Custody and Support Issues for Unmarried Parents
When parents who never married split up, both parents have the same rights and obligations regarding their children as if they had married and divorced. They face the same issues — and some unique ones — in asserting custody rights or obtaining child support.
Texas law sides squarely with the child in these matters. The courts will enforce support obligations even if the non-custodial parent is not in the child's life. The courts are also friendly to the rights of a father who wants to be involved in raising the child, so long as it is in the child's best interests.
The Houston family law attorneys of Bill De La Garza & Associates, P.C. represent mothers or fathers in paternity actions and proceedings to enforce child support or establish custody rights. Serving Harris County and surrounding counties of Texas, we invite you to arrange a consultation.
Texas Parental Rights Lawyers for Paternity Cases
Either the man or the woman can initiate a paternity action — before the baby is born, at the time of the break-up or even years later. This sets in motion a DNA test (by court order if necessary) to prove one way or the other if the man is the father. Once parentage is established:
- The mother can file for child support, including retroactive support up to four years back. If necessary, we can help our client enforce this obligation through wage garnishment or by having the reluctant daddy brought up on contempt of court charges.
- The father can petition for access, up to and including full shared custody. For a child under the age 3, the court will probably start with short but frequent periods of supervised visitation, allowing the father to work gradually up to longer periods and unsupervised visits and overnights. If the child is over age 3, the court may grant a standard possession order.
- If the father has evidence that the mother is unfit (child abuse, drug addiction, mental illness), he could petition to have primary custody or sole custody reversed to him.
- If the mother truly believes that the father is a danger to her child, we can represent her in fighting visitation or any access at all.
Paternity cases can be emotionally charged and awkward, especially if the break-up was bitter or the parents hardly knew each other when they conceived a child. We work with clients to protect the best interests of the son or daughter and to foster a cooperative parenting arrangement conducive to raising a healthy child in spite of these obstacles.
Experienced Houston Paternity Attorneys
Call us at 888-707-0064 or e-mail us to discuss your rights and duties as an unmarried parent.
