Austin Visitation and Possession Order Attorney

Parents in Austin deciding how a child’s weeks, weekends, holidays, and summers will be divided are making one of the most consequential choices in a family law case, and the schedule written into the order is the one everyone will live by for years. The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique divorce and family law firm that handles Austin visitation and possession order cases, including new orders, modifications, relocation disputes, and enforcement, for families in Austin, Travis County, and throughout Central Texas.

Texas uses the term “possession and access” rather than visitation, and the schedule is built around a default framework called the Standard Possession Order. That framework has recently changed in a way that matters to anyone with a pending case or an older order. For new orders where the parents live within 50 miles of each other, the Expanded Standard Possession Order, which adds Thursday overnights and extends weekends through Monday morning, is now the default. Parents who already have an order do not get the expanded schedule automatically; they have to file a modification to adopt it. Whether that change helps your family, or whether a different arrangement fits your child’s life better, is a decision worth making deliberately.

Why Choose Oprea & Weber for Possession and Access Cases

Possession schedules are negotiated and litigated at the same time, and the lawyers who do this work well need to be comfortable at a mediation table and in a courtroom. Oprea & Weber is a boutique family law firm serving Austin and the surrounding counties of Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop. Kevin Weber, Attorney, and Karen Oprea, Attorney, both graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. Your attorney personally handles your case from the first consultation to the final decree, and the firm keeps its caseload intentionally manageable, so you are not passed off to layers of staff or junior associates. Clients get direct attorney access and explanations in plain language.

The credentials behind that approach are relevant to custody schedules. Kevin trained in complex commercial litigation and negotiation at Latham & Watkins in Manhattan, and he also mediates family law disputes as well as representing clients in mediation, which gives him a practical view of what agreed schedules hold up and which ones lead parents back to court. Karen has briefed and argued cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Courts of Appeals, and the New York appellate courts, which matters when a possession dispute turns on a legal question that may be reviewed on appeal. The firm prepares every case for trial while pursuing cooperative resolution whenever it is realistic. Clients describe the firm as knowledgeable, thorough, and caring, and one parent wrote that the firm “helped hold us steady through a very emotional situation.”

Situations That Call for a Possession Order Lawyer

• Divorce With Minor Children: Every Texas divorce involving children requires a possession order in the decree. Parents can agree to the Expanded Standard Possession Order, an equal schedule, or something built around their jobs, and the court will approve a schedule that serves the child’s best interest.
• Paternity and SAPCR Suits: Unmarried parents seek possession through a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship. A father without an order has no enforceable schedule, so parentage and possession are often established together.
• Modifying an Existing Order: Changing conservatorship or possession requires a material and substantial change in circumstances and a showing that the change is in the child’s best interest. A new job, a move, a remarriage, or a child’s changing needs may qualify, but the facts have to be developed.
• Adopting the Expanded Schedule: Orders signed before the Expanded Standard Possession Order became the default remain as written. A parent who wants Thursday overnights and Monday-morning returns must file to modify.
• Primary Residence Changes: A suit to change who designates the child’s primary residence, filed within a year of the existing order, must come with a supporting affidavit alleging endangerment, the primary parent’s agreement, or voluntary relinquishment of primary care. A child who is 12 or older may also tell the judge in chambers which parent they prefer, which is one ground for modification.
• Relocation Disputes: A parent moving out of the Austin area, or a parent trying to stop that move, will usually find the existing schedule unworkable. Long-distance possession orders look very different from the standard schedule.
• Enforcement: When the other parent withholds the child, ignores exchange times, or refuses holiday possession, the order can be enforced through the court that issued it.
• Safety-Driven Restrictions: Family violence, substance abuse, or other danger to a child can justify supervised possession or restrictions, and protective orders can affect access directly.

What To Do When Your Possession Schedule Is Unsettled or Not Being Followed

If no order exists yet, the most useful early step is to write down the schedule you actually want and the reasons behind it: your work hours, the child’s school and activities, the distance between homes, and who handles which routines. Courts and mediators respond to concrete, child-centered plans far more than to general complaints about the other parent. If a divorce is pending, ask your attorney about temporary orders, because the schedule set at that stage frequently becomes the pattern a judge is reluctant to disturb later. Keep a calendar of actual exchanges, missed visits, late returns, and any messages about scheduling, and keep communication with the other parent civil and in writing where possible.

If an order exists and is being violated, resist the urge to respond by withholding the child in return. Possession and child support are separate obligations, and a parent who retaliates can end up facing enforcement themselves. Gather the order, your records of each violation, and any text messages or emails, then talk with an attorney about whether a demand letter, mediation, or an enforcement filing is the right tool. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact law enforcement and tell your lawyer right away, since protective orders and emergency relief move on a different track from ordinary possession disputes.

Cases in Austin are filed in the Travis County district courts, which sit at the Civil and Family Courts Facility in downtown Austin, and contested hearings and trials there are generally held in person unless the judge or the parties arrange otherwise. Travis County has twelve district courts, associate courts that hear certain family matters, and Title IV-D child support courts, and the courts publish a standing order for family law cases that applies to everyone with a pending suit. Families in surrounding counties file in their own county: the Williamson County district courts in Georgetown, the Hays County district courts in San Marcos, and the Bastrop County district courts in Bastrop. A modification is generally brought in the court that holds jurisdiction over the child’s case, so the right filing location depends on the history of your existing order and where the child lives now.

