Father's Rights Lawyer in Austin, TX | Custody, Paternity, and Visitation
Facing a custody, paternity, or visitation question in Austin? Texas law contains no preference for mothers, but rights on paper are not the same as rights in an order. Our Austin fathers’ rights attorneys handle custody, possession and access, paternity, child support, and enforcement across Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties. This page lays out the Texas family law behind a father’s case, with the statute numbers, the deadlines, and the traps.
What Our Clients Say
Key Takeaways
- Texas custody law has no maternal preference. Section 153.003 makes the court consider each parent's qualifications without regard to sex or marital status, and Section 153.131(b) presumes joint managing conservatorship is in the child's best interest.
- Joint managing conservatorship is not equal custody time. Section 153.251(a) calls the standard possession order the minimum for a joint managing conservator, and one parent still holds the exclusive right to designate where the child lives.
- An unmarried father has no enforceable visitation until paternity is established, and a man who may have fathered a child has only 31 days after birth to file with the paternity registry before his rights can be terminated without notice to him.
- Living 50 miles or less from your child triggers the expanded visitation schedule automatically under Section 153.3171, and since September 1, 2025, Section 156.107 makes repeated contempt for denying possession a ground to modify the custody order.
What Texas Custody Law Says About Fathers' Rights
Start with the statute everyone paraphrases wrong. Family Code Section 153.003 does not say a court may not discriminate. It says the court shall consider the qualifications of the parties without regard to their marital status or to the sex of the party or the child. That sentence is the foundation of fathers’ rights in Texas, and there is no maternal preference anywhere in Chapter 153. Section 153.131(b) presumes that naming both parents joint managing conservators serves the child’s best interest, a presumption removed by a finding of family violence.
One correction worth making early, because it costs fathers real time: joint managing conservatorship is not equal custody time. Section 153.251(a) calls the standard possession order the minimum for a joint managing conservator, and Section 153.134(b)(1) makes the court name which conservator decides where the child lives.
The Rights You Keep at All Times
A father who is not the primary conservator is not a visitor, and this is the first thing an Austin father’s rights attorney checks. Section 153.073 lists rights every parent keeps unless a court order limits them:
- Information from the other conservator on the child’s health, education, and welfare
- Conferring before a decision on health, education, or welfare
- Access to medical, dental, psychological, and educational records
- Consulting the child’s physician, dentist, psychologist, and school officials
- Attending school activities, including lunches, performances, and field trips
- Being listed as an emergency contact
- Consenting to emergency medical treatment
Section 153.073(b) requires the court to state those rights in the order. If your decree is silent, ask for them. Under Section 153.001(b), a court may not condition possession on paying child support: missed support does not forfeit your weekend, and a denied weekend does not excuse support. The same applies when you contest custody decisions during a divorce.
Custody, Conservatorship, and the Standard Possession Order
The standard possession order in Subchapter F is the starting point for visitation, and Section 153.252 presumes it gives reasonable minimum possession and serves the child’s best interest. Note the precision most custody pages miss: Section 153.252 has no age limit. The familiar three years or older line comes from Section 153.251(d), and for a child under three Section 153.254(d) requires a prospective order taking effect on the third birthday that presumptively will be the SPO. With an infant, that is the order to get right.
Under Section 153.312, at 100 miles apart or less the possessory conservator gets the first, third, and fifth weekends from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday, Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the school term, spring break in even-numbered years, and 30 summer days. Beyond 100 miles, Section 153.313 substitutes a weekend election, spring break every year, and 42 summer days. See also Texas divorce and family law.
The 50-Mile Rule and the Expanded Visitation Schedule
This provision changed the most for Texas fathers and is routinely attributed to the wrong bill. It is Section 153.3171, added by HB 3203 and SB 1936 in 2021. If the possessory conservator lives 50 miles or less from the child’s primary residence, the court shall alter the standard possession order to apply the alternative beginning and ending times as if the parent had elected them. Weekends then run school dismissal Friday to school resumption Monday. That is the expanded standard possession order.
Keep the two distance rules apart. Sections 153.312 and 153.313 decide which schedule you get; Section 153.3171 decides what times of day. A father 75 miles away gets the Section 153.312 schedule but not the expanded times.
