October 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Custody time shouldn’t feel like a puzzle with missing pieces. Hunt Law Firm attorneys, Alex Hunt and Margaret Tucker, pull the Texas Standard Possession Order apart and rebuild it in plain language—when the expanded, school-to-school version applies, how first/third/fifth weekends actually work, and why the summer election window (and those April deadlines) matters more than you think. From odd/even holiday rotations to birthday time guarantees, we map the details so you can plan without second-guessing.
We also get practical about distance. If you’re 50–100 miles apart, you can choose expanded or basic SPO; past 100 miles, the presumption shifts and summertime expands to 42 days. Work schedules complicate the picture—offshore rotations, firefighter shifts, and on-call duties rarely fit cleanly into Thursdays and weekends—so we share custom options that courts accept when you show the default is unworkable and your plan preserves consistent contact.
Thinking about 50–50? We compare week-on/week-off with 2-2-3 splits, explaining what families love—and why many judges hesitate. Stability, a “home base,” and frequent contact drive court decisions, especially for kids under three. We walk through Texas Family Code 153.254 factors, common under-three approaches like frequent short visits and limited overnights, and how to step up time as a child grows and routines settle.
If you’re negotiating or heading to mediation, start with what a court is likely to do, then tailor for school, travel, and your child’s needs. Agreements add flexibility, while the SPO provides a reliable safety net if cooperation falters.
Subscribe for more Texas family law guidance, share this episode with someone who needs clarity, and leave a review to help other parents find practical, kid-first custody advice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
Welcome back to the Texas Family Lawyer Podcast.
I'm Alex Hunt.
I'm the managing attorney atHunt Law Firm, and we've got
offices in Katy, League City,Cyprus, and Sugarland.
And today I am joined by seniorattorney at Hunt Law Firm,
Margaret Tucker.
Welcome back.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
So, uh, Margaret, we've talked in the past about
uh child custody.
Uh today we're gonna take alittle bit of a deeper dive into
one specific aspect of childcustody, and that's the
possession schedule, andparticularly a standard
possession schedule, which isoutlined in the Texas family
code.
And um, we're just gonna uh do adeep dive.
(00:49):
So let's jump right in.
Uh, the standard possessionorder is essentially the default
order um that applies to everychild custody order, and it lays
out who's gonna have the kidsand when.
Tell me um a little bit aboutthe differences, the different
types of standard possessionorders, depending on uh how far
(01:14):
you live from the other parent.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Okay.
Um when I have somebody comeinto the office and we do a
consult, that is one thing Ialways go over with them is that
there is a presumption when youwalk into court that someone is
going to be given a standardpossession order.
And so if you know what toexpect from a court, then when
you're either going to settleor, you know, you are going to a
(01:38):
hearing or a trial, you kind ofknow what to expect that the
court is going to do for one ofthe parents.
The court is going to award thenon-primary parent a standard
possession order.
And it's laid out in a way that,you know, it's a predictable
schedule for everyone.
So um the standard possessionorder for under 50 is that um
(02:00):
the non-primary gets thechildren every single Thursday,
starting with school, startingwhen school lets out, um, and
then they bring the child backto school on Friday, and then
they get the child after schoolon Monday, uh, excuse me, Friday
until Monday morning.
And on the off weeks, the secondand fourth week, they get the
child um Thursday overnight.
SPEAKER_01 (02:21):
And and what we're gonna do is um if you are
listening to this um as apodcast, you can go to YouTube
and you can watch this video,and we're gonna have on the
screen a graphicalrepresentation that we've got on
our website.
If you go to familylawyerkatie.com, click on the
resources tab at the top.
We have a standard possessionorder calendar that if you're a
(02:45):
more visual learner, it lays itall out and highlights who has
the kids and when.
We're going to put that on thescreen of the YouTube video.
And you can also go tofamilylawyerkatie.com just to
help you uh kind of keep up uhwith what we're talking about
verbally.
And uh it's important becausethere are a lot of nuances in
(03:05):
the standard possession orderand uh it it takes a little bit
of time to understand all of it.
So um you uh were talking aboutuh zero fifty miles.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (03:19):
So if the two parents live within 50 miles, it
is a presumption that they arejust going to get the standard
possession order.
We call it an expandedpossession order because of the
pickup at school.
And so, and then Thursday isovernight.
So they pick, like I said, pickup from school on Thursday and
return this the child to schoolon uh Friday morning.
(03:40):
So that makes it an expanded, oryou can also refer to it as a
standard possession order withelections.
SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (03:47):
So if it if they live within 50 miles of each
other, the court is going togive this to them.
Okay.
Um, there has to be a reason notto do.
So if people understand that ifyou go to court or you go to
trial and the judge is going todo something like this, then you
can kind of know what tonegotiate when you're in
mediation.
It's very predictable.
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
And and it's called a rebuttable presumption, which
means the court's gonna presumethat it's in the child's best
interest, but it can be rebuttedwith evidence showing maybe this
isn't gonna work.
And there are plenty of examplesthat we have in our practice
where it doesn't work.
So, say, for example, we've gota client that works offshore and
(04:30):
they're two weeks on and thentwo weeks are uh in the Gulf,
that's not gonna work for them.
They need to have some sort ofcustom custom possession
schedule, or you know, there's alot of times there's work issues
or there's reasons that theycan't do, say, uh a Thursday
night, something like that.
The the key to remember is thata standard possession order may
(04:51):
be the default, but it doesn'thave to be the order.
Okay, and you can agree toanything else.
If you and the other co-parentagree, you can agree to whatever
you want, um, and then presentit to the court.
And as long as the court feelsthat it's in the best interest
of that child, which usuallythey do with limited exceptions,
um, the court will approve that.
(05:13):
So what else other than that umfirst, third, and fifth weekends
does this uh expanded standardpossession order have?
SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Um they has a holidays.
So um the non-primary parentgets 30 days.
Um they're able to break it upinto two different segments that
have to be at least seven dayslong.
So you can pick maybe a Juneweekend, one June week, and then
three weeks in July.
Or the default is the wholemonth of July.
(05:44):
So, you know, sometimes parentsjust do that because it's
easier.
Um, but you get to choose as thenon-primary parent.
SPEAKER_01 (05:50):
As long as you uh elect that time by April 1st,
correct.
You can select whatever youwant.
Otherwise, it just defaults toJuly 1st to July 30th.
SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
Correct.
SPEAKER_01 (06:01):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
And the primary parent then gets to pick a
weekend inside of that time, andthey also get to pick one of the
weekends that the um non-primaryhas for an SPO week.
SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
So they can have an extended vacation.
SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
That's how they get their summer too.
SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
And they would need to make their election by April
15th.
Correct.
And um so that's the summer.
What about holidays or otherspecial days?
SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
So they rotate.
So depending on the year,whether it's odd or even years,
you know, you uh non-primary isgoing to be assigned odd years
or even years, and the theprimary is gonna be assigned odd
or even years.
