Articles Posted in Protective Order

Texas courts have the authority to enter protective orders that prevent a potentially dangerous or abusive domestic relation from contacting or harassing the protected party. If a protective order is entered in a scenario where the two parties to the order share one or more children, the terms of the order can complicate the parties’ relationships with their children.

Specifically, when the protected party has custody of the children, it can be difficult for the responding party to have a meaningful relationship with their children while the order is in effect. Many protective orders have the effect of inhibiting the parent-child relationship between the responding party and their child, however, it is possible to fight back against such provisions in a protective order. The Texas Court of Appeals recently addressed an appellant’s request to modify a protective order that prevented him from seeing his children.

According to the facts discussed in the appellate opinion, the parties to the case share a child together. In March of 2021, the mother filed a request for a protective order. She alleged, among other things, that the father was violent towards her in front of the children, and also sexually assaulted her. Based on the court’s understanding of the evidence before it, the protective order was granted. One provision of the order prevented the father from attending or going near any of their child’s extracurricular activities. If the father violated this order, he could be sent to jail and face other permanent consequences.

A Texas appeals court recently decided a Texas family law case involving a court’s jurisdiction to issue a protective order while a divorce proceeding is pending before another court. In that case, the wife filed a petition for divorce from the husband. The following year, while the divorce petition was pending, the wife filed an application for a protective order. The court issued a final protective order in favor of the wife, and the husband appealed the order. The husband argued in part that the protective order was void because the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case. The husband argued that because a divorce proceeding was pending in a different court, the court could not issue a protective order.

Subject-matter jurisdiction refers to a court’s ability to hear and determine a certain type of case. Some courts only have subject-matter jurisdiction over certain types of cases, such as traffic courts and juvenile courts.

In this case, the wife filed the application for a protective order in the 280th District Court, which is designated as the domestic violence district court for Harris County, and which gives preference for domestic violence cases. The wife resided in Harris County, which is why she filed in that county. However, the husband argued that the application for a protective order must be filed in the court in which the divorce proceeding is pending, according to Texas’s Family Code.

In Texas family law cases, there are two separate types of protective documents that parties can seek. Restraining orders are not to be confused with protective orders. Most often, parties seek a restraining order in a divorce or suit affecting the parent-child relationship to take exclusive possession of property or the children. If a restraining order is needed, it is important to seek the restraining order from the very beginning of the case or at or near the time the need is realized.

For instance, in cases involving children and concerns for their safety, the requesting party requests the court to order that the children be removed from the other party’s custody and placed into the requesting party’s custody solely until the court hearing. This means that once removed, the other party will not have any access to the children until the hearing. To qualify for a temporary restraining order of this nature, one must present an affidavit that on its face alleges that if the court did not grant the restraining order, then the child’s physical health and/or emotional development would be significantly impaired. In many cases, this arises when it is discovered that other parent’s actions, decisions, or behaviors are dangerous for the children. Examples include drugs, criminal activity, neglect, absence of the other parent due to hospitalization, jail, etc.

Restraining orders are typically sought when initial pleadings are filed and they are presented to the judge ex parte (without the other party present). Your sworn affidavit will be attached to the pleadings for the restraining order and will contain all of the information for the judge as to why he/she should grant the restraining order. The hearing will be set the same day the judge signs the order and it must occur within 14 days. Therefore, the court holds a quick hearing to allow the other party time to present their own case. It also gives you a chance to put on evidence and bolster your case as to why the judge made the right decision to grant the restraining order in the first place. At this hearing, you can request that the court continue the restraining order. Thought, often times, the court will not completely deny access to the children but rather grant supervised visitation by an appropriate supervisor; this is, of course, if supervised access is warranted and proven necessary. With that said, there are some cases when the need for a a restraining order to remove children arises while the case is pending.  You will still need to submit an affidavit and a request for a restraining order.  However, some counties require that you also send notice to the other party/attorney so that they may be present when you present the restraining order to the court initially.  The hearing will still be held 14 days from the date the judge signed the order.

Many people come in and ask our office this question because they have legitimate concerns regarding the other party.  Most importantly, these cases often involve allegations of family violence or there is a pending protective order already in place.  If you are afraid of your ex in any way, you need to notify the proper authorities and your attorney.

Your right to privacy in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship is located within Texas Family Code Section 153.012 which states that the Court has discretionary authority to order your residence information to be deleted from a court order before the order is released to the other parent.  It does not give specific guidelines as to when the Court can order this and it is, as we stated, discretionary in that it states “the court may.”  Therefore, it is important to discuss all reasons why you feel this information should be withheld from the other party.

If you are seeking or have a protective order in place, then Texas Family Code Section 85.007 guides with respect to confidentiality of certain information.  If you have a protective order then you, anyone in your family or household can request that the Court exclude the address and telephone number from the order of: (a) a person protected by the order (it would only state the county where you reside); (b) the employment or business of a person protected by the order; or (c) child-care facility (daycare) or school of child protected by the order.  Once you have made this request, the Court will strike the information and it will be kept for court purposes only.

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