Custody Rights and Duties in Austin: Reading Your Order Right by Right

The Family Code does not treat custody as a single prize that one parent wins. It gives a parent a set of rights and duties, such as choosing a school, consenting to surgery and keeping the child safe, and a court order decides which parent holds each one. Two orders that both name the parents joint managing conservators can read very differently. A parent who relies on what the order is assumed to say often learns at the wrong moment that a right belongs to the other parent, or that a duty has a deadline.

If you are talking with an Austin child custody lawyer about a Travis County order, this page explains how the rights and duties are layered, who holds each decision, what every conservator keeps no matter what the schedule says, what each parent owes, and how an order is enforced or changed.

Two Layers: What the Law Gives a Parent and What Your Order Changes

The first layer is the statute. Section 151.001 of the Family Code lists what a parent has: possession of the child, the choice of the child’s moral and religious training and residence, the duty of care, control, protection and reasonable discipline, the duty of support, the right to consent to marriage, military enlistment and medical, dental, psychiatric, psychological and surgical care, the right to represent the child in legal action, and the right to make educational decisions and to designate and enroll the child in a school. Those rights and duties are subject to a court order, to an affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights and to an affidavit designating another person or agency to act as managing conservator.

The second layer is the order. If the court appoints both parents as conservators, it must sort the parental rights into three groups: those each parent may exercise alone, those the parents exercise together by agreement and those one parent holds exclusively (Section 153.071). That allocation is where most disputes begin. A parent who holds a right independently can act without asking. A right held by joint agreement needs the other parent’s consent. A right held exclusively by the other parent cannot be exercised by someone who simply has the child that week.

Decision by Decision: Who Holds the Right

Read your order for each item below. The statute supplies the default for a sole managing conservator, and a joint order must say who decides.

• Where the child lives. A joint order must name one conservator with the exclusive right to determine the child’s primary residence, and must either set a geographic area in which that parent keeps the residence or say that no geographic limit applies (Section 153.134). A sole managing conservator has the right unless the order limits it (Section 153.132). Any area is stated in your order, so read it before you plan a move.
• School. Educational decisions, and the choice of school and enrollment, are listed rights of a parent (Section 151.001) and exclusive rights of a sole managing conservator (Section 153.132). In a joint order the court allocates them. A parent who does not choose the school still keeps the right to consult school officials and attend school activities (Section 153.073).
• Routine medical and dental care. A parent may agree to ordinary checkups, cleanings and other non-invasive care while the child is in that parent’s possession (Section 153.074).
• Surgery, invasive procedures and mental health treatment. A sole managing conservator holds the exclusive right to consent to invasive procedures and to psychiatric and psychological treatment (Section 153.132). In a joint order the court allocates those rights, so check who holds them before you schedule anything beyond routine care.
• Emergencies. A conservator may consent to medical, dental and surgical treatment during an emergency involving an immediate danger to the child’s health and safety (Section 153.073).
• Religion. During possession, a conservator may direct the child’s moral and religious training unless the order says otherwise (Section 153.074).
• Passport. A sole managing conservator has the right to apply for, renew and keep the child’s passport (Section 153.132). In a joint order, look for how the court allocated that right before you apply or book travel.
• Legal papers and money. Representing the child in legal action, receiving support payments and consenting to marriage or military enlistment are rights the order assigns (Sections 151.001, 153.071 and 153.132).

Joint Managing Conservatorship Is Not Equal Time

Joint managing conservatorship describes who holds rights, not how many nights a child spends in each home. The Family Code says it does not require equal or nearly equal periods of possession (Section 153.135), and a joint order can give one parent most of the time and the exclusive right to set the child’s residence. Texas starts from a rebuttable presumption that naming both parents joint managing conservators serves the child, and a finding of a history of family violence involving the parents removes the presumption (Section 153.131). A court may also appoint a sole managing conservator (Section 153.005), but it may not appoint joint managing conservators when credible evidence shows a history or pattern of child neglect, or of physical or sexual abuse by one parent against the other parent, a spouse or a child (Section 153.004). Our pages on shared and joint custody in Austin and the standard possession order explain how decisions and schedules fit together.

Sole Managing Conservatorship

A sole managing conservator holds the exclusive rights in Section 153.132 in addition to the rights every conservator has, unless the order limits them. That does not remove the other parent from the child’s life. The other parent is ordinarily a possessory conservator, keeps the rights described in the next two sections and may be ordered to pay child support. Even a parent who is not appointed a conservator at all may be ordered to perform other parental duties, including paying support (Section 153.075).

