At The Wright Firm, LLP, we handle family and divorce-related matters throughout Texas. Our attorneys are skilled in all child custody and child support issues, including suits affecting the parent-child relationship, modification, enforcement, termination, and adoption.
 As experienced family lawyers, we understand that any legal proceeding can be exhausting emotionally, physically, and mentally for our clients. Adding your care and concerns for your children into the mix only makes the process that much harder emotionally. We support our clients by fighting for their interests and by making sure they know we are always there for them.
Contact us in Denton, Texas, to speak with skilled child support and child custody attorneys about child custody and support modification and legal custody concerns, or with questions about your ruling.
“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man.”
–Abraham Lincoln |
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While no two cases are ever the same, here, for your reference, are answers to the questions we are most often asked by clients and potential clients:
- Doesn’t the wife always get the kids?
- Will I have to pay child support?
- What determines how much child support you have to pay?
- How long will I have to pay child support?
- What does ‘conservatorship’ mean?
- What is the difference between ‘possession and access’ and ‘conservatorship’?
- When parents fight over custody, how does the court decide?
- Our visitation schedule is not working, what can I do?
- I can’t afford my child support payments anymore, what can I do? OR My ex makes more money now. Can I have my child support payments increased?
- My ex is not paying child support. What can I do? OR My ex won’t follow the visitation schedule in our Order. What can I do?
| Doesn’t the wife always get the kids? |
Answer: No – not automatically. The Texas Family Code section 153.003 expressly forbids the court to discriminate based on gender in deciding which parent to appoint as managing conservator of the children. The court must decide based on what is in the best interest of the child.
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| Will I have to pay child support? |
Answer: One of you almost definitely will. Generally speaking, the parent who gets the right to designate where the children live will also get to receive child support payments. The other parent, of course, will have to pay. If the Court makes the decision about child custody, then child support will be mandatory. If you and your spouse are making an agreement about child custody, you may agree together that neither of you will pay child support to the other.
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| What determines how much child support you have to pay? |
Answer: The Texas Family Code contains guidelines for determining the amount of child support to be paid. If a Court is ruling on your child support issues, the judge is most likely to follow these guidelines. You and your spouse can come to an agreement for an amount that is different from what you would pay under the guidelines, however.
Loosely speaking, the guidelines state that you pay a certain percentage of your net income. The percentage is based on the number of children you are supporting.
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| How long will I have to pay child support? |
Answer: The general rule is that you pay until all of the children you are supporting turn 18 years old. If a child dies, marries, or otherwise becomes emancipated before he or she turns 18, then you will not have to pay support for that child anymore. If a child is still in high school when he or she turns 18, then you may be responsible for paying support for that child until he or she graduates.
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| What does ‘conservatorship’ mean? |
Answer: Conservatorship is another way of saying legal custody. If you are appointed a conservator of your child, you will have some kind of decision-making responsibilities. In Texas, the default for child custody is both parents being appointed Joint Managing Conservators.
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| What is the difference between ‘possession and access’ and ‘conservatorship’? |
Answer: Possession refers to actual physical custody of a child. Access generally refers to visits with the child. In contrast, conservatorship means legal custody of the child. Conservatorship deals with which parent has what decision-making rights with regard to the child. For example, the right to make educational decisions for the child, or direct his or her religious upbringing.
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| When parents fight over custody, how does the court decide? |
Answer: The typical standard is the best interests of the child. Each state has specific guidelines, but the court usually takes into consideration what each parent wants, what the child wants (if the child is old enough and/or mature enough), which parent has been the primary caretaker, the parenting abilities of each parent and whether there is a history of abuse.
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| Our visitation schedule is not working, what can I do? |
Answer: If your circumstances have changed since your Possession Order was entered, you may want to seek what is called a child custody modification. This means that you are asking the court to modify or change your existing child custody order. To talk to an experienced family law attorney about your options, call The Wright Firm at (940) 387-5300 today!
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| I can’t afford my child support payments anymore, what can I do? OR My ex makes more money now. Can I have my child support payments increased? |
Answer: If you or your ex’s financial circumstances have changed since your Child Support Order was entered, you may want to seek what is called a child support modification. This means that you are asking the court to modify or change your existing child support order. To talk to an experienced family law attorney about your options, call The Wright Firm at (940) 387-5300 today!
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| My ex is not paying child support. What can I do? OR My ex won’t follow the visitation schedule in our Order. What can I do? |
Answer: If you believe that your ex spouse is not following a court order, you may want to seek what is called an enforcement. This means you are asking the court to enforce its earlier order against your ex. Your ex may be found in contempt of court, and could be fined or, in the case of not paying child support, even jailed. To talk to an experienced family law attorney about your options, call The Wright Firm at (940) 387-5300 today!
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Contact The Wright Firm today at (940) 387-5300
to set your first appointment!
The Wright Firm provides skilled representation to family law clients throughout the Denton, Texas, region, including the cities of Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Arlington, Richardson, Flower Mound, Carrollton, Corinth, Allen, McKinney, Garland, and Dallas County, Denton County, Collin County, and Tarrant County. |
