One of the most important decisions that can be made in a divorce or custody suit is who the children primarily reside with, whether there is a geographic restriction on where that parent can reside, and legal rights and duties each parent has to any given child, and visitation or possession of that child. In Texas family law cases, children are taken very seriously by the family court. They have a duty for protection and serving the best intreest of the child while adhering to state laws.
Calculating the amount of child support owed, what the guidelines on calculating child support are with respect to the net resources of the parent owing the duty of support (often called the child support payor or obligor), and in what instances under our Texas Family Code a person can obtain child support above and beyond the cap created by those guidelines.
Sometimes people don’t act like they should or, more importantly, as they’ve been ordered to by a court of law. If this happens, it is important to know what actions can be taken to compel that person to act and what punishment is available to compel that action. On the flip side of that coin, it is important to know whether a violation in fact occurred and what defenses might be argued and what penalties might be imposed by the court.
Sometimes a prior order isn’t appropriate anymore. There are different rules and requirements that come into play depending on when a modification is being sought and what is being modified.
Who is legally considered the father with a legal obligation to support the child and who must first be legally proven to be the father before child support can be ordered. Additionally, who can assert parental rights to a child and who has to have his paternity established by the court before he has any rights and, importantly, what the deadlines are for doing either of these.