Austin Child Custody Lawyer Serving Travis, Williamson and Hays Counties
Written and legally reviewed by Shane M. Boasberg, founding attorney at SMB Law, PC, licensed in Texas since 2002. Last updated August 26, 2026.
Custody is the part of a family case people actually lose sleep over. Property gets divided once. A possession schedule is something you live inside for the next decade.
We handle custody cases in Travis, Williamson, and Hays county courts, and we will tell you early and plainly what we think a judge is likely to do with your facts — including when the answer is not the one you were hoping for. Free consultation: (512) 561-5003.
What Our Clients Say
Key Takeaways
- Texas calls it conservatorship, and it splits into two questions: who holds the rights, and who has the children when. Most custody fights are really about the second one.
- Courts presume joint managing conservatorship, but that is not a 50/50 calendar — one parent usually holds the exclusive right to determine primary residence.
- Emergency orders require a sworn affidavit showing immediate and irreparable harm. A schedule dispute does not get there, and a failed emergency motion costs you credibility you will need later.
- Temporary orders become the status quo, and Travis County judges are slow to disturb a schedule that has been working. The first hearing matters more than people expect.
- We handle custody across Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties, and the consultation is free.
What Is Child Custody (Conservatorship) in Texas?
In Austin and across Texas, what most people call child custody is legally conservatorship, and it splits into two different questions that get confused constantly. Conservatorship is who holds the rights and duties — who decides on school, medical care, and religion. Possession and access is the calendar: where the child sleeps on which night.
You can share conservatorship and still have a lopsided calendar. Most Austin custody fights that look like arguments about rights are really arguments about the schedule.
Austin courts put the child’s best interests first when deciding custody, and they weigh things like:
The child’s age
Emotional and physical needs
Home stability
Any history of abuse or neglect
The child’s preferences (depending on age, with preferences considered if the child is 12 years or older)
Each parent’s willingness to foster a positive relationship with the other parent
Each parent’s ability to provide a stable and supportive environment.
The child’s established routine matters too, along with how much a change would disrupt it. A shift in custody can reshape the whole family dynamic, and that can weigh on the court’s decision.
Joint, Sole, and Possessory: The Types of Texas Custody
Texas sorts conservatorship into three types, and courts start from a presumption in favor of joint managing conservatorship so children keep both parents.
- Joint managing conservatorship (JMC). Both parents share the rights and duties. It is not a 50/50 calendar — one parent almost always holds the exclusive right to determine primary residence, and that is the right people are really fighting over when they say they want joint custody. We compare the two arrangements side by side in our guide to joint custody vs. sole custody in Texas.
- Sole managing conservatorship (SMC). One parent holds those rights alone. Texas courts order it where the evidence supports it: family violence, substance abuse, absence, or a history of instability.
- Possessory conservatorship. The other parent keeps possession and access — usually the standard possession order — with limited decision-making authority.
If you are searching for a sole custody lawyer or a joint custody lawyer in Austin, the honest answer is that the label matters less than the two details underneath it: who decides, and who has the children when.
Custody Arrangements and Responsibilities at a Glance
| Custody Arrangement | Responsibilities & Duties |
|---|---|
| Managing Conservatorship |
|
| Possessory Conservatorship |
|
| Joint Custody (Joint Managing Conservatorship) |
|
| Sole Custody (Sole Managing Conservatorship) |
|
The table above breaks down what each arrangement means for decision-making and for the calendar.
How We Handle Your Austin Child Custody Case
From the day you hire us, our job is to build the record a judge will actually rule on. That means the calendar of who has been doing the parenting, the school and medical records, the messages, and where needed, CPS or police records.
What that looks like in practice:
- A strategy built on your facts and what these courts realistically order, not on what you wish were true
- Documentation done right the first time, because a defective pleading costs you a setting
- Evidence gathered early, while messages and records still exist
- Negotiating a possession schedule and parenting plan that survives contact with real life
- Trying the case when it needs to be tried
We will also tell you what is not worth fighting over. A custody case has a finite budget and a finite amount of the court’s patience, and spending either on the wrong issue is how good cases go sideways.
Creating a Parenting Plan with Legal Assistance
The parenting plan is the document you actually live with, so vague language in it is expensive later. Who gets which holiday, in which year. How exchanges happen and where. Who books the pediatrician. What happens when one of you wants to move.
When parents cannot agree, the court builds one order out of both proposals, and the parent whose plan is specific and workable tends to see more of it survive. Sorting out child support alongside custody matters too — the two move together in Texas.
Filing for Child Custody in Austin
A custody case in Austin starts with a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship, the SAPCR. It has to state where the child has been living and what conservatorship and possession arrangement you are asking the court for.
Filing fees vary, and a waiver is available if you qualify. Once the SAPCR is filed, the other parent is served, which starts their deadline to answer. If a divorce is already pending, custody rides inside that case rather than as a separate suit — our contested divorce practice handles both together.
