One of my nephews recently got engaged to a girl living in Dallas. She has a 3 year old daughter, and although she was never married, the dad is actively involved with child. I don’t know if there are any court orders in place regarding custody or child support. My nephew has a good job in Louisiana, and Baton Rouge is about a 7 hour drive. He and she would like her to move to Baton Rouge.

I know in Louisiana it would be a very long shot to be able to move the child away from an involved parent. But I’ve been told that Texas can be different in some regards. Can anyone in Texas tell me if they have any shot at moving the child out of state?

I know it’s a crappy thing to do, but it’s a tough situation, so please no comments on that. I just don’t want him wasting money on an attorney if someone can confirm that it’s never going to happen. Thanks for any info.

IIRC, jhe is in family law here in Houston.

I’m a family law paralegal in Dallas. My guess is that if Dad is very involved they likely do have orders in place. Those orders would probably restrict the child’s residence to Dallas and contiguous counties. If Dad is involved and they don’t have orders, expect that he will file with the court for orders, including orders that Mom can’t remove the child. Texas family code is all about what is in the best interest of the child, and the court believes that it is in the child’s best interest to have frequent and continuing contact with both parents. The parties can agree between themselves that Mom can move, possibly involving that Mom pay all increased costs of travel for dad, but the court will likely side with Dad if he is not okay with her moving.

You need an actual consultation. Not the kind of question a lawyer can answer on a forum.

While I don’t disagree with the need to consult an attorney I would caution that attorneys in general suck. No disrespect intended but it’s just a fact that most attorneys will tell you that you have a good case regardless of whether they can actually win or not. Attorneys can and will argue both sides of the same question depending on who hires them first.

Ie, do the consult. Do multiple consults. Hopefully you get an honest lawyer who will give you honest advice on the viability of your case. Family law is the worst. Too much emotion, too much discretion, too much of everything.

I guarantee that if you go to 10 lawyers the majority will say you have a great case and take your money. Just remember they win as soon as you give them a retainer, not when the judge rules. Harsh but true. Stay unemotional and apply your best common sense when discussing the case. Ask hard questions and ask for specific examples. Put them on 5he spot when interviewing them. And yes, the initial consult is an interview. This will cost you a small fortune if contested. Don’t throw your money away.

Not meant as an attack on honest lawyers. They are just harder to find than you would think. A bad general contractor is easy to weed out, lawyers are harder.

Only married once but wife has an ex. I’ve gone down this road. The mom/dad in this case might not act or think rationally. The lawyers will play on that. One of our lawyers actually talked a great game, ended up snorting the retainer up his nose, and get this, died in a shootout at the local mall with the police and his girlfriend. So to say I hate attorneys as a profession is an understatement but I could back it up with lots of stories from multiple attorneys that suck. Which is most. Present company excepted.

The bottom line is know that while they work for you, they win whether you win or not. It’s an odd scenario. If lawyers only got paid when they won, it would be a different landscape. (I’m not arguing that should be the model, just making a point)

So in that regard getting advice here from guys who have no actual vested interest is probably a good call. It’s also why you want one of your kids to marry a lawyer so you can get solid advice. Lol

The info provided by the paralegal is accurate. I've had several friends waste a lot of money on attorney fees trying to relocate here in Texas. If one of the parents doesn't want the other parent to move with the kid, it's not going to happen.

^^^^^^^Because the attorneys they hired knew full well that the case was a loser but convinced your friends they had a good case. In some cases I’m sure the client would have went ahead regardless of the viability but the hard truth is that if a family law attorney looks you in the face and tells you the truth, that you don’t have a very good chance of winning this, many fewer cases would end up on a docket.

Be wary. Be cautious. Expect your girlfriend to not be rational. If you don’t act rational though it will cost a small fortune and perhaps be the issue that tears at your relationship. Be honest with her if you think it’s not a good case to pursue. In the long run that is the best play.

I am an attorney and I know how attorneys get paid. We don’t need to bash attorneys (or anyone else). I have a friend here who specializes in family law, and she confirmed my thought that it would be a very long shot for a court to approve an out of state move. But she did say that Texas could be different, so I thought I’d ask here. I’m looking for the honest answer of either “maybe” or “don’t waste your money”. Just trying to save my nephew some money and grief.