Know the clause opposing counsel reaches for first. Under Section 153.3171(b) the court may decline the expanded times if, before suit was filed, the possessory conservator did not frequently and continuously exercise the rights and duties of a parent. Your history of showing up is evidence. Under Section 153.3171(c), on request the court shall make findings of fact, which makes the rest enforceable.
Holidays, Summers, and the Election Deadline
Section 153.314 sets holiday visitation regardless of distance: Christmas splits at noon on December 28, Thanksgiving goes to the possessory conservator in odd-numbered years, and Father’s Day belongs to the father every year. Summer runs on a deadline people miss: written notice by April 1 lets you pick your periods; without it, possession defaults to July 1 through July 31, or June 15 through July 27 beyond 100 miles.
The hardest deadline on this page. Section 153.317 lets a conservator elect the alternative times, but Section 153.317(b) requires that election before or at the time the possession order is rendered, in writing or on the record. Miss the rendition and it is gone. If the 50-mile rule does not reach you, this election is how you get the same schedule, and it happens at the hearing.
Custody Evaluations and What a Child Can Decide
A custody evaluation carries real weight. The evaluator observes each parent with the child, reviews records, interviews witnesses, and reports to the court. What matters is the record you have already built: consistent visitation, involvement at school and with doctors, and writing that stays civil. Assume every text is an exhibit.
The twelve-year-old myth. Under Section 153.009 the court must interview a child twelve or older on request, and the child may name a preference for who designates the primary residence. That preference is evidence, not a decision: Section 153.009(c) says it does not diminish the court’s discretion on best interest. A child’s wish is one of the Holley v. Adams considerations, a judicial guide, not a statutory checklist.
Child Support: The Numbers That Apply
Child support guidelines take a percentage of net resources: 20 percent for one child, 25 for two, 30 for three, 35 for four, and 40 for five. A separate low-income table added in 2021 applies under $1,000 per month: 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 percent, which many pages omit.
The guidelines reach net resources up to a cap currently set at $11,700 per month, and that figure is not in the Family Code: Section 154.125(a) points to the maximum most recently published by the Title IV-D agency in the Texas Register. Above the cap, Section 154.126 permits more based on the proven needs of the child. If you support children in another household, Section 154.129 lowers the percentage. See also what rights fathers have in Texas.
Retroactive Child Support and What It Can Reach
Two child support exposures catch fathers off guard, both from Section 154.131. Where paternity is established late, a court may order retroactive support. Section 154.131(c) presumes that limiting it to the four years preceding filing is reasonable, but Section 154.131(d) makes that rebuttable if the obligor knew he was the father and sought to avoid the obligation.
Then the long tail: Section 154.131(f) keeps the court’s jurisdiction if the petition is filed by the fourth anniversary of the child’s eighteenth birthday. A man can be sued for retroactive child support until the child is 22. Going forward, support changes only through a modification suit, not by agreement; an informal deal to pay less binds nothing and erases no arrears.
Modifying Custody, and the New Section 156.107
Under Section 156.101(a), a court may modify custody or visitation if the change serves the child’s best interest and one of three things is true: circumstances have materially and substantially changed; the child is at least twelve and has told the court in chambers who they prefer to designate the primary residence; or that conservator has voluntarily relinquished primary care for at least six months.
New for September 1, 2025. Section 156.107, added by HB 3181, is the most useful development in years for a parent whose visitation is blocked. A contempt finding for denial of possession, where the conservator has already been found in contempt at least three times, constitutes a material and substantial change justifying modification. That makes today’s enforcement record the foundation of the custody arrangement you ask for later.
Establishing Paternity in Texas
For an unmarried father this is the whole ballgame, and the answer is blunt. Until paternity is established, you have no enforceable right to see your child.
Section 101.024(a) defines parent to include a presumed, adjudicated, or acknowledged father, but not an alleged father. Section 160.201(b) establishes the relationship only by an unrebutted presumption, an acknowledgment of paternity, an adjudication, or adoption. Section 102.003(a)(8) lets an alleged father file only under Chapter 160, but not otherwise. Being at the hospital creates nothing.