Um, they're going to switch offThanksgiving.
Um, so if one parent getsThanksgiving, the other one
begins Christmas vacation.
So Thanksgiving is whenever thechild gets out of school.
(06:50):
It's usually a Friday.
So whenever they get out ofschool, that whole week of
Thanksgiving, and it ends onSunday before they go back to
school.
And then the um other parent isgoing to be the beginning of
Christmas.
So again, the day they get outfor Christmas, which a lot of
times is a Friday, um, until the28th of December.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
So they have actual Christmas.
SPEAKER_00 (07:11):
They have the full of Christmas.
And then um it switches on uhnoon on the 28th.
And then the other parent whohad Thanksgiving gets the second
half of Christmas until um theSunday before school starts
again.
So um, and then spring break,they switch depending on the
year.
So um, those are the mainholidays that we consider.
(07:31):
It's also Mother's Day andFather's Day.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
And and when you say it switches depending on the
year for spring break, that'sodd even as well.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Again, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
And then uh, you know, sometimes I'll have folks
that'll add, it'll be kind of anSBO plus where they'll add a few
things in.
If they're um, you know, uhEaster is particularly important
to them, then maybe they'll addsome language in about that.
And then the standard possessionorder does uh guarantee the
other parent at least two hourson the child's birthday if they
(08:00):
don't have them uh during thattime.
So uh that is a standardpossession order with elections.
You're guaranteed that if youlive within zero to 50 miles of
the primary conservator, 50 to100 miles away, the
non-custodial parent has achoice.
(08:22):
They can have all the electionsif they want, or they can have
just a regular, unexpandedstandard possession order.
And then 100 miles plus, thepresumption is just a regular
standard possession order.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe difference between an
expanded standard possessionorder with elections and one
(08:43):
without elections.
SPEAKER_00 (08:44):
Okay.
It's kind of we kind of considerit like we'll call it the basic
SPO.
Um, it's without elections.
A basic SPO is the standardpossession order that was in
place a few years ago.
And what it gives is Thursdaynight, you the non-primary
parent gets the child from sixto eight.
So it's kind of maybe a dinnertime on uh Thursday nights.
(09:06):
And then on Friday, they um getthe child at 6 p.m.
And then they get the child tillum Sunday night at 6 p.m.
So it's it's a more limited, butit also kind of works with
people's work schedules ifyou're out of town, those kind
of things.
So um that's why it is um partof the over 100 miles uh
(09:26):
language, because you know, herewe are in Houston, and maybe a
non-primary parent lives inAustin.
Well, they can come in, youknow, first, third, and fifth
weekend.
So they can still do the wholebasic standard possession order.
But maybe the person we're inHouston and the non-primary
lives in Chicago, it's going tobe much harder to get to that
(09:47):
child.
So they may elect to only do oneweekend um a month instead.
And when you're over 100 miles,you get um instead of 30 days
during the summer, you get 42days during the summer.
SPEAKER_01 (10:00):
And it's a lot of time.
And generally, a standardpossession order, you know, I've
heard different numbers, and itreally depends on the year, but
a basic standard possessionorder is probably gonna get you
around 42%.
SPEAKER_00 (10:14):
So a expanded is about 42%, 58%.
Depends on the year, depends onthe holidays, depends on the
number of fifth weekends thatthe non-primary is gonna get,
because they get third first,third, and fifth weekends.
And so um, you know, it dependsif there are more fifth weekends
in that year, um, how theholidays, how the weekends fall,
(10:36):
all of those kind of make thethe percentages switch.
But yes, I what I usually tellpeople it's about a 42-58% split
for an expanded.
And then when you go back to abasic standard possession order
without elections, about a 70-30split time-wise.
SPEAKER_01 (10:52):
And and it's it's different time.
And you know, the primarycustodial parent is going to
have a lot of the, you know,we're doing, we're coming to
school, we're coming home, we'redoing homework, we're eating
dinner, we're going to bed.
Um, and the non-custodial parentis going to have a lot of their
time that is accumulated inlarge bunches when the child is
(11:15):
not going to be in school.
Of course, they'll have theirThursdays during the school year
and they'll have their first,third, and fifth weekends, but
they get a big bulk of theirtime in the summer.
Um, and uh they um, you know,they're sharing the rest of the
holidays.
So a lot of that time comes inthe summer to make up for the
time that they might not havegotten during the year.
SPEAKER_00 (11:35):
Correct.
SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
You know, I think one of the really cool things
about the standard possessionorder uh that we see in Texas is
that at the beginning, beforethe standard possession order
gets into the legalese, one ofthe things it says is in the
absence of an agreementotherwise, this will be the
order.
And so what that means is thatif the parents can agree on
(11:57):
something else at any time, theydon't have to worry about the
terms of the standard possessionorder.
And uh I've said this in aprevious podcast, but I have had
clients that have taken theirorder, they've gotten a
certified copy, and they put itin a drawer and it's collected
dust because uh, and this is noteverybody's situation, they have
(12:18):
had a co-parenting relationshipwhere they can get together and
they can make agreements fortheir child's best interest.
Um, that is ideal, but that'snot everybody.
And in the event that you can't,you don't have a co-parent where
you can do that, then this iswhat you default back to in case
there is no agreement.
And that's why it's soimportant.
(12:39):
Is so that way if there's not anagreement, you've got something
that guarantees what yourschedule is going to look like.
So uh those are your standardpossession order uh uh different
schedules depending on where youlive, depending on your work
schedule.
You could do uh standardpossession order with elections,
without elections.
(13:00):
Um what would you say um what isthe frequency in your practice
that you're seeing standardpossession orders versus a more
customized schedule?
SPEAKER_00 (13:13):
I would say I encourage to do standard
possession orders more becauseit is what a court would do.
Um it is it's very predictable.
And if there are any problems,if you do have to go back into
court, the court knows exactlywhat the the schedule is.
They they know exactly how tohandle it, that kind of thing.
(13:34):
But it's okay to stray from thatif as long as you have
agreements of the party.
I would say the most that I haveseen um other than a standard
possession order is a 50-50split.
Um, and that's probably the nextstep of what people agree to do
is a 50-50.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
So let's dive into these custom schedules, which
again, like you said, um courtscan divert from the standard
possession schedule a littlebit, but in my practice, it
isn't very often.
And there's got to be a reallygood reason.
And that's what the law says,too, that the standard
possession order needs to bespecifically ruled by that
(14:13):
court, that it is inappropriateor it is unworkable.
And um, you know, we've taughtwe've had cases where it has
been inappropriate orunworkable.
What are some of those instanceswhere you've seen uh the party
say this isn't gonna work or thecourt say that?
Like, what does the scheduleusually look like where we've
had to do something different?
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Okay.
Well, being in Houston, we're abig oil area.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of umdifferent types of oil rig type
jobs where they go out on therig for two weeks and then
they're off for two weeks.
Well, you can't have possessionof a child if you're out on the
oil rig.
