Posts Tagged ‘Visitation’
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
Sorry, I got behind again on my posts. As I can see from reviewing my “comments” to my April post, I may need to review the summer “notice” provisions again. It appears that many of you get confused because one party is learning to “game” the system. What I mean by that is this:
- Non custodial parent (ncp) is entitled to thirty days in the summer and must elect their time by April 1 or it will revert to July 1 – July 31st. Let’s pretend I am the ncp and I send written notice on March 31st via certified mail and first class mail. First problem is that the custodial parent (cp) does not pick up the certified mail and it just sits. It does not matter. I met the notice requirements and they are on notice whether they pick up or not. To be safe, i may also send via email.
- Here is where I “game” it. I pick my first two weeks to be as follows – July 8th until July 20th. That is the first part of my extended summer possession and accounts for 12 days. HOWEVER, look at your calendar. I also get standard weekends in the summer. That means that I will pick up the child on July 6th at 6:00 p.m. and keep the child until Sunday the 8th at 6:00 p.m. My next possession is my extended summer possession and begins on Sunday the 8th at 6:00 p.m. That means I keep the child from the weekend. My possession then goes until Friday the 20th at 6:00 p.m., but wait, I also get that weekend as it is a third weekend, and it begins on Friday at 6:00 p.m. so I would keep the child until that Sunday at 6:00 p.m. before I returned to cp.
As you can see from that hypothetical, I have only used twelve days of my extended summer possession, but have gotten 16 days out of it. I can do this all over again one more time if I wanted to. That is what you call gaming the system.
This post answers a few of the comments I had regarding notice under the standard possession order in Texas. There were many more and I will try to address them as they come up.
Talk to you soon.
Tags: Divorce, summer, Visitation
Posted in Divorce, Visitation | No Comments »
Friday, March 30th, 2012
Okay, after a long hiatus I am back. Next month is April…what do we have on tap for standard visitation? Click on the link for a review of last years April visitation. I think I was smarter back then anyway as now I am out of the groove.
March is finishing with a 5th weekend (measured by Friday) of the month so the noncustodial parent (the one without custody 
) will have had the last weekend in March (30th) and the first weekend in April (6th). The other weekend visit will be the 20th of April. Of course you know when your visits start and end, correct?
For Thursdays (or Wednesdays in older orders). You should have every one this month.
If your children are out for the Easter weekend, then the provisions dealing with a long weekend will be in effect. This means that if your child is out on Good Friday, then the visit which normally would have started on Friday, will now begin at the same time on Thursday. If they are out Monday, your visit will extend to Monday evening from Sunday evening (assuming your visits end at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday) or return to school on Tuesday if your visits end when school resumes on Monday.
Other than this, I do not see anything that jumps out at me for an April standard visitation order in Texas. As I always say, READ YOUR ORDER. Nothing I post here has any relevance if your order is different from the standard possession order. When in doubt, contact a local attorney to understand your rights and duties.
Tags: Children, Divorce, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Visitation | 9 Comments »
Friday, October 28th, 2011
This is my second go around on the standard visitation order for November in Texas. You can see my first round here. The song remains the same, only the dates have changed. Actually that is not true. Last year was the custodial parent’s Thanksgiving holiday and this year’s visitation belongs to the non-custodial parent. That changes things a bit as you will see below.
The weekend visits this month are the 4th and 18th. The parent with standard visitation will also get each Thursday this month (including Thanksgiving). Pretty simple, right?
Now the hard part – the Thanksgiving holiday. The age old question in most of our visitation battles is “when does school let out for the Thanksgiving holiday”? If the child is off for the entire week of Thanksgiving, then visitation is a no-brainer. The non-custodial parent gets visitation beginning Friday the 18th and keeps the child until the Sunday following the Thanksgiving holiday (or return to school Monday depending upon your order). This includes if the Monday and Tuesday are “in-service” days or the kids are not otherwise in school.