Yes I was bashing attorneys in general. Wrong or right on that issue, I feel it’s important to enter law, especially family law, knowing what is stacked against you. Knowing that the majority of lawyers will take your case, convince you you have a great chance of winning, knowing full well that your case was doomed from the start. Been there done that. Now the girls in question are 24 and 26 so I have no dog in this fight other than to warn a brother that if you are playing the odds, the lawyer will paint a rosy picture of your chance at success, your girlfriend/mother will not want to hear the criticism of the lawyer’s high hopes, and in the end you will either lose outright or not enough to have made the entire effort worthwhile.

There is value to be critical in judgement going forward. If you are a lawyer then we could argue about semantics. Using most, or the majority, or whatever term is in question, but at the end of the day you as well as I know it’s very easy to end up with a lawyer who says all the right things just to start the cash train going.

When you find your good attorney and they are definitely out there, treasure them. Being an attorney yourself, you have a significantly better chance at getting a realistic opinion than the rest of us. I also think you already probably know the answer, but just want confirmation. Hopefully your nephew will take your advice. Good luck in a bad situation.

Honestlou, you’ve been here as long as I have and this your profession, so I’m a little surprised you aren’t aware that jhe888 specializes as an attorney in this very sort of thing.

If I were you, I would contact him via email for a professional consultation.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Honestlou, you’ve been here as long as I have and this your profession, so I’m a little surprised you aren’t aware that jhe888 specializes as an attorney in this very sort of thing.

If I were you, I would contact him via email for a professional consultation.

It's not a pressing issue, as they just got engaged. I was just hoping for a volunteer to chime in.

Seems like it's a pretty significant issue as as a couple - unless he can live that far from work. Seems like the sort of thing that could cause enough stress to break up a marriage.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Honestlou, you’ve been here as long as I have and this your profession, so I’m a little surprised you aren’t aware that jhe888 specializes as an attorney in this very sort of thing.

If I were you, I would contact him via email for a professional consultation.

It's not a pressing issue, as they just got engaged. I was just hoping for a volunteer to chime in.

Understood. Best wishes to all involved.

I am a stepfather from a broken relationship. I was lucky the Florida turd did nothing when my wife moved back to NY pregnant with my stepdaughter. That was 32 years ago. We got together a year later. All was well.

Well 16 years later, as of having always been told the truth, my stepdaughter thought she should meet her "REAL" father.

That was chalked up to Mom and/ Stepdad told her the truth. He had no desire to be in her life, which was good. She realized that I did what I didn't have to to make a family. Love my wife, but this girl can be trying with her kids!!!! GOT IT COVERED, I Hope!!!

Keep in mind that it's actually possible the biological father in this case is really doing his best to be a good and responsible Dad and isn't using custody visits to fill his daughter with terrible comments about her Mom. It does happen.

In Texas family law, mediation has proven to be a useful (and much less expensive) tool to get both sides to agree upon things like this rather than fight it out and make both the winner and loser emerge as the bad guy.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Attorneys can and will argue both sides of the same question depending on who hires them first.

You would be a pretty poor attorney if you did not know both sides of the issues in the matter you were handling.

A competent attorney can recognize a losing case in family law more often than not. The odds of them presenting the fact that it is a losing case to the potential client is slim. Don’t be an obtuse dick.

I think you knew this when you posted unless you are stupid but let me spell it out. The ability to argue both sides of a case is one thing, presenting to both sides that you think it’s a great case knowing full well that you are pretty sure you know how it will turn out is disingenuous. And exactly what happens in real life. A pretense that allows both lawyers to “sell” a case as a win. All while both lawyers pretty much know who is on the losing side before the first appearance in court even happens in many, many cases. Yet the cash flow doesn’t care. Win, lose, or draw the lawyers win. If they were honest as to the cases outcome to begin with, many cases would never happen.

Well, in my experience (not family law), I could tell a client all day long that they were on the losing side, but they usually had blinders on and thought somehow things would magically work out ("just find a loophole!")

Sounds like you had a bad experience with your atty and now have a big chip on your shoulder. Sorry for that.

Yep. You are a dick. If you could fucking read I already told you my experience. I also already said that the client many times won’t want to hear that they don’t have a case. So, not only are you a douche, you don’t even read the posts in the thread.

Thanks for making my point about attorneys being assholes though.