It can take weeks to get a contested temporary orders setting on the Travis County docket, and much of that calendar runs through associate judges. That first hearing matters more than people expect, because the arrangement it creates becomes the status quo, and judges are slow to disturb a schedule that has been working.
Emergency Custody Orders in Travis County
Sometimes waiting weeks for a hearing is not an option. If a child is in immediate danger, Texas lets a court act fast — but the bar is higher than most parents expect, and this is where emergency filings go wrong.
A court can issue a temporary restraining order in a custody suit without notice to the other parent, but excluding a parent from possession that way requires a sworn affidavit setting out specific facts showing immediate and irreparable harm. Not a bad feeling. Not a new partner you dislike. Specific facts, sworn to, that a judge can act on. A TRO of that kind lasts 14 days and can be extended once, and the hearing on temporary orders follows quickly.
What actually moves a Travis County judge on an emergency basis: a credible threat of physical harm, a real risk the child will be taken out of the area, a parent using with the child in the car, or an unsafe adult living in the home. What does not: a schedule dispute, a missed exchange, or a parent who is difficult to deal with. Those are real problems, and they are temporary-orders problems, not emergency ones.
Filing an emergency motion that does not hold up is worse than not filing. You spend your credibility with the judge in the first week of the case, and you will need it later. When parents call us looking for an emergency child custody order, the first thing we do is tell them honestly whether the facts get there. When they do, we move the same day. When they do not, we file for temporary orders and build the case properly.
If there is family violence, a protective order may be the better and stronger tool, and it can run alongside the custody case.
Proving a Parent Unfit in a Texas Custody Case
Proving a parent unfit is hard, and it should be. Texas does not take children from a parent because the other parent is more organized or has a nicer house. It takes evidence of a home that is not safe: abuse, neglect, untreated substance abuse, or a pattern of conduct that endangers the child.
What builds that case is documentation, not adjectives. Message threads with dates. Police reports and CPS records. Medical and school records. Witnesses who have actually seen the conduct rather than heard about it. Courts also look at whether each parent has followed the orders already in place, which is why we tell clients to keep complying even when the other side is not.
One caution. Allegations that do not land tend to rebound. A parent who overstates hurts their own credibility on the things that were true, so we go with what we can prove.
The Impact of Domestic Violence on Custody Decisions
A history of domestic violence weighs heavily on custody decisions in Texas. The law won’t grant custody to a parent with a documented history of domestic violence against the child or the other parent. In severe cases, it can even lead to the termination of parental rights when that’s in the child’s best interest.
Courts pay close attention to documented threats to a child’s safety, like domestic violence or substance abuse. Sometimes a parent accused of domestic violence gets supervised visitation to keep the child safe, which often means court intervention and protective orders. These steps protect the child while still allowing safe contact with the parent.
Equal Rights for Fathers in Texas Custody Cases
Texas law gives mothers and fathers equal rights. There is no legal presumption favoring mothers, and has not been for a long time — though plenty of fathers walk into our office convinced otherwise. For an unmarried father, establishing paternity is the first step, because without it he has no rights to enforce. Once paternity is in place, our guide to visitation rights for fathers in Texas covers what a possession schedule looks like and how to enforce it when the other parent will not cooperate.
Where fathers do run into trouble is the record. If one parent has handled the school pickups, the doctor visits, and the daily routine, that history carries weight regardless of gender. The fathers who do well in Travis County courts are the ones who show up in the calendar, not just in the argument. Start documenting your involvement now, not the week before the hearing.
Child Support and Custody in Texas
Child support and custody are tightly connected in Texas family law, and both come back to the child’s best interests. When a court sets custody, it also sorts out each parent’s financial responsibilities so the child’s needs are covered. Under Texas law, both parents have to support their children financially, no matter how custody is arranged.
Usually the non-custodial parent, the one the child doesn’t primarily live with, is ordered to pay child support to the custodial parent. The amount comes from the Texas Child Support Guidelines, which factor in each parent’s income, the number of children, and how much time the child spends with each parent. The goal is to make sure the child has enough for the essentials like housing, education, and medical care.
Working through support and custody can be tough, especially when emotions are running high. An experienced Austin child custody attorney can offer steady, compassionate guidance, helping you understand your rights and obligations under Texas law. With a knowledgeable family law attorney, you can make informed decisions, protect your interests, and reach agreements that put your child first. Whether you’re establishing, modifying, or enforcing support and custody orders, having SMB Law, PC by your side is key to a fair result.
Modifying Child Custody Orders
Modifying a custody order in Texas means proving a significant change in circumstances that justifies revising the current arrangement. A judge looks at each case to decide whether the change is substantial enough. Common examples include a move, a shift in the child’s needs, or a parent who can’t stick to the original terms. Often a modification is about better supporting the child as things change.
