned.
 
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Ohiogal

Queen Bee
The father should know his visitation times without having to call and make last minute arrangements. It is not fair to you or your wife to work around his schedule. If you all have a decent relationship and he had compensating factors like he lived a large distance away or his job requires him to work during designated visitation days then he needs to communicate that to you all in advance so it does not interfere with your schedule. If there are no compensating factors then he is indeed inconvieniencing you and per Texas law if a parent does not execute visitation from the primary care taker withing 30 min then he/she has forfitted the visitation. There are no excuses for not executing visitation unless there are special circumstances that have been conveyed to you and you all have agreed.
Sounds nice but you are wrong. Back it up with STATUTE. I quoted statute and it doesn't state anything like that.
 

sonofabit

Junior Member
I was correct in my original response. YOU were defensive, insulting and stupid for the remainder of the thread. Expect to be given a vacation for your attitude. If not banned.
firstly, thank you for providing the actual law.

but in first answering my question, you did not do this, so for all I know, you could have just been talking out of your ass. there's no way I could know if you know what you're talking about, and I still don't. it's not like I can verify your identity on the internet. what i needed to know was what the law says.

additionally, there was no need for the tone of the remarks you made in your initial reply. THAT's why I got defensive. I don't need anyone telling me or my wife what we ought to be doing, lawyer or not.

that being said, and getting back to the original question, I see that this law doesn't mention anything about forfeiting rights based on a stituation like the one I described, so I understand that, which is about what I figured anyway...

but what I want to know is, if the window for possession spans the full length of the given weekend, is it fully the obligation of the father to keep the child for the complete duration? it sounds to me like this law allows the father to come and go as he pleases as long as he is inside the window of possession...

if his window is supposed to extend to the end of the weekend, what is to stop him from picking up the child at say 1pm saturday then dumping the kid back home only 2 hours later without warning?

I should add that the situation was already fully resolved amicably only moments after it began, so at this point, I really am just curious about what is and is not allowed in the eyes of the law and why.
 

michandil

Member
* * *
but what I want to know is, if the window for possession spans the full length of the given weekend, is it fully the obligation of the father to keep the child for the complete duration? it sounds to me like this law allows the father to come and go as he pleases as long as he is inside the window of possession...

if his window is supposed to extend to the end of the weekend, what is to stop him from picking up the child at say 1pm saturday then dumping the kid back home only 2 hours later without warning?
* * *
My comments are general, and certainly not particular to Texas law.

Generally, parties are expected to act reasonably for the best interests of the child. Both parties. And so that means being reasonably cooperative.

I have a question: Is this a pattern? How often does the other parent ask for exceptions to the ordered schedule?

If this was a single incident (or a rare occurrence) of one parent requesting an exception to the ordered schedule, it's fair to expect that the other parent would accommodate the request or occasional requests. Be respectful and gracious, as you would be with a valued colleague or client in a work setting.

However, if one parent chronically or increasingly fails to follow the ordered schedule, you have a different problem. Neither the child nor she ought to be compelled to repeatedly suspend or cancel other activities in order to wait for the other parent to arrive, or to drop off the child.

In that case (a pattern or emerging pattern), it's wise to send an e-mail to the other parent to begin working out a schedule that continues regular visitation, but so that it is predictable for everyone, especially the child.

If someone is highly resentful of one request for a modification of the schedule, or of only rare requests, I doubt that that would be seen as being reasonably cooperative. If one is being subjected to such frequent requests for exceptions or chronic failure to follow the schedule, definitely do something to get a workable schedule in place for the child's sake, either by consent or motion to the court for review.
 

Isis1

Senior Member
firstly, thank you for providing the actual law.

but in first answering my question, you did not do this, so for all I know, you could have just been talking out of your ass. there's no way I could know if you know what you're talking about, and I still don't. it's not like I can verify your identity on the internet. what i needed to know was what the law says.

additionally, there was no need for the tone of the remarks you made in your initial reply. THAT's why I got defensive. I don't need anyone telling me or my wife what we ought to be doing, lawyer or not.

that being said, and getting back to the original question, I see that this law doesn't mention anything about forfeiting rights based on a stituation like the one I described, so I understand that, which is about what I figured anyway...

but what I want to know is, if the window for possession spans the full length of the given weekend, is it fully the obligation of the father to keep the child for the complete duration? it sounds to me like this law allows the father to come and go as he pleases as long as he is inside the window of possession...

if his window is supposed to extend to the end of the weekend, what is to stop him from picking up the child at say 1pm saturday then dumping the kid back home only 2 hours later without warning?

I should add that the situation was already fully resolved amicably only moments after it began, so at this point, I really am just curious about what is and is not allowed in the eyes of the law and why.

i'm going to respond to the bolded part.

as the custodial parent, with a husband who is the stepfather to my two oldest children.....

if the father calls me the day before and lets me know, then i can let him know if i'll even be available for an exchange at that time.

when father doesn't inform me, he risks the chance of me NOT being home. took the father one time to get my drift. dropped the kids off 4 hours early, no one was home. he had to go back home with the kids, call in late for work, and bring them back at the correct time. and i didn't even plan that.


my alternate choice, don't work with the father and he drops them off at his mom's house where he is court ordered to NOT do. i'll take the extra time with my kids anyday.
 
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