Possessory Conservatorship

A parent who is not appointed a managing conservator is to be appointed a possessory conservator unless the court finds both that the appointment is not in the child’s best interest and that possession or access by the parent would endanger the child’s physical or emotional welfare (Section 153.191). The court must specify the possessory conservator’s rights and duties, and must state the times and conditions for possession or access unless a party shows good cause why specific orders would not serve the child (Section 153.006). The possessory conservator has the rights and duties in the parental rights subchapter plus anything the order expressly grants (Section 153.192).

Limits are supposed to be narrow. A court may limit a conservator’s rights and duties only with a written finding that the limit is in the child’s best interest (Section 153.072), and an order that restricts a parent’s possession or access may not go further than the child’s best interest requires (Section 153.193).

What Every Conservator Keeps at All Times

Unless the order limits them, a parent appointed as a conservator holds these rights whatever the schedule says (Section 153.073):

• News about the child. Updates from the other conservator on health, schooling and general well-being.
• A say beforehand. The chance to confer with the other parent, as far as possible, before a decision on those subjects.
• Records. Look at the child’s school file and medical, dental and psychological records.
• Professionals. Speak with the child’s doctor, dentist or psychologist, and with teachers and administrators about how the child is doing in school.
• School life. The right to attend school activities, including lunches, performances and field trips, and to be listed as an emergency contact.
• Emergency consent. Authority to consent to treatment when the child’s health or safety is in immediate danger.
• The child’s estate. The right to manage the part of the child’s estate the parent or the parent’s family created.

The order must state which rights a parent retains at all times (Section 153.073). In practice, give the school and the child’s providers a copy of the order and ask to be added to their contact lists, because the order is what shows what you hold.

Your Own Time: Day-to-Day Authority

Section 153.074 gives a conservator, for the length of each period of possession and unless the order limits it, the duty of care, control, protection and reasonable discipline, the duty to provide clothing, food, shelter and non-invasive medical and dental care, the right to consent to that care and the right to direct the child’s moral and religious training. That is why a parent can feed, house and discipline the child and take the child to a routine appointment during a weekend of possession without asking, while a decision about surgery is a different question.

Calls, Video and Parenting Plans

• Electronic contact. Texas does not give a parent an automatic right to daily calls. A court may award reasonable periods of electronic communication to supplement possession if a conservator asks, after considering the child’s best interest and whether the equipment is reasonably available, and it is not a substitute for physical possession. If your order sets call times, each conservator must share the child’s access information and report any change within a day (Section 153.015).
• Agreed parenting plans. If the judge approves an agreed parenting plan, its terms can be enforced by contempt and the other remedies for enforcing a judgment, but they are not enforceable as a contract (Section 153.007). A final order in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship must include a parenting plan unless an exception applies (Section 153.603).
• Parenting coordinators and facilitators. In a high-conflict case, or on good cause, a court can appoint one after notice and a hearing and a specific finding that it serves the child. Neither can change the order (Sections 153.605, 153.606, 153.6051 and 153.6061), and a party may object on the basis of family violence.

What Every Parent Owes

• Care and protection. The duty of care, control, protection and reasonable discipline runs with parenthood and applies during each parent’s possession (Sections 151.001 and 153.074).
• Support. The duty of support covers clothing, food, shelter, medical and dental care and education. It exists while the child is an unemancipated minor and continues while the child is fully enrolled in secondary school in a program leading toward a diploma and meets the attendance requirement (Section 151.001). A court may not condition a conservator’s possession or access on payment of child support (Section 153.001), so the two obligations stand separately.
• Timely information. Each conservator must tell the other, in a timely way, significant information about the child’s health, education and welfare (Section 153.076).
• Household notices. A conservator must also tell the other when the conservator lives for at least 30 days with, marries or plans to marry someone the conservator knows is a registered sex offender or is charged with an offense that would require registration. Notice is due as soon as practicable and no later than the 40th day after the move-in or the 10th day after the marriage (Section 153.076).
• Protective order notices. Separate notice duties apply in certain situations involving final protective orders, with deadlines of 30 or 90 days depending on the situation (Section 153.076).
• The penalty. Failing to give a required household or protective order notice is a Class C misdemeanor (Section 153.076).

When a Parent Does Not Follow the Order

Any term of a temporary or final order can be the subject of a motion for enforcement, and the judge may use contempt to enforce it (Section 157.001). A motion about conservatorship or possession must state the date, place and, where it applies, the time of each occasion the other parent failed to comply (Section 157.002), which is why a dated log is worth keeping. Blocking access to records or information is a violation like any other.