So, and you know, even if youwere able to designate a
competent adult to take yourplace, you're missing time with
(14:55):
a child.
And so, you know, you want yourtime with your own child.
So I've seen courts do, youknow, if they're going to have
to deviate from a standardpossession order, they're going
to do a certain custom schedulethat allows somebody who has a
job like this to see theirchild.
They're going to encourage itfor sure.
So um oil rigs or umfirefighters, a lot of times
(15:18):
they have their, they work 24hours and then they they're off,
I believe 48 hours.
Or um, you know, sometimesdoctors are on call.
They uh I've seen a lot ofdifferent ones.
Um, the 50-50, you know, someparents really, you know, it it
kind of rakes their hearts notto see their child once a week
at least.
So they do uh a 223 typeschedule, you know, where they
(15:40):
rotate like that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:41):
Yeah, so we see that a lot where uh at least
sometimes clients will want todo a 50-50.
And really, there's only when wesay 50-50, it means 50% with one
parent uh and 50% with the otherparent in terms of possession
time.
And a lot of people will come tous and and they equate 50-50
with joint custody.
(16:02):
Uh, Texas doesn't have jointcustody.
We have joint managingconservatorship, but that's
really a different question asto the possession time.
And so uh just because you'rejoint managing conservators,
that doesn't mean you're gonnabe 50-50 on the parenting time.
But sometimes people will cometo us and there will be an
agreement and they'll say wewant to do 50-50.
(16:23):
And that could be laid out acouple of different ways.
Um, the first common way that wesee it is week on, week off.
What does that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (16:32):
I will say the most common I see is like a Sunday
night switch.
So one parent takes the childstarting um Sunday, maybe 6
p.m., and they have them theentire week until the next
Sunday at 6 p.m.
and they switch.
And they'll still put in forholidays and that kind of thing,
or maybe extra time during thesummer, but usually during the
(16:54):
school term, they do a 50-50.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Okay.
And um the the next way that youcan do a 50-50 that we see
commonly is what's called a 223,or sometimes it'll be a 225, and
there's different names for it.
But essentially what that is, isuh, you know, Monday and
Tuesday, parent number one willhave the child.
(17:17):
Uh Wednesday, Thursday, theother parent will have the
child.
And then Friday, Saturday, andSunday, they'll switch off
depending on the week.
There are some pros and thereare some cons that are
associated with that.
Talk to me a little bit about umsome of the pros of a 50-50 or a
2-2-3 schedule.
SPEAKER_00 (17:36):
I think parents um who choose a two, two, three
get, you know, they like thefact that they get to see their
child every week and spend dayswith their child every week.
So um for that purpose, I thinkthey really like two, two,
threes.
Um the week on, week off, peoplelike the fact that they have,
you know, time that is not backand forth.
(18:00):
They have a whole week bythemselves and then the child
goes for a week.
So you kind of can plan morewith your schedules.
You know, you see your child forseven straight days without kind
of anybody being in the middle,that kind of thing.
So I think they find those arepositives for the week on, week
off, and two, two, threes.
SPEAKER_01 (18:17):
And some of the feedback that I've gotten from
judges over the years, and II've really never met a judge
that has said, I like 50-50s.
It's usually just varyingdegrees of how much they dislike
uh uh 50-50 schedules.
But the main feedback that I'vegotten from them has been uh
that the child doesn't feel likethey have like a home base.
(18:40):
They don't have a home, they'rejust constantly being shuttled
back and forth.
And um, with a 50-50, there is afeeling that they're not having
frequent enough contact with theother parent during that time.
So you'll go an entire week,which is great for that parent
while you have them.
But then, you know, like in astandard position order, you
(19:00):
would have during the schoolyear that every Thursday.
You don't have that with a weekon, week off.
And um, you want to have moreregular, frequent contact with
the other parent.
Um, and then the other feedbackwith something like a two, two,
three is that the the child isjust constantly moving back and
(19:21):
forth.
So they're two days in oneplace, two days in another
place, three days in anotherplace, two days in another
place, and they're really neveranywhere longer than two to
three days.
And then you get the situationwhere the child is kind of
living out of a suitcase becausethey don't have a home base.
And it it's the reason that alot of courts don't like it.
(19:42):
It's the reason that a lot ofthe courts, even if there is an
agreement, um, the courts, ifthey can, will uh overrule it.
Um, now there's procedures thatwe use, like an immediated
settlement agreement to kind oflock the parties in, the court
can't overrule it.
But um, we've certainly hadsituations where if you don't
have a mediated settlementagreement, the court will say, I
(20:04):
don't think this is in the bestinterest of the child.
And so I'm not going to approveit.
And they'll they'll really pushback on it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
I to add to that, I think a lot of times courts
won't do the 50-50 because inmost relationships, there
usually is a primary parent.
Yeah.
And that's the one who goes outand signs the kids up for
extracurriculars.
That's the one who goes out andsigns the kids up to do
different programs, take someplaces.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
And it doesn't mean they're the better parent.
It just means that they handlesome of the logistics.
Um, and it, you know, it is whatit is.
And sometimes there is a, youknow, a co-parenting
relationship where there is uhan equal distribution of
handling those things.
Um, but most of the time, likeyou said, there is one parent
(20:49):
that is handling um setting updoctor's appointments, taking
the kid to doctor's appointmentsand uh signing the report card
or, you know, I guess it'soutdated now.
You know, the report card, it'sall online, but you know, those
types of responsibilities.
SPEAKER_00 (21:04):
Um and a lot of times with a 50-50, then the
discussion starts that no childsupport will be given.
So, and that kind of opens up awhole new window of, you know,
are both parents able to supportthe child during their time and
and that kind of thing.
So that's when we start openingup can of worms for other
things.
So um, you know, once, you know,once somebody agrees to a 50-50,
(21:27):
other things come with it too.
So, you know, there's a lot toconsider.
And that's those are some of thereasons I don't think uh courts
have given into those yet.
And if if people are doing it,they may continue it, but I
haven't really seen a lot ofcourts order them.
SPEAKER_01 (21:44):
Yeah, no, I agree.
And so we we spent a lot of timetalking about the standard
possession order and how it'sthe default and how it's what
the court's usually gonna do.
And then we said, well, you canreach an agreement, you could do
something else like a 50-50.
But now the big caveat is thatif this child is under three
years old, there's a provisionin the Texas family code that
(22:05):
the court should render an orderthat is appropriate for that
child.
And that it may not be andlikely is not a standard
possession order.
So tell me what you've seen.
Tell tell me a little bit aboutan under-three order and what
you've seen in your practice.
SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Okay.
An under three order is um, thecourt's gonna look at a whole
bunch of factors.
You know, they're gonna look atthings like, you know, what
happened before you came tocourt, you know, what, how did
y'all, you know, take care ofthe child before when maybe you
were married or together as acouple, um, who would primarily
take care of the child?
Did they, you know, were thereovernights with that child?
(22:43):
Um, who's set up to have anovernight?
Because we are talking aboutsome children that, you know,
are are itty bitty babies?
I mean, you're talking about athree-month-old baby.
Right.
Is both house both houses ableto take a three-month-old baby?
Are there cribs?
You know, are there is thereformula set up?
Are are there car seats in thecar?
SPEAKER_01 (23:03):
You know, that is the mom still breastfeeding.
Yes.
I mean, you can't have a athree-day period of possession
for dad if mom is stillbreastfeeding, unless you make
provisions for that and the momagrees to, you know, uh pump and
store and do all that, which Idon't know if the court can
order to do that.
So those are all things that thecourt needs to take into
(23:25):
consideration.
And, you know, there's adifference between a
three-week-old and athree-month-old and a
three-year-old.
And uh, if you know, ifanybody's watching or listening
and you're interested in thefull list of criteria, there's
you know, 13 different criteriathat the court uses in
determining what a good underthree schedule would be.
(23:46):
You could just Google uh TexasFamily Code section 153.254, and
you have all of the list of whatthe court's gonna consider,
including the emotional needs ofthe child, the behavioral needs,
the physical needs, whether thesiblings are going to be
present, whether there's gonnabe caregiving provided to the
child before and during thecurrent suit, um, the the
(24:09):
continuity of the child'sroutine, all these things are
gonna be considered.
What have you seen generally?
Say you've got, say you've gotthat six-week old.
What are you seeing courtsgenerally ordering, at least in
our area, in the Houston area,for an under three that's, you
know, about six weeks old, say?
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
I don't see a lot of courts award a specific
schedule.
I I see most of the courts awardthe standard possession order.
I I mean, I think it's morecommon for that.
Um, I think the courts feel likeif the non-primary parent is
able to take the child and iscompletely set up to take that
child, um, you know, whetherthey're two weeks old or whether
(24:53):
they're three, you know, almostthree years old, I've I feel
like the courts are kind of likeif the non-primary can take them
and they're going to be aroundand they're going to, you know,
give love and time to thischild, then I I feel like they
want to give as much time aspossible to that non-primary
parent.
Um, I have seen some three, youknow, under three awarded, but
(25:14):
not very common.
Um, and what it usually entailsis like maybe Saturdays instead
of doing like a SPO weekend thathas overnights, they usually do
like Saturday from 10 to 5, andthey don't do an overnight as
much.
So it's limiting the overnights,is mainly what it is.
SPEAKER_01 (25:33):
And I've also had some courts that have granted um
like like short bursts of likevery frequent contact for the
non-custodial parent.
And and typically, not in everycase, but typically when we're
talking about an under-threeschedule, we're talking about
the primary custodian being thethe mom, because you know,
(25:54):
there's uh if they're stillbreastfeeding, then that's a
physical consideration thatneeds to be made.
Um, but what it would look likeis um, you know, maybe every
evening uh from 5 to 7 p.m., thedad's going to be able to see
that child.
Um, we don't get a ton of caseswhere you've got like a six-week
(26:16):
old uh involved.
But in a case where you have areally young child like that,
um, you know, my understandingof the state of the art, uh, you
know, emotional development,physical development is that
there needs to be frequentcontact.
You can't go a week with one ofthe caregivers not seeing that
child.
And so although it might be notideal for the parents because
(26:40):
there might be travel time andthey might not want to see the
other parent every day for thatchild, and it's all about the
best interest of the child, it'sgoing to be ideal for really
frequent contact, even if thatmeans that it's going to be
daily.
And I've seen I've seen courtsdo that, especially for that
very critical time in the earlypart of the child's life.
SPEAKER_00 (27:01):
Definitely.
SPEAKER_01 (27:03):
Um well, we've talked a little bit about 50-50
schedules and under-threeschedules.
We've talked about the standardpossession order.
Is there anything that you thinkfolks need to know about or that
we missed?
SPEAKER_00 (27:15):
No, I mean, I would just say overall, you know, I
have I have clients come in or,you know, um, they're kind
coming in for a consult and, youknow, they'll say, I don't think
he can handle, you know, havingthe child.
I don't, you know, I don't wanthim to see the child, or, you
know, I want to limit his timewith the child.
I think the part we need torealize is is that, you know,
(27:38):
these parents respect each otherand they need to respect each
other as parents of the child.
And, you know, it took two tocreate the child.
And so the court wants bothparents as involved as possible.
And so if you know thepredictability of a court
awarding a standard possessionorder, then you can kind of work
(27:58):
backwards to tailor it, youknow, if there are specific
circumstances that, you know,you may need it to change days
or something like that.
But it makes it more reasonablewhen people come in and know
that, you know, this is likelywhat a court would do.
So let's work from there becausethe court is, unless there's
circumstances otherwise, thecourt is going to award time.
(28:21):
And they're they're going towant, you know, it it it's going
to be in the best interest ofthe child to see both parents on
a very continuous basis.
And so they're going to awardthat standard possession order.
So let's try to work togetherto, you know, come up with a
schedule that works foreverybody.
SPEAKER_01 (28:37):
Yeah.
And and I think there's arecognition too in most of the
courts.
Um, you know, they they need toprotect the best interest of the
child, including emotionalhealth and the physical
well-being, but that umsometimes the status quo, when
it changes, the the other parentmaybe hadn't stepped up the way
the the co-parent wanted them toin the past, but they need to be
(29:01):
given some opportunity to provethemselves.
And so um, if you say, well, oneparent handled everything,
including all of the educationalstuff and the doctor's
appointments and all that.
Well, if you are a marriedcouple or you're a couple that
was together and that was youragreement, um, it really isn't
(29:21):
fair and it doesn't make senseto say that the other person
isn't going to have any rightsor duties or anything related to
that stuff.
They need to have an opportunitybecause now the status quo has
changed.
They need to have an opportunityto step up because the agreement
is no longer there and theydeserve a right to be involved
too.
And so um, you know, in an idealworld, both parents uh, you
(29:43):
know, can co co parent together,reach decisions on things, kind
of put aside their personalrelationship or animosity or you
know, whatever they went throughand put their child first.
And um, you know, in the eventthat they can't uh or won't uh
Then that's what the court'sthere for is to put an order in
place.
And that's why it's so importantto have a lawyer that's going to
(30:06):
advocate for you to uh make surethat the court sees your story
and hears your concerns aboutthis child and orders something
that you know because the judgeis going to see this much of
your life.
They're going to see this muchof what makes your uh child who
they are.
And so you need somebody thatcan advocate and tell the story
(30:29):
to the judge in court and getsomething that you know is going
to be in their best interestbecause you know bet what's in
your child's best interest waybetter than uh a judge or a jury
ever will be able to, no matterhow long the trial is and how
good um, you know, how good theyare.
Well, Margaret, thank you somuch for coming back uh to the
(30:50):
podcast.
And uh if you're listening andif you're watching this, um
again, go tofamilylawyerkatie.com, go to our
resources tab.
You can see uh this year thestandard order, uh standard
possession order schedule.
