Summer Visitation in Texas

 Posted on June 12, 2018 in Child Custody

Couples with significant assets who decide to dissolve their marriage face a host of unique issues that don’t come up in standard divorces. For instance, couples with diverse assets must often obtain appraisals for antiques, jewelry, and business interests, in addition to retirement benefits, stocks and bonds, and bank accounts. While these issues are unique to high asset divorces, there are some aspects of divorce that remain the same regardless of the amount of the parties’ assets. This is especially true in cases that involve children, as those who are not able to come to an out-of-court agreement regarding custody, parenting time, and visitation will need to place their case before the court. In these cases, judges often look to the state’s standard summer visitation schedule when making custody decisions. For an explanation of these guidelines and how they could affect your own custody arrangements, please contact an experienced Leander high asset divorce attorney as soon as possible.

Managing Conservators

In Texas, courts have a large amount of discretion when it comes to making custody arrangements. However, there is a presumption that granting parents equal time with their child is in the parties’ best interests. For this reason, many divorcing parents are deemed to be joint managing conservators, which means that they share the rights and obligations to make decisions regarding the child’s education, health, and welfare. Even in these cases, it is common for one parent to be named the managing conservator, which means that he or she would have the responsibility of deciding where the child will primarily reside. When one parent is named the managing conservator, the other will be considered to be the possessory conservator, which means that they could have 50-50 possession, standard visitation, or expanded visitation.

Possessory Conservators

While possessory conservators still have the right to retain access to their child, they are required to take certain steps when it comes to planning summer vacations. For instance, possessory conservators have to provide written notice of their selected vacation days to the other parent by no later than April 1st. When choosing a vacation schedule, the possessory conservator can elect any 30 consecutive days or can break up the days into two periods, each of which must be at least seven consecutive days. However, possessory conservators are not permitted to choose the day before the official last day of school or the last week before school actually starts. Even when a parent submits a schedule and has it approved by the court, the other parent can choose any weekend during that time period to visit the child. The rules are slightly different for parents who live more than 100 miles apart, in which case, a possessory parent would have 42 days of visitation. Those who fail to pick a schedule according to these rules and who live more than 100 miles away would receive visitation from June 15th until July 27th.

Call Today to Speak with a High Asset Divorce Attorney in Leander

To learn more about the requirements for summer visitation in Texas, please contact a passionate Leander high asset divorce attorney at Powers and Kerr, PLLC. We are eager to begin working on your case.

Sources:

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.153.htm

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/cs/qa_ncp.pdf