Filing a petition to modify custody means laying out those significant changes and backing them up with evidence. It’s smart to bring in a child custody attorney to work through the process and improve your odds of a successful modification.
Mediation and High Conflict Custody Cases
Most Texas custody cases settle, and most settle at mediation. Travis County courts generally expect you to have tried it before a contested final setting.
Mediation is faster and cheaper, and it lets two parents build a schedule a judge would never have thought to write — the alternating spring breaks, the summer weeks that fit an actual work calendar, the exchange point that is not a police station parking lot.
In a high conflict custody case, pick the mediator carefully. Someone who knows family law and is willing to push both sides is worth their fee. Collaborative law is the other cooperative route, and it works for parents who will be co-parenting for another decade. Neither is right where there is family violence or a serious imbalance of power, and we will say so.
Common Child Custody Issues in Austin
The custody cases that come through our door in Austin tend to cluster around the same handful of problems.
Parents who cannot agree on a schedule. A parent who wants to move and take the children, which is its own fight under a geographic restriction. Substance abuse or family violence that makes a safe home the question. Parental alienation, where one parent is working on the children about the other. And the quieter one: a parent who has simply not been around much and now wants equal time.
Custody also collides with money. When a divorce is running alongside it, the property division, the house, and the retirement accounts all interact with who has the children and who pays support. Our writeup on custody cases where the father wins covers how those pieces fit together, and the rest of what SMB Law, PC handles sits alongside it.
Protecting Your Child's Best Interests
Best interest is the standard behind every custody decision in Texas, and courts apply a familiar set of factors: the child’s wishes where age-appropriate, emotional and physical needs, danger to the child, each parent’s abilities and plans, the stability of each home, and any conduct suggesting the existing relationship is not proper.
Where a case needs more than the parents’ testimony, we bring in the right professionals — a custody evaluator, an amicus attorney, a therapist, or a psychologist who can speak to the child’s needs. That costs money, so we use them where they change the outcome and not to run up a file.
The Attorney Handling Your Custody Case
When you hire this firm you work with Shane M. Boasberg, not a case manager you meet once. Shane has been licensed in Texas since 2002 and founded SMB Law, PC in 2010. Before private practice he worked in the Texas Legislature and the Office of the Texas Attorney General.
He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Austin Bar Association, and the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association, and has been recognized by Texas Monthly as a Rising Star and by Elite Lawyer. Custody work sits inside a full Austin family law practice, which matters because a custody case rarely arrives alone — it comes attached to a divorce, a support dispute, or an enforcement problem.
What clients tell us they wanted was somebody who returned the call and told them the truth about their chances. That is the whole promise.
Talk to an Austin Child Custody Lawyer Near You
Custody cases are decided on the record you build, not the one you describe. Document your involvement, follow the orders already in place, keep the fight narrow, and get advice before the first hearing rather than after it.
If you have been searching for a child custody attorney near me in Austin, our law firm is at 1204 San Antonio Street downtown, a few blocks from the courthouse, and we take custody cases across Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties.
Call SMB Law, PC at (512) 561-5003 or request a free consultation. Bring what you have. We will tell you where you actually stand.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between conservatorship and possession?
Conservatorship is who holds the rights and duties of a parent, including deciding on school, medical care, and where the child primarily lives. Possession and access is the calendar — which nights the child is with which parent. You can share conservatorship and still have a very uneven schedule, and most custody disputes are really about the schedule.
How do I get an emergency child custody order in Austin?
A Texas court can act without notice to the other parent, but excluding a parent from possession that way requires a sworn affidavit with specific facts showing immediate and irreparable harm — a credible threat to the child, a risk the child is taken out of the area, or an unsafe home. That order lasts 14 days and a hearing follows quickly. A schedule dispute will not get there, and an emergency motion that fails costs you credibility with the judge.
What steps are involved in filing for child custody in Austin?
You file a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship, the SAPCR, stating where the child has been living and what conservatorship and possession arrangement you want. The other parent is then served, which starts their deadline to answer. If a divorce is already pending, custody rides inside that case instead of a separate suit.
Do fathers have equal custody rights in Texas?
Yes. Texas law gives mothers and fathers equal rights, and there is no presumption favoring mothers. An unmarried father needs to establish paternity first. What actually decides these cases is the record of who has been doing the day-to-day parenting, which is why we tell fathers to start documenting their involvement now rather than the week before a hearing.
What does an Austin child custody lawyer cost?
Custody work is billed hourly because the amount of work depends on how much is disputed, and we go over the retainer and the rate at the free consultation in plain numbers. An agreed modification costs a fraction of a contested case with a custody evaluation. The single biggest cost driver is not the lawyer, it is how much the two of you fight.
Child Custody Lawyers Serving Nearby Communities
SMB Law, PC represents clients across Central Texas. Choose your city for local court, filing, and case details: