Sherea Vitelli’s Legal Blog

A client recently hired us to help him retain his daughter.  The wife decided to move out of the house while he was at work and then sent him a text and said she was leaving to go visit her family in another state.  Dazed and confused, he called upon us to get his daughter back.  I quickly informed him that since there were no court orders the only thing to do was to file for divorce and have her served.  We did just that.  The rule is, neither parent has more rights than the other to the children.  One parent cannot just up and move out of the state of Texas and take the children without the agreement from the other party.  Here in this case there was no agreement.

So we filed for divorce and went to mediation.  The only thing my client wanted was his daughter returned to Texas.  At the end of mediation, that is exactly what happened.  A while back one of the attorneys here had a similar case except it was her client that moved.  Her client had custody of the child for eight years, absent father, and barely any support.  At trial, the judge ordered the child returned to the father switching custody.  Courts here in Texas are very serious about not removing the children from their familar enviorments.  Think twice before you run out on your spouse and take the children, you will be ordered back here to Texas.

 If your spouse has left the state of Texas without your permission with the children, contact us and we will strive to get your child returned.