If the court finds that a parent failed to comply with an order for possession or access, it shall order that parent to pay the movant’s reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, court costs and expenses in addition to any other remedy, subject to a good-cause waiver the statute allows (Section 157.167). Unless good cause is shown, the court shall also order additional periods of possession or access to make up the time that was denied, of the same type and length, to occur within two years of the finding (Section 157.168). Our page on enforcement of family court orders covers the process.

Changing the Rights in an Order

A court may modify conservatorship, the terms of conservatorship or possession and access if modification would be in the child’s best interest and one of three things is true (Section 156.101):

• Life has materially and substantially changed for the child, a conservator or someone else the order affects, measured from the date of the order or of the mediated or collaborative settlement it rests on.
• A child of 12 or older has told the judge in chambers which parent the child wants to hold the exclusive right to set the primary residence.
• The parent who holds that right has voluntarily handed the child’s primary care and possession to someone else for six months or more. A handoff during military deployment, mobilization or temporary duty is excluded.

A suit to change the primary residence designation filed within a year of the order must attach an affidavit with supporting facts, and the court must deny relief and refuse a hearing unless the affidavit states facts adequate to support one of the allegations the statute lists (Section 156.102). An Austin divorce modification attorney can tell you whether your facts fit, and our page on material and substantial change explains the most common ground. The order itself is created in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship.

Who Counts as a Parent With These Rights

These rights belong to a legal parent. A mother is a parent by giving birth. A father becomes a legal parent through a presumption, a valid acknowledgment of paternity, a court order or adoption. If that is your question, see paternity and parentage actions in Austin, and our page on fathers’ rights in Austin for a father’s position. If a child is in danger now, read emergency custody orders in Austin first.

What This Means for Your Travis County Case

1. Get a complete copy of the signed order, with any parenting plan that is part of it.
2. Mark each right as independent, joint or exclusive, and note who holds it.
3. Find the primary residence designation and any geographic area.
4. List the decisions you expect in the next year, such as a school change, counseling, surgery, travel or a new household member.
5. Give the school and the child’s providers a copy of the order and ask to be added as a contact.
6. Keep dated records of the notices, requests and replies about the child’s health and schooling.
7. Talk to a lawyer before you act on a right you are not sure you hold, or before you stop following a term you dislike.

More About Custody Rights and Duties in Austin

These guides cover related questions.

• best interest standard in Austin: how a judge weighs custody.
• parental relocation in Austin: moving away with a child.
• modifying a Travis County custody order: what you must show.
• can a child choose a parent: how far a preference goes.
• taking kids abroad: passport rules after a split.
• co-parenting tips: keeping decisions civil.

Why Austin Clients Choose Barton & Associates for Custody Rights Cases

Barton & Associates has tried Texas cases since 2001. The firm’s family law attorneys include Duane Graeff, our managing attorney, who has practiced for more than 26 years, and Désirée Flye, a trial attorney on the family law team. Rights and duties turn on the wording of the order, so we start with the text, tell you what the statute allows and where a judge has discretion, and say plainly when the order gives you less than you expected. If you are divorcing, the same team can handle the custody terms alongside the divorce with children.

We cannot promise a result. What we can do is tell you what the statutes require, what we recommend and what each choice risks. The first consultation is free and confidential. Our Austin office is at 316 W. 12th Street, Suite 400, Austin, Texas 78701, and we meet with clients there by appointment. You can get directions to our office before your visit. For the first meeting, bring what you can of the following, and call even if you cannot find everything.

• Your current custody, divorce or parentage order, with the cause number
• Any parenting plan, mediated settlement agreement or agreed order
• The addresses of both homes and of the child’s school
• A list of the child’s doctors, counselors and school contacts
• Messages or emails about decisions the parents disagree on
• Notices you sent or received about the child’s health or schooling
• Any protective order, police report or CPS record
• A calendar of your key dates and deadlines

Frequently Asked Questions About Custody Rights and Duties in Austin

Does Texas use the terms legal custody and physical custody?

Not in the Family Code. The statute speaks of conservatorship, which covers who holds a parent’s rights and duties and makes decisions, and of possession and access, which covers the schedule. People often call the first legal custody and the second physical custody. A court order addresses both, and the two can be divided very differently between the parents.

What rights does a parent have before there is a court order?

A legal parent holds the rights and duties listed in Family Code Section 151.001, including possession, care, support, educational decisions and consent to medical treatment. Without an order, nothing allocates those rights between two parents and nothing sets a schedule a court can enforce. That is one reason a lawyer may advise asking the court for an order.