You can see previous year'sstandard possession order
schedule just to get an idea ofwhat it looks like.
And you can also see on ourwebsite, if you click on the
(31:12):
blog at the top, uh you'll see anumber of articles about top
custody, including the standardpossession order schedule, uh
custom possession schedules, andthe under three schedule.
We have tons of information onthere.
And you can also go on thesearch bar and search for
whatever you're looking for.
If you're uh looking to do aconsult with me or with
Margaret, uh you can visit ourwebsite.
(31:34):
You can call us at 832-315-5494.
We're happy to have aconsultation, talk about your
specific situation and tell youabout what the process looks
like and how we can advocate foryou.
So on behalf of myself, behalfof you, uh Margaret, thank you
for joining us and uh come backand see us next time.
Welcome back to the Texas Family Lawyer Podcast.
I'm Alex Hunt.
I'm the managing attorney atHunt Law Firm, and we've got
offices in Katy, League City,Cyprus, and Sugarland.
And today I am joined by seniorattorney at Hunt Law Firm,
Margaret Tucker.
Welcome back.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
So, uh, Margaret, we've talked in the past about
uh child custody.
Uh today we're gonna take alittle bit of a deeper dive into
one specific aspect of childcustody, and that's the
possession schedule, andparticularly a standard
possession schedule, which isoutlined in the Texas family
code.
And um, we're just gonna uh do adeep dive.
(00:49):
So let's jump right in.
Uh, the standard possessionorder is essentially the default
order um that applies to everychild custody order, and it lays
out who's gonna have the kidsand when.
Tell me um a little bit aboutthe differences, the different
types of standard possessionorders, depending on uh how far
(01:14):
you live from the other parent.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Okay.
Um when I have somebody comeinto the office and we do a
consult, that is one thing Ialways go over with them is that
there is a presumption when youwalk into court that someone is
going to be given a standardpossession order.
And so if you know what toexpect from a court, then when
you're either going to settleor, you know, you are going to a
(01:38):
hearing or a trial, you kind ofknow what to expect that the
court is going to do for one ofthe parents.
The court is going to award thenon-primary parent a standard
possession order.
And it's laid out in a way that,you know, it's a predictable
schedule for everyone.
So um the standard possessionorder for under 50 is that um
(02:00):
the non-primary gets thechildren every single Thursday,
starting with school, startingwhen school lets out, um, and
then they bring the child backto school on Friday, and then
they get the child after schoolon Monday, uh, excuse me, Friday
until Monday morning.
And on the off weeks, the secondand fourth week, they get the
child um Thursday overnight.
SPEAKER_01 (02:21):
And and what we're gonna do is um if you are
listening to this um as apodcast, you can go to YouTube
and you can watch this video,and we're gonna have on the
screen a graphicalrepresentation that we've got on
our website.
If you go to familylawyerkatie.com, click on the
resources tab at the top.
We have a standard possessionorder calendar that if you're a
(02:45):
more visual learner, it lays itall out and highlights who has
the kids and when.
We're going to put that on thescreen of the YouTube video.
And you can also go tofamilylawyerkatie.com just to
help you uh kind of keep up uhwith what we're talking about
verbally.
And uh it's important becausethere are a lot of nuances in
(03:05):
the standard possession orderand uh it it takes a little bit
of time to understand all of it.
So um you uh were talking aboutuh zero fifty miles.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (03:19):
So if the two parents live within 50 miles, it
is a presumption that they arejust going to get the standard
possession order.
We call it an expandedpossession order because of the
pickup at school.
And so, and then Thursday isovernight.
So they pick, like I said, pickup from school on Thursday and
return this the child to schoolon uh Friday morning.
(03:40):
So that makes it an expanded, oryou can also refer to it as a
standard possession order withelections.
SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (03:47):
So if it if they live within 50 miles of each
other, the court is going togive this to them.
Okay.
Um, there has to be a reason notto do.
So if people understand that ifyou go to court or you go to
trial and the judge is going todo something like this, then you
can kind of know what tonegotiate when you're in
mediation.
It's very predictable.
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
And and it's called a rebuttable presumption, which
means the court's gonna presumethat it's in the child's best
interest, but it can be rebuttedwith evidence showing maybe this
isn't gonna work.
And there are plenty of examplesthat we have in our practice
where it doesn't work.
So, say, for example, we've gota client that works offshore and
(04:30):
they're two weeks on and thentwo weeks are uh in the Gulf,
that's not gonna work for them.
They need to have some sort ofcustom custom possession
schedule, or you know, there's alot of times there's work issues
or there's reasons that theycan't do, say, uh a Thursday
night, something like that.
The the key to remember is thata standard possession order may
(04:51):
be the default, but it doesn'thave to be the order.
Okay, and you can agree toanything else.
If you and the other co-parentagree, you can agree to whatever
you want, um, and then presentit to the court.
And as long as the court feelsthat it's in the best interest
of that child, which usuallythey do with limited exceptions,
um, the court will approve that.
(05:13):
So what else other than that umfirst, third, and fifth weekends
does this uh expanded standardpossession order have?
SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Um they has a holidays.
So um the non-primary parentgets 30 days.
Um they're able to break it upinto two different segments that
have to be at least seven dayslong.
So you can pick maybe a Juneweekend, one June week, and then
three weeks in July.
Or the default is the wholemonth of July.
(05:44):
So, you know, sometimes parentsjust do that because it's
easier.
Um, but you get to choose as thenon-primary parent.
SPEAKER_01 (05:50):
As long as you uh elect that time by April 1st,
correct.
You can select whatever youwant.
Otherwise, it just defaults toJuly 1st to July 30th.
SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
Correct.
SPEAKER_01 (06:01):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
And the primary parent then gets to pick a
weekend inside of that time, andthey also get to pick one of the
weekends that the um non-primaryhas for an SPO week.
SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
So they can have an extended vacation.
SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
That's how they get their summer too.
SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
And they would need to make their election by April
15th.
Correct.
And um so that's the summer.
What about holidays or otherspecial days?
SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
So they rotate.
So depending on the year,whether it's odd or even years,
you know, you uh non-primary isgoing to be assigned odd years
or even years, and the theprimary is gonna be assigned odd
or even years.
Um, they're going to switch offThanksgiving.
Um, so if one parent getsThanksgiving, the other one
begins Christmas vacation.
So Thanksgiving is whenever thechild gets out of school.
(06:50):
It's usually a Friday.
So whenever they get out ofschool, that whole week of
Thanksgiving, and it ends onSunday before they go back to
school.
And then the um other parent isgoing to be the beginning of
Christmas.
So again, the day they get outfor Christmas, which a lot of
times is a Friday, um, until the28th of December.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
So they have actual Christmas.
SPEAKER_00 (07:11):
They have the full of Christmas.
And then um it switches on uhnoon on the 28th.
And then the other parent whohad Thanksgiving gets the second
half of Christmas until um theSunday before school starts
again.
So um, and then spring break,they switch depending on the
year.