Section 160.204 supplies the presumptions: marriage at the birth or within 300 days after it ended, and the one that matters most, that during the first two years of the child’s life he continuously resided in the household in which the child resided and represented to others that the child was his own.
Paternity is not the finish line, because Section 153.006(c) makes the court state the times and conditions of possession in an order. The answer a father’s rights attorney reaches for is Section 160.624(b): in a parentage suit the court may enter a temporary order for visitation while the case is pending.
The Acknowledgment of Paternity and Its Deadlines
The acknowledgment of paternity is the fastest route when parents agree. It can be signed before the birth, a minor’s signature is valid, there is no filing fee, and it takes effect at birth or filing, whichever is later. It is not mere paperwork: under Section 160.305, a valid acknowledgment filed with the vital statistics unit is the equivalent of an adjudication of paternity and confers all the rights and duties of a parent.
Rescission. Section 160.307(a) lets a signatory rescind, but only before the earlier of the 60th day after the effective date or the date a proceeding involving the child is initiated, including one establishing child support. Both halves matter: the 60 days runs from the effective date, not from signing, and the cutoff is the initiation of a proceeding, not a first hearing.
After that window, the deadline is not four years. Section 160.308 once carried a four-year limit, and pages copied from the older uniform act still say so, but it was deleted in 2011. A signatory may challenge only for fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, and only before an order affecting the child issues, including a support order. A support order can issue within months, so the window is much shorter.
Enforcing Custody and Visitation Orders
A custody order is only as good as its enforcement. When the other parent denies court-ordered visitation, the remedy is a motion for enforcement, and specificity is everything: the order must be clear enough to enforce by contempt, and the motion must state each violation with date, place, and manner. Log every denied period. Relief includes make-up possession, fees, and contempt. And because Section 156.107 makes a fourth contempt finding a material and substantial change as a matter of law, each enforcement is a building block toward changing the order itself.
Family Violence Allegations, Stated Honestly
An allegation is not a finding; Section 153.004 requires proof. But a finding is severe. Section 153.004(a) covers abusive physical force or sexual abuse within the two years preceding filing or during the case, and Section 153.004(b) bars joint managing conservatorship on credible evidence of a history or pattern of child neglect or abuse, and presumes against that parent holding sole custody or primary residence. That finding also removes the Section 153.131(b) presumption, disables the expanded visitation times, and under Section 153.004(d) can bar access outright.
The provision fathers never hear about is Section 153.004(e): a rebuttable presumption against unsupervised visitation on credible evidence of abuse or family violence by that parent or by anyone residing in that parent’s household. Who lives in the home matters. If an allegation against you is false, respond through the case with your father’s rights attorney: preserve messages, identify witnesses, request findings.
Relocation and Geographic Restrictions
Texas has no relocation statute. Whether the other parent can move your child out of Austin turns on one clause fathers rarely notice. Sections 153.133(a)(1) and 153.134(b)(1) make the court choose, when naming the conservator with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence, either to establish a geographic area for that residence or to allow it without regard to geographic location.
If your order says without regard to geographic location, the other parent may move anywhere, including out of state. If it fixes an area such as Travis County and contiguous counties, a move outside is enforceable. There is no default restriction; it must be negotiated in when the order is entered, so read your decree today.
Challenging Paternity: Time Limits and Genetic Testing
Two clocks run here. If the child has a presumed father, Section 160.607(a) requires a parentage proceeding no later than the fourth anniversary of the birth, running from birth, not discovery. Section 160.607(b) lifts that limit if the parents did not live together during the probable time of conception, or if misrepresentations kept him from filing. If the child has no presumed, acknowledged, or adjudicated father, Section 160.606 imposes no time limit at all.
Waiting carries a distinct risk under Section 160.608: a court may deny genetic testing where a party’s conduct estops him from denying parentage, and Section 160.608(e) then requires it to adjudicate the presumed father to be the father. A man can be made the legal father without a test.
Section 160.505 identifies a father at a 99 percent probability of paternity using a prior probability of 0.5, with a combined paternity index of at least 100 to 1. The point that catches people: under Section 160.621(c), where the child already has a presumed, acknowledged, or adjudicated father, genetic test results are inadmissible without the consent of both the mother and that father or a court order. A mail-order DNA kit proves nothing.