Who decides which school my child attends?

Whoever the order names. A sole managing conservator holds the exclusive right to designate the school and enroll the child (Section 153.132). A joint order must allocate the educational rights, so read yours. A parent who does not choose the school still has the right to consult school officials and attend school activities unless the order limits it (Section 153.073).

Can one parent make medical decisions alone?

For routine care, yes. During possession, a conservator may consent to medical and dental care that does not involve an invasive procedure (Section 153.074). Surgery, other invasive procedures and psychiatric or psychological treatment depend on how the order allocates them, and a sole managing conservator holds them exclusively (Section 153.132). In an emergency involving immediate danger to the child, any conservator may consent to treatment (Section 153.073).

Do I need the other parent’s consent to get my child a passport?

A sole managing conservator holds the exclusive right to apply for, renew and keep the child’s passport unless the order says otherwise (Section 153.132). Under a joint order, look for the passport in the list of rights the court divided. If the order is silent, talk to a lawyer before you submit an application or buy tickets.

Does joint managing conservatorship mean a 50/50 schedule?

Not necessarily. The Family Code does not require equal or nearly equal possession for joint conservators (Section 153.135). The order must name which conservator may determine the child’s primary residence, and must either fix a geographic area or say that none applies (Section 153.134). One parent can have most of the time under a joint order.

Can I move with my child if I have custody?

Check the geographic area in your order. If one is stated, the parent with the right to determine the child’s residence must keep it within that area. Changing the area takes a modified order, which a judge signs on agreement of the parents or after a hearing under Section 156.101. If the order says no geographic limit applies, the restriction does not apply, but other terms still do, including the other parent’s possession schedule.

Do I have to tell the other parent about a new partner?

Usually not for an ordinary relationship, but the order must require notice in specific cases. Those include moving in with, marrying or planning to marry someone you know is a registered sex offender or is charged with an offense that requires registration, and certain situations involving final protective orders. A missed notice is a Class C misdemeanor (Section 153.076), so ask a lawyer before the deadline passes.

Can the other parent block my access to school and medical records?

Not if the order leaves your rights in place. Unless the order limits it, a parent appointed as a conservator has the right of access to the child’s medical, dental, psychological and educational records (Section 153.073). Give the school or provider a copy of the order. If the other parent still interferes, a motion for enforcement can ask the court to act (Section 157.001).

Can a parent lose custody for not following the order?

Not automatically. A violation can be enforced by contempt, and a court that finds a possession violation must award the movant’s fees unless good cause is shown (Sections 157.001 and 157.167). Conduct can also support a suit to modify conservatorship or possession if the statutory grounds are met and the change serves the child (Section 156.101). Failing to pay child support is a separate enforcement problem, and a court may not condition possession on support (Section 153.001).

What can I do if the other parent ignores the possession schedule?

Keep a dated log of each missed exchange, then ask a lawyer about a motion for enforcement. The motion must state the date, place and, where it applies, the time of each failure to comply (Section 157.002). The court may award fees and, unless good cause is shown, additional periods of possession to make up the time that was denied (Sections 157.167 and 157.168).

How do I change who makes decisions for my child?

Through a suit to modify. You must show that modification serves the child and that the circumstances have materially and substantially changed, that the child is at least 12 and has stated a preference to the judge in chambers, or that the parent with the residence right voluntarily gave up primary care for at least six months (Section 156.101). Read your order for the exact right you want changed and gather records from before and after it was signed.

What should I bring to the first meeting about custody rights and duties?

Bring your current order with the cause number, any parenting plan or agreed order, and the addresses of both homes and the school. Add messages about decisions you disagree on, notices you sent or received about the child’s health or schooling, and any protective order, police report or CPS record. Call even if some of it is missing.

Talk With an Austin Custody Rights Attorney

The words in your order decide who speaks for your child. Speak with an Austin family law attorney at Barton & Associates before you sign a parenting plan or act on a right you are not sure you hold.

Call our Austin office at 512-THE-FIRM (843-3476) or complete the online Free Consultation form to schedule a confidential meeting about your case. Consultations at the office are by appointment only. The office is at 316 W. 12th Street, Suite 400, Austin, Texas 78701.

Main Category: Family Law Austin
Practice Area Category: Child Custody
Barton & Associates, Attorneys at Law
316 W 12th St Suite 400, Austin, TX 78701
Office: 512-THE-FIRM (843-3476)