So um, those are the mainholidays that we consider.
(07:31):
It's also Mother's Day andFather's Day.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
And and when you say it switches depending on the
year for spring break, that'sodd even as well.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Again, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
And then uh, you know, sometimes I'll have folks
that'll add, it'll be kind of anSBO plus where they'll add a few
things in.
If they're um, you know, uhEaster is particularly important
to them, then maybe they'll addsome language in about that.
And then the standard possessionorder does uh guarantee the
other parent at least two hourson the child's birthday if they
(08:00):
don't have them uh during thattime.
So uh that is a standardpossession order with elections.
You're guaranteed that if youlive within zero to 50 miles of
the primary conservator, 50 to100 miles away, the
non-custodial parent has achoice.
(08:22):
They can have all the electionsif they want, or they can have
just a regular, unexpandedstandard possession order.
And then 100 miles plus, thepresumption is just a regular
standard possession order.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe difference between an
expanded standard possessionorder with elections and one
(08:43):
without elections.
SPEAKER_00 (08:44):
Okay.
It's kind of we kind of considerit like we'll call it the basic
SPO.
Um, it's without elections.
A basic SPO is the standardpossession order that was in
place a few years ago.
And what it gives is Thursdaynight, you the non-primary
parent gets the child from sixto eight.
So it's kind of maybe a dinnertime on uh Thursday nights.
(09:06):
And then on Friday, they um getthe child at 6 p.m.
And then they get the child tillum Sunday night at 6 p.m.
So it's it's a more limited, butit also kind of works with
people's work schedules ifyou're out of town, those kind
of things.
So um that's why it is um partof the over 100 miles uh
(09:26):
language, because you know, herewe are in Houston, and maybe a
non-primary parent lives inAustin.
Well, they can come in, youknow, first, third, and fifth
weekend.
So they can still do the wholebasic standard possession order.
But maybe the person we're inHouston and the non-primary
lives in Chicago, it's going tobe much harder to get to that
(09:47):
child.
So they may elect to only do oneweekend um a month instead.
And when you're over 100 miles,you get um instead of 30 days
during the summer, you get 42days during the summer.
SPEAKER_01 (10:00):
And it's a lot of time.
And generally, a standardpossession order, you know, I've
heard different numbers, and itreally depends on the year, but
a basic standard possessionorder is probably gonna get you
around 42%.
SPEAKER_00 (10:14):
So a expanded is about 42%, 58%.
Depends on the year, depends onthe holidays, depends on the
number of fifth weekends thatthe non-primary is gonna get,
because they get third first,third, and fifth weekends.
And so um, you know, it dependsif there are more fifth weekends
in that year, um, how theholidays, how the weekends fall,
(10:36):
all of those kind of make thethe percentages switch.
But yes, I what I usually tellpeople it's about a 42-58% split
for an expanded.
And then when you go back to abasic standard possession order
without elections, about a 70-30split time-wise.
SPEAKER_01 (10:52):
And and it's it's different time.
And you know, the primarycustodial parent is going to
have a lot of the, you know,we're doing, we're coming to
school, we're coming home, we'redoing homework, we're eating
dinner, we're going to bed.
Um, and the non-custodial parentis going to have a lot of their
time that is accumulated inlarge bunches when the child is
(11:15):
not going to be in school.
Of course, they'll have theirThursdays during the school year
and they'll have their first,third, and fifth weekends, but
they get a big bulk of theirtime in the summer.
Um, and uh they um, you know,they're sharing the rest of the
holidays.
So a lot of that time comes inthe summer to make up for the
time that they might not havegotten during the year.
SPEAKER_00 (11:35):
Correct.
SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
You know, I think one of the really cool things
about the standard possessionorder uh that we see in Texas is
that at the beginning, beforethe standard possession order
gets into the legalese, one ofthe things it says is in the
absence of an agreementotherwise, this will be the
order.
And so what that means is thatif the parents can agree on
(11:57):
something else at any time, theydon't have to worry about the
terms of the standard possessionorder.
And uh I've said this in aprevious podcast, but I have had
clients that have taken theirorder, they've gotten a
certified copy, and they put itin a drawer and it's collected
dust because uh, and this is noteverybody's situation, they have
(12:18):
had a co-parenting relationshipwhere they can get together and
they can make agreements fortheir child's best interest.
Um, that is ideal, but that'snot everybody.
And in the event that you can't,you don't have a co-parent where
you can do that, then this iswhat you default back to in case
there is no agreement.
And that's why it's soimportant.
(12:39):
Is so that way if there's not anagreement, you've got something
that guarantees what yourschedule is going to look like.
So uh those are your standardpossession order uh uh different
schedules depending on where youlive, depending on your work
schedule.
You could do uh standardpossession order with elections,
without elections.
(13:00):
Um what would you say um what isthe frequency in your practice
that you're seeing standardpossession orders versus a more
customized schedule?
SPEAKER_00 (13:13):
I would say I encourage to do standard
possession orders more becauseit is what a court would do.
Um it is it's very predictable.
And if there are any problems,if you do have to go back into
court, the court knows exactlywhat the the schedule is.
They they know exactly how tohandle it, that kind of thing.
(13:34):
But it's okay to stray from thatif as long as you have
agreements of the party.
I would say the most that I haveseen um other than a standard
possession order is a 50-50split.
Um, and that's probably the nextstep of what people agree to do
is a 50-50.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
So let's dive into these custom schedules, which
again, like you said, um courtscan divert from the standard
possession schedule a littlebit, but in my practice, it
isn't very often.
And there's got to be a reallygood reason.
And that's what the law says,too, that the standard
possession order needs to bespecifically ruled by that
(14:13):
court, that it is inappropriateor it is unworkable.
And um, you know, we've taughtwe've had cases where it has
been inappropriate orunworkable.
What are some of those instanceswhere you've seen uh the party
say this isn't gonna work or thecourt say that?
Like, what does the scheduleusually look like where we've
had to do something different?
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Okay.
Well, being in Houston, we're abig oil area.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of umdifferent types of oil rig type
jobs where they go out on therig for two weeks and then
they're off for two weeks.
Well, you can't have possessionof a child if you're out on the
oil rig.
So, and you know, even if youwere able to designate a
competent adult to take yourplace, you're missing time with
(14:55):
a child.
And so, you know, you want yourtime with your own child.
So I've seen courts do, youknow, if they're going to have
to deviate from a standardpossession order, they're going
to do a certain custom schedulethat allows somebody who has a
job like this to see theirchild.
They're going to encourage itfor sure.
So um oil rigs or umfirefighters, a lot of times
(15:18):
they have their, they work 24hours and then they they're off,
I believe 48 hours.
Or um, you know, sometimesdoctors are on call.
They uh I've seen a lot ofdifferent ones.
Um, the 50-50, you know, someparents really, you know, it it
kind of rakes their hearts notto see their child once a week
at least.