However, if the children have school on Monday the 21st, then your weekend ends at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday the 20th or, depending upon your order, at the time school resumes that Monday. Your next possession would begin when the child is let out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday, typically Tuesday or Wednesday in this scenario. It will end on the Sunday following the holiday. Your next possession will be in November.
It seems easy enough when I write this, but I know there will be a million questions as the holiday approaches. I will do my best to answer each of your questions in a timely manner so feel free to comment.I hope everyone has a happy Halloween and Thanksgiving. Talk to you next month.
Tags: Children, holiday, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Holiday visitation, Visitation | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
October is just around the corner so let’s review the Texas standard visitation schedule. The weekends and Thursdays are pretty standard.
For weekends you will have the 7th and the 21st and the there will be 4 Thursday visits this month (or Wednesday for older orders).
There are two holidays this month we have to deal with. The first is Columbus day. This is a Monday holiday and falls on a standard visitation weekend (1st). If your child has off for Columbus day, review your order as you will have an additional day. If you normally return at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, then you will return at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. If you return to school Monday then you will return to school Tuesday. This is a pretty straight forward holiday.
Let’s talk about the bigger elephant in the room. Halloween. It falls on a Monday this year, and it is not a standard visitation order weekend (i.e. 1st, 3rd or 5th). If you do not have a special provision in your order for Halloween, then without an agreement, you will not get Halloween this year. I would suggest working now on an agreement for that weekend. Perhaps you could offer to give up one of your weekend nights in exchange for Halloween night.
If you reach agreements, get it in writing.
Have a good October!
Tags: Children, Divorce, holiday, Standard Possession Order, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Holiday visitation, Visitation, Visitation in Texas | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 1st, 2011
August is upon us and the return to school is looming in the future. For the Texas Standard Possession Order that means we get back to our regular schedule.
For weekend possessions this month, the non-custodial parent will get the weekends of the 5th and 19th. Thursdays (or Wednesdays if you have an older order) will begin on the first Thursday following the kids first day at school. If they begin on a Thursday then they begin that evening.
I have had quite a few questions/discussions this summer about weekends during the summer in a standard visitation order in Texas. I have talked about this in the past in a discussion about weekend visitation and summer possession. I do not know how to make it any clearer, but here it goes:
WEEKEND VISITATIONS CONTINUE IN THE SUMMER, THURSDAYS (OR WEDNESDAYS IN THE CASE OF OLD ORDERS) DO NOT. I think that should clear it up. If the child is not on an extended period of summer possession then the weekends (1st, 3rd, and 5th) continue just as they do during the school year. Comprende?
Comment if you have any questions.
Tags: Children, summer, Visitation
Posted in Children, Visitation | 4 Comments »
Friday, April 29th, 2011
The month of May is relatively simple in terms of Texas standard visitation. The weekend periods of possession are Friday, May 6th for a mother who is not the custodial parent and Friday, May 20th. All the Thursdays (or Wednesdays) should be standard this month unless your child is in a school that lets out for summer break this month. In that case, any Thursday following dismissal will not apply as Thursdays are only during the school term in a Texas standard visitation order.
Sunday, May 8th is Mother’s day. If the child’s mother is the custodial parent then she will get this weekend even if it is the Father’s first Friday of the month. Mother’s day takes precedent over a standard weekend visit.
Memorial day is the custodial parent’s weekend so there should be no issues as to an extended weekend due to a Monday holiday.
As I said, pretty simple! As always, if you have general questions please comment. I will do the best I can to answer them as quickly as possible. Check out my newly refreshed and designed website at www.chrislawyer.com. Ain’t it perty?
Tags: Children, Divorce, holiday, Standard Possession Order, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Holiday visitation, Visitation | 9 Comments »
Friday, April 1st, 2011
It’s April and since there have been no showers (in Dallas) will there be no flowers? I know, dumb. Today will be the first weekend visitation for you non-custodial parents in Texas as it is the first Friday of the month. Your next weekend will be April 15th (second Friday of the month) and then April 29th (5th Friday of the month). It is going to be a great visitation month!
Thursdays should be standard all the way through the month. The only holiday this month is Easter weekend. Unless you have a specific provision for Easter in your decree, it will be the custodial parent’s weekend.
April is the month of notices in a Texas possession schedule. If you are the non-custodial parent and you wish to pick your extended summer visitation, you will have to have given notice by April 1st of those dates. If you do not give notice you will get July 1 beginning at 6:00 p.m. and ending on July 31st at 6:00 p.m. The custodial parent has until April 15th to designate one weekend inside the extended summer visitation that they can exercise. This weekend begins and ends at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and Sunday respectively. If they do not designate by April 15th, they lose that weekend.
The final April notice date is again April 15th. If the custodial parent gives the other parent notice by April 15th they can pick one weekend that would have otherwise been the non-custodial parent’s weekend OUTSIDE the extended summer possession. The difference between this notice and the one just above is that if notice is not given by April 15th, they still can give notice throughout the summer if given 14 days in advance.
I think that just about covers it. If you have any questions, feel free to enter them in the comment section and I will try to answer them the best I can.
Tags: Children, Divorce, holiday, possession, Standard Possession Order, summer, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Holiday visitation, Visitation | 21 Comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
In previous posts I have talked about the diminishing rights of grandparents to sue for visitation in Texas. They were titled “grandparent’s right in Texas” and a continuation of that article followed. Over the years, the Texas Legislature has continued to chip away any rights that a grandparent had or had in seeking visitation of their grandchild when the parent denies access.
There is a bill pending before the house committee (House Bill 2557) that will further erode any rights left for grandparents. If this bill passes, this could be the final nail in the coffin (should I use that term here?) for grandparent visitation rights.
You can read the bill here: House Bill 2557.
There is a serious backlash coming from the legal community on this one. We’ll see what happens. Grandparents, if you oppose this bill, contact your local legislator and express your objection to this bill.
Tags: Children, Grandparent Rights, Grandparents, Visitation
Posted in Children, Grandparent's rights in Texas, Visitation | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
March is upon us. Great time of year. College basketball is ramping up, spring is here…love it. For visitation purposes this weekend is the first Friday of the month and therefore the first possession period. The third Friday is March 18th and would be a normal visitation weekend UNLESS the child is on Spring Break that week or the week following. If the child is on break that week then it is the custodial parent’s (parent with custody) week and weekend. It trumps your normal visitation. However, if you are operating under a standard possession order for over 100 miles, then it is always the non-cutodial parent’s week.
Another scenario: if your child is on vacation the week of the 21st then you will also lose your weekend of the 18th because the kids will be dismissed on Friday the 18th for their break. It begins for a parent begins at 6:00 p.m. on the day that the child is dismissed from school, which in this case would be the time that your visitation weekend would have started. This does not apply if you are over 100 miles.
The Thursday visitations are standard with the exception of the Thursday during the week of the child’s Spring Break.
I hope everyone has a great March!
Tags: Children, holiday, Standard Possession Order, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Holiday visitation, Visitation | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
Wow, I have been a bad blogger! With the ice apocalypse in Dallas this year, I got a bit behind. Hopefully everyone survived without my extremely insightful and brilliant posts. :)
February 4th was your first weekend visit this month if you have a standard visitation order. Your other weekend possession this month will be this Friday, the 18th. Thursdays (or Wednesdays on some old orders) are pretty standard this month as well so you should get each of those.
President’s day falls on the non-cusotdial parent’s weekend this month so that weekend will extend the return time (depending on your order – if you have standard visitation it will) to either return to school on Tuesday morning or Monday at 6:00 p.m. This only applies if you have the language in your decree extending the visitation for Monday holidays AND your child is actually out of school on that Monday. You should already know if your periods of possession end by returning the child to school or if you return at 6:00 p.m. the day before they return to school.
That about wraps it up for this month. Happy President’s Day!
Tags: Children, Divorce, Standard Possession Order, Visitation
Posted in Children, Divorce, Visitation | No Comments »