The Paternity Registry and the 31-Day Deadline
An unmarried man who may have fathered a child has one short window, and missing it can cost him the child entirely. Section 160.401 establishes a registry of paternity, and under Section 160.402(a) a man who wants notice of an adoption or termination proceeding may register before the birth or no later than the 31st day after it. Registration is excused if paternity is already established.
The cost appears in Sections 160.404 and 161.002. If the child is under one year old when a termination or adoption petition is filed and the man has not registered, his rights may be terminated, and Section 161.002(c-1) makes that require no personal service and no obligation on anyone to find him. If there is any chance you fathered a child, register. It costs nothing.
Grandparents and Other Nonparents: What Changed in 2025
Senate Bill 2052 rewrote the parent-versus-nonparent landscape effective September 1, 2025, and it favors parents. Section 153.002 now presumes, in a suit between a parent and a nonparent, that a parent acts in the child’s best interest and that the child belongs in a parent’s care, custody, and control. A nonparent overcomes that only by clear and convincing evidence that denying the relief would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development. New Section 102.0031 also requires a supporting affidavit with the initial pleading or the court shall dismiss the suit. Grandparent-intervention advice written before September 2025 is out of date.
Father's Rights Resources in Austin
An Austin father’s rights lawyer is not the only resource. The Travis County Law Library gives free access to the Family Code, Texas Law Help publishes the standard SAPCR and modification forms, and the Office of the Attorney General runs the Title IV-D child support offices and the calculator publishing the guideline cap. Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties each keep their own standing orders, so a Georgetown case does not run like an Austin one. Parenting classes, co-parenting apps, and local fathers’ rights groups help; courts notice consistency. If you are deciding what type of lawyer you need, start with whoever will try a contested custody hearing.
Talk to an Austin Father's Rights Lawyer
Texas does not favor mothers on paper, and Section 153.003 says so. What Texas favors is the parent whose rights are written into an order with dates, times, and findings. An unmarried father has no enforceable visitation until paternity is established, and the paternity registry closes 31 days after birth. An acknowledgment can be challenged only until an order affecting the child issues, not for four years. The 50-mile rule delivers the expanded schedule automatically, the Section 153.317 election is lost if not made at rendition, and geographic restrictions have no default.
Each of those is a deadline or a drafting decision. Shane M. Boasberg was named a Texas Monthly Rising Star in 2012 and 2014 through 2016. Call SMB Law, PC at (512) 561-5003 for a free consultation with an Austin father’s rights lawyer. Our office is at 1204 San Antonio Street in downtown Austin.
Call Us Today. It's Just That Easy
Call Now
Search Our Site
Related links
Our Lawyers
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Austin courts favor mothers in custody cases?
No. Section 153.003 makes the court weigh each parent’s qualifications without regard to sex or marital status, and Chapter 153 carries no maternal preference. What decides custody is the record: who exercised visitation, who showed up at school and the doctor, and who has the order written their way.
Does joint managing conservatorship mean equal custody time?
No. Section 153.251(a) treats the standard possession order as the minimum for a joint managing conservator, and Section 153.134(b)(1) makes the court name one parent as holding the exclusive right to designate the primary residence. Conservatorship settles decision-making; the visitation calendar is negotiated or tried separately.
What visitation rights does an unmarried father have before paternity?
None that a court will enforce. An alleged father is not a parent under Section 101.024(a). Sign an acknowledgment of paternity or file a parentage suit, and ask for a temporary order under Section 160.624(b) so visitation starts while the case is pending. If an adoption may be in play, register with the paternity registry within 31 days of birth.
Can my child's other parent move out of Texas?
Only if your order fixes a geographic area. Sections 153.133(a)(1) and 153.134(b)(1) make the court choose between setting one and letting the primary conservator designate the residence without regard to location. There is no default, so if your decree has the second version, a move out of state breaks nothing and your only route is a custody modification.
What can I do when the other parent denies my visitation?
File a motion for enforcement and document every denied period with date, place, and manner. Beyond make-up visitation and fees, Section 156.107, effective September 1, 2025, makes a contempt finding for denial of possession a material and substantial change once the conservator has been found in contempt three times.