So they do uh a 223 typeschedule, you know, where they
(15:40):
rotate like that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:41):
Yeah, so we see that a lot where uh at least
sometimes clients will want todo a 50-50.
And really, there's only when wesay 50-50, it means 50% with one
parent uh and 50% with the otherparent in terms of possession
time.
And a lot of people will come tous and and they equate 50-50
with joint custody.
(16:02):
Uh, Texas doesn't have jointcustody.
We have joint managingconservatorship, but that's
really a different question asto the possession time.
And so uh just because you'rejoint managing conservators,
that doesn't mean you're gonnabe 50-50 on the parenting time.
But sometimes people will cometo us and there will be an
agreement and they'll say wewant to do 50-50.
(16:23):
And that could be laid out acouple of different ways.
Um, the first common way that wesee it is week on, week off.
What does that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (16:32):
I will say the most common I see is like a Sunday
night switch.
So one parent takes the childstarting um Sunday, maybe 6
p.m., and they have them theentire week until the next
Sunday at 6 p.m.
and they switch.
And they'll still put in forholidays and that kind of thing,
or maybe extra time during thesummer, but usually during the
(16:54):
school term, they do a 50-50.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Okay.
And um the the next way that youcan do a 50-50 that we see
commonly is what's called a 223,or sometimes it'll be a 225, and
there's different names for it.
But essentially what that is, isuh, you know, Monday and
Tuesday, parent number one willhave the child.
(17:17):
Uh Wednesday, Thursday, theother parent will have the
child.
And then Friday, Saturday, andSunday, they'll switch off
depending on the week.
There are some pros and thereare some cons that are
associated with that.
Talk to me a little bit about umsome of the pros of a 50-50 or a
2-2-3 schedule.
SPEAKER_00 (17:36):
I think parents um who choose a two, two, three
get, you know, they like thefact that they get to see their
child every week and spend dayswith their child every week.
So um for that purpose, I thinkthey really like two, two,
threes.
Um the week on, week off, peoplelike the fact that they have,
you know, time that is not backand forth.
(18:00):
They have a whole week bythemselves and then the child
goes for a week.
So you kind of can plan morewith your schedules.
You know, you see your child forseven straight days without kind
of anybody being in the middle,that kind of thing.
So I think they find those arepositives for the week on, week
off, and two, two, threes.
SPEAKER_01 (18:17):
And some of the feedback that I've gotten from
judges over the years, and II've really never met a judge
that has said, I like 50-50s.
It's usually just varyingdegrees of how much they dislike
uh uh 50-50 schedules.
But the main feedback that I'vegotten from them has been uh
that the child doesn't feel likethey have like a home base.
(18:40):
They don't have a home, they'rejust constantly being shuttled
back and forth.
And um, with a 50-50, there is afeeling that they're not having
frequent enough contact with theother parent during that time.
So you'll go an entire week,which is great for that parent
while you have them.
But then, you know, like in astandard position order, you
(19:00):
would have during the schoolyear that every Thursday.
You don't have that with a weekon, week off.
And um, you want to have moreregular, frequent contact with
the other parent.
Um, and then the other feedbackwith something like a two, two,
three is that the the child isjust constantly moving back and
(19:21):
forth.
So they're two days in oneplace, two days in another
place, three days in anotherplace, two days in another
place, and they're really neveranywhere longer than two to
three days.
And then you get the situationwhere the child is kind of
living out of a suitcase becausethey don't have a home base.
And it it's the reason that alot of courts don't like it.
(19:42):
It's the reason that a lot ofthe courts, even if there is an
agreement, um, the courts, ifthey can, will uh overrule it.
Um, now there's procedures thatwe use, like an immediated
settlement agreement to kind oflock the parties in, the court
can't overrule it.
But um, we've certainly hadsituations where if you don't
have a mediated settlementagreement, the court will say, I
(20:04):
don't think this is in the bestinterest of the child.
And so I'm not going to approveit.
And they'll they'll really pushback on it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
I to add to that, I think a lot of times courts
won't do the 50-50 because inmost relationships, there
usually is a primary parent.
Yeah.
And that's the one who goes outand signs the kids up for
extracurriculars.
That's the one who goes out andsigns the kids up to do
different programs, take someplaces.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
And it doesn't mean they're the better parent.
It just means that they handlesome of the logistics.
Um, and it, you know, it is whatit is.
And sometimes there is a, youknow, a co-parenting
relationship where there is uhan equal distribution of
handling those things.
Um, but most of the time, likeyou said, there is one parent
(20:49):
that is handling um setting updoctor's appointments, taking
the kid to doctor's appointmentsand uh signing the report card
or, you know, I guess it'soutdated now.
You know, the report card, it'sall online, but you know, those
types of responsibilities.
SPEAKER_00 (21:04):
Um and a lot of times with a 50-50, then the
discussion starts that no childsupport will be given.
So, and that kind of opens up awhole new window of, you know,
are both parents able to supportthe child during their time and
and that kind of thing.
So that's when we start openingup can of worms for other
things.
So um, you know, once, you know,once somebody agrees to a 50-50,
(21:27):
other things come with it too.
So, you know, there's a lot toconsider.
And that's those are some of thereasons I don't think uh courts
have given into those yet.
And if if people are doing it,they may continue it, but I
haven't really seen a lot ofcourts order them.
SPEAKER_01 (21:44):
Yeah, no, I agree.
And so we we spent a lot of timetalking about the standard
possession order and how it'sthe default and how it's what
the court's usually gonna do.
And then we said, well, you canreach an agreement, you could do
something else like a 50-50.
But now the big caveat is thatif this child is under three
years old, there's a provisionin the Texas family code that
(22:05):
the court should render an orderthat is appropriate for that
child.
And that it may not be andlikely is not a standard
possession order.
So tell me what you've seen.
Tell tell me a little bit aboutan under-three order and what
you've seen in your practice.
SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Okay.
An under three order is um, thecourt's gonna look at a whole
bunch of factors.
You know, they're gonna look atthings like, you know, what
happened before you came tocourt, you know, what, how did
y'all, you know, take care ofthe child before when maybe you
were married or together as acouple, um, who would primarily
take care of the child?
Did they, you know, were thereovernights with that child?
(22:43):
Um, who's set up to have anovernight?
Because we are talking aboutsome children that, you know,
are are itty bitty babies?
I mean, you're talking about athree-month-old baby.
Right.
Is both house both houses ableto take a three-month-old baby?
Are there cribs?
You know, are there is thereformula set up?
Are are there car seats in thecar?
SPEAKER_01 (23:03):
You know, that is the mom still breastfeeding.
Yes.
I mean, you can't have a athree-day period of possession
for dad if mom is stillbreastfeeding, unless you make
provisions for that and the momagrees to, you know, uh pump and
store and do all that, which Idon't know if the court can
order to do that.
So those are all things that thecourt needs to take into
(23:25):
consideration.
And, you know, there's adifference between a
three-week-old and athree-month-old and a
three-year-old.
