Visitation Rights Lawyer in Sugar Land, TX

When you live apart from your child’s other parent, the time you spend with your child is set by a court order. In Texas, visitation rights come from that order: most parents follow a statewide default schedule, and either parent can ask the court to change the order or enforce it when it is not followed. A visitation rights lawyer in Sugar Land can tell you which schedule applies to your family and what the court can do when time is missed.

At The Love DuCote Law Firm LLC, we help Fort Bend County parents put possession schedules in place, adjust them as children grow, and hold the other parent to them. Call 832-662-1294 or contact us to talk with our family law team; virtual meetings are available.

What Are Visitation Rights in Texas?

What Are Visitation Rights in Texas? Texas law does not use the word “visitation.” The Family Code calls it possession and access: a parent’s right to scheduled time with a child and to contact with the child. Possession and access is one part of a child custody order, which Texas calls conservatorship.

Each parent named in the order is a conservator. A managing conservator usually holds the right to decide where the child lives, while a possessory conservator has court-ordered time with the child. Texas public policy favors frequent and continuing contact between a child and parents who have shown they can act in the child’s best interest, in a safe and stable setting, and that policy is the starting point for every possession schedule.

How Does the Standard Possession Order Work?

When parents live 100 miles or less apart, Section 153.312 of the Texas Family Code sets the default schedule, known as the Standard Possession Order. Under it, the parent with possession time generally has the child on this schedule:

Weekends: The first, third, and fifth Friday of each month, from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Thursday evenings: From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the regular school term.
Spring break: Every other year, alternating with the other parent.
Summer: Thirty days, which default to July 1 through July 31 unless the parent gives written notice of different dates by April 1.

Parents can also share time on dates they agree on in advance; when they do not agree, the written schedule controls.

What Changes When Parents Live Within 50 Miles?

Many Sugar Land parents live a short drive from each other, and Texas gives those families a longer default schedule. Under Section 153.3171 of the Texas Family Code, when the parent with possession time lives 50 miles or less from the child’s home, the court adjusts the standard order so that parent’s time follows the school day. Weekend and Thursday periods can begin when school lets out and end when school resumes, instead of at 6 p.m. This version is often called the extended Standard Possession Order.

The longer schedule is the default, not a guarantee. It does not apply if the parent declines it in writing or on the record, if the court restricts that parent’s possession, or if the court finds it is not in the child’s best interest, for example because travel makes the schedule unworkable. Parents who live farther apart can still request school-based times before or when the order is signed.

Can Parents Create Their Own Visitation Schedule?

Yes. Parents who agree can sign a written parenting plan that sets a schedule different from the standard order, such as alternating weeks or a custom holiday split. If the judge finds the plan serves the child’s best interest, the judge signs an order that follows it. Families with rotating shifts or travel-heavy jobs may prefer a custom plan, and we help parents build one a court can approve.

What Can You Do When the Other Parent Denies Visitation?

When a parent denies or interferes with visitation, the missed weekends add up quickly. A parent can file a motion for enforcement under Section 157.001 of the Texas Family Code in the court that issued the order. The motion must list the date, place, and, where relevant, the time of each denied period, so a dated record of every missed exchange becomes the core of the case.

If the court finds that court-ordered time was denied, the remedies can include:

Makeup time: Under Section 157.168 of the Texas Family Code, the court generally orders additional time of the same type and length as the time denied, to be used within two years.
Contempt: The court can hold the other parent in contempt for violating the order.
Attorney’s fees and costs: The court ordinarily orders the parent who denied possession to pay the other parent’s reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs unless it finds good cause not to.

Unpaid child support does not justify keeping a child from the other parent. Texas treats support and possession as separate duties, and each is enforced on its own. Our attorneys regularly appear in courtrooms throughout Fort Bend County and Harris County and can bring an enforcement motion on your behalf.

How Can You Change a Visitation Order?

A schedule that worked for a toddler may not fit a teenager with a part-time job. Under Section 156.101 of the Texas Family Code, a court can modify a possession order when the change is in the child’s best interest and the circumstances of the child, a parent, or another affected person have materially and substantially changed since the order. The statute also allows a change on two narrower grounds tied to who decides where the child lives: a child 12 or older stating a preference to the judge, or that parent leaving the child’s primary care to someone else for at least six months.

Can Grandparents Get Visitation Rights in Texas?

Sometimes, but the bar is high because Texas presumes that a parent acts in the child’s best interest. The petition must include a sworn affidavit alleging harm to the child, and under Section 153.433 of the Texas Family Code, a court can order grandparent access only if all of these conditions are met:

At least one parent still has parental rights
The grandparent proves by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not, that denying access would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional well-being
The grandparent is the parent of a parent who was in jail or prison during the three months before the petition, has been found incompetent by a court, has died, or does not have actual or court-ordered possession of or access to the child

Our grandparents’ rights attorneys can review whether a family meets each condition before a petition is filed.

Talk With a Visitation Rights Lawyer in Sugar Land

Canceled weekends and uncertain schedules wear on parents and children alike. The Love DuCote Law Firm LLC represents parents in Sugar Land, Fort Bend, Houston, Harris County, and Katy, Texas, in setting, changing, and enforcing possession orders. Call 832-662-1294 or contact us today to arrange a private consultation with a visitation rights lawyer in Sugar Land, in person or by virtual meeting.

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What Are Visitation Rights in Texas?

How Does the Standard Possession Order Work?

What Changes When Parents Live Within 50 Miles?

Can Parents Create Their Own Visitation Schedule?

What Can You Do When the Other Parent Denies Visitation?

How Can You Change a Visitation Order?

Can Grandparents Get Visitation Rights in Texas?

Talk With a Visitation Rights Lawyer in Sugar Land

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