And uh, if you know, ifanybody's watching or listening
and you're interested in thefull list of criteria, there's
you know, 13 different criteriathat the court uses in
determining what a good underthree schedule would be.
(23:46):
You could just Google uh TexasFamily Code section 153.254, and
you have all of the list of whatthe court's gonna consider,
including the emotional needs ofthe child, the behavioral needs,
the physical needs, whether thesiblings are going to be
present, whether there's gonnabe caregiving provided to the
child before and during thecurrent suit, um, the the
(24:09):
continuity of the child'sroutine, all these things are
gonna be considered.
What have you seen generally?
Say you've got, say you've gotthat six-week old.
What are you seeing courtsgenerally ordering, at least in
our area, in the Houston area,for an under three that's, you
know, about six weeks old, say?
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
I don't see a lot of courts award a specific
schedule.
I I see most of the courts awardthe standard possession order.
I I mean, I think it's morecommon for that.
Um, I think the courts feel likeif the non-primary parent is
able to take the child and iscompletely set up to take that
child, um, you know, whetherthey're two weeks old or whether
(24:53):
they're three, you know, almostthree years old, I've I feel
like the courts are kind of likeif the non-primary can take them
and they're going to be aroundand they're going to, you know,
give love and time to thischild, then I I feel like they
want to give as much time aspossible to that non-primary
parent.
Um, I have seen some three, youknow, under three awarded, but
(25:14):
not very common.
Um, and what it usually entailsis like maybe Saturdays instead
of doing like a SPO weekend thathas overnights, they usually do
like Saturday from 10 to 5, andthey don't do an overnight as
much.
So it's limiting the overnights,is mainly what it is.
SPEAKER_01 (25:33):
And I've also had some courts that have granted um
like like short bursts of likevery frequent contact for the
non-custodial parent.
And and typically, not in everycase, but typically when we're
talking about an under-threeschedule, we're talking about
the primary custodian being thethe mom, because you know,
(25:54):
there's uh if they're stillbreastfeeding, then that's a
physical consideration thatneeds to be made.
Um, but what it would look likeis um, you know, maybe every
evening uh from 5 to 7 p.m., thedad's going to be able to see
that child.
Um, we don't get a ton of caseswhere you've got like a six-week
(26:16):
old uh involved.
But in a case where you have areally young child like that,
um, you know, my understandingof the state of the art, uh, you
know, emotional development,physical development is that
there needs to be frequentcontact.
You can't go a week with one ofthe caregivers not seeing that
child.
And so although it might be notideal for the parents because
(26:40):
there might be travel time andthey might not want to see the
other parent every day for thatchild, and it's all about the
best interest of the child, it'sgoing to be ideal for really
frequent contact, even if thatmeans that it's going to be
daily.
And I've seen I've seen courtsdo that, especially for that
very critical time in the earlypart of the child's life.
SPEAKER_00 (27:01):
Definitely.
SPEAKER_01 (27:03):
Um well, we've talked a little bit about 50-50
schedules and under-threeschedules.
We've talked about the standardpossession order.
Is there anything that you thinkfolks need to know about or that
we missed?
SPEAKER_00 (27:15):
No, I mean, I would just say overall, you know, I
have I have clients come in or,you know, um, they're kind
coming in for a consult and, youknow, they'll say, I don't think
he can handle, you know, havingthe child.
I don't, you know, I don't wanthim to see the child, or, you
know, I want to limit his timewith the child.
I think the part we need torealize is is that, you know,
(27:38):
these parents respect each otherand they need to respect each
other as parents of the child.
And, you know, it took two tocreate the child.
And so the court wants bothparents as involved as possible.
And so if you know thepredictability of a court
awarding a standard possessionorder, then you can kind of work
(27:58):
backwards to tailor it, youknow, if there are specific
circumstances that, you know,you may need it to change days
or something like that.
But it makes it more reasonablewhen people come in and know
that, you know, this is likelywhat a court would do.
So let's work from there becausethe court is, unless there's
circumstances otherwise, thecourt is going to award time.
(28:21):
And they're they're going towant, you know, it it it's going
to be in the best interest ofthe child to see both parents on
a very continuous basis.
And so they're going to awardthat standard possession order.
So let's try to work togetherto, you know, come up with a
schedule that works foreverybody.
SPEAKER_01 (28:37):
Yeah.
And and I think there's arecognition too in most of the
courts.
Um, you know, they they need toprotect the best interest of the
child, including emotionalhealth and the physical
well-being, but that umsometimes the status quo, when
it changes, the the other parentmaybe hadn't stepped up the way
the the co-parent wanted them toin the past, but they need to be
(29:01):
given some opportunity to provethemselves.
And so um, if you say, well, oneparent handled everything,
including all of the educationalstuff and the doctor's
appointments and all that.
Well, if you are a marriedcouple or you're a couple that
was together and that was youragreement, um, it really isn't
(29:21):
fair and it doesn't make senseto say that the other person
isn't going to have any rightsor duties or anything related to
that stuff.
They need to have an opportunitybecause now the status quo has
changed.
They need to have an opportunityto step up because the agreement
is no longer there and theydeserve a right to be involved
too.
And so um, you know, in an idealworld, both parents uh, you
(29:43):
know, can co co parent together,reach decisions on things, kind
of put aside their personalrelationship or animosity or you
know, whatever they went throughand put their child first.
And um, you know, in the eventthat they can't uh or won't uh
Then that's what the court'sthere for is to put an order in
place.
And that's why it's so importantto have a lawyer that's going to
(30:06):
advocate for you to uh make surethat the court sees your story
and hears your concerns aboutthis child and orders something
that you know because the judgeis going to see this much of
your life.
They're going to see this muchof what makes your uh child who
they are.
And so you need somebody thatcan advocate and tell the story
(30:29):
to the judge in court and getsomething that you know is going
to be in their best interestbecause you know bet what's in
your child's best interest waybetter than uh a judge or a jury
ever will be able to, no matterhow long the trial is and how
good um, you know, how good theyare.
Well, Margaret, thank you somuch for coming back uh to the
(30:50):
podcast.
And uh if you're listening andif you're watching this, um
again, go tofamilylawyerkatie.com, go to our
resources tab.
You can see uh this year thestandard order, uh standard
possession order schedule.
You can see previous year'sstandard possession order
schedule just to get an idea ofwhat it looks like.
And you can also see on ourwebsite, if you click on the
(31:12):
blog at the top, uh you'll see anumber of articles about top
custody, including the standardpossession order schedule, uh
custom possession schedules, andthe under three schedule.
We have tons of information onthere.
And you can also go on thesearch bar and search for
whatever you're looking for.
If you're uh looking to do aconsult with me or with
Margaret, uh you can visit ourwebsite.
(31:34):
You can call us at 832-315-5494.
We're happy to have aconsultation, talk about your
specific situation and tell youabout what the process looks
like and how we can advocate foryou.
So on behalf of myself, behalfof you, uh Margaret, thank you
for joining us and uh come backand see us next time.
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