How Texas Courts Set and Change Possession Orders

Texas law presumes that a standard possession order is in a child’s best interest, and judges start there. Under the traditional Standard Possession Order, the parent with possession rights has the first, third, and fifth weekends, Thursday evenings, alternating holidays, and an extended summer period. The Expanded Standard Possession Order lengthens those periods by adding Thursday overnights and returning children on Monday morning rather than Sunday evening. Distance changes the picture: when parents live far apart, the schedule shifts toward longer, less frequent blocks. Parents are free to agree on any schedule that serves the child, and an equal-time arrangement is approved when the facts support it.

Texas also distinguishes possession from decision-making. Conservatorship determines who makes decisions about education, medical care, and similar issues, and who has the right to designate the child’s primary residence. Parents can share decision-making and still have an unequal possession schedule. Because those rights interact, a possession order should be drafted with the whole parenting plan in view, including exchange locations, travel notice, holiday rotations, and communication between parents and the child. Vague drafting is the usual cause of later enforcement fights.

When circumstances change, the order can too, but only through the court. Judges look for a material and substantial change since the last order, and then ask whether the proposed schedule serves the child. Changes in a parent’s work, a child’s health or school needs, a parent’s relocation, or a safety concern are the kinds of facts that carry weight. For orders to which the one-year rule applies, the affidavit requirement for primary-residence changes is a threshold step, and an incomplete affidavit can end the request before it is heard. Some offenses against a child remove both the one-year restriction and the usual burden of showing changed circumstances.

Non-parents face a narrower path than they once did. Texas tightened standing for stepparents and other non-parents seeking custody or possession, and the statute now speaks in terms of exclusive care, control, and possession rather than the earlier six-month standard. Anyone in that position should talk to a lawyer early about whether they have standing at all.

Austin Possession and Visitation Questions Parents Ask

Is a Texas possession order the same thing as visitation?

Texas courts use “possession and access” for what many people call visitation, and “conservatorship” for what many call custody. The possession order is the schedule that says when each parent has the child, including weekends, holidays, and summer. It is enforceable by the court, which is why a precise schedule matters.

Do I automatically get a 50/50 schedule?

No. The law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, but that does not guarantee an equal split. Courts begin with the standard schedule, and parents can agree to an equal arrangement that a judge will approve if it serves the child’s best interest.

What is the Expanded Standard Possession Order?

It is a version of the standard schedule that adds Thursday overnights and carries weekend possession through Monday morning. It is now the default for new orders when the parents live within 50 miles of each other, though parents may agree to something different.

My order was signed years ago. Do I get the expanded schedule automatically?

No. A parent with an existing order has to file a modification to adopt the Expanded Standard Possession Order. The change to the default applies to new orders, not to orders already in place.

What do I need to prove to change a possession order?

You generally must show a material and substantial change in circumstances since the last order and that the modification serves the child’s best interest. Relocation, changes in a parent’s work or household, and a child’s evolving needs are common grounds, but each is judged on its facts.

Can my child choose which parent to live with?

A child who is at least 12 can tell the judge in chambers which person they prefer to have the exclusive right to designate their primary residence, and that is one ground for modification. The child’s preference is a factor, not a command, and the judge still decides based on the child’s best interest.

What if the other parent keeps ignoring the schedule?

Document each violation and talk to a lawyer about enforcement. Withholding the child in response can backfire, since the court treats possession and child support as separate obligations. An enforcement action asks the court to compel compliance with the order as written.

Can a protective order change my access to my child?

Yes. A protective order can limit or suspend contact, and it can last up to two years in most cases, with longer terms available when the court makes specific findings such as serious bodily injury or multiple prior protective orders. When a divorce is pending between the parties, the order can run until the second anniversary of the signed decree. The possession order and the protective order have to be read together.

Does it help to try mediation before going to court?

Often, yes. Mediation lets parents write a schedule that fits their real work and school lives rather than leaving it to a judge’s view of a standard calendar. Kevin Weber both mediates family law disputes and represents clients in mediation, and a signed mediated agreement can be turned into an enforceable order.

How long does it take to change a possession order in Travis County?

It depends on whether the other parent agrees and on the court’s calendar. An agreed modification can move quickly, while a contested one involving a change of primary residence, discovery, and a hearing takes longer. A new divorce also carries its own minimum 60-day waiting period from the filing date, which affects when the possession order in the decree can be signed.

I am an unmarried father. Do I have an enforceable schedule?

Not until parentage is established and an order is signed. If paternity is not already legally established, a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship can resolve parentage, possession, and support together. Timing rules apply when a child already has a presumed or acknowledged father, so do not wait.

Serving Austin Possession Order Clients Across Central Texas

The firm represents parents throughout Austin, from Downtown, Hyde Park, Clarksville, and Zilker to East Austin, Mueller, and Windsor Park, and south through Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek, and Circle C. We also work with families in Northwest Hills, Allandale, Anderson Mill, Cedar Park, Lakeway, and Bee Cave, and throughout Travis County in communities such as Pflugerville, Manor, and Del Valle. In Williamson County we serve parents in Round Rock, Georgetown, Leander, Hutto, and Taylor. In Hays County our clients live in San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, and Dripping Springs, and in Bastrop County they come from Bastrop, Elgin, and the surrounding communities. Possession cases live in the county where the child resides and where the order was entered, so we regularly appear before the district courts in each of these counties.

Talk With an Austin Visitation and Possession Attorney

A possession schedule affects every school morning, holiday, and summer break your child has, and the language that gets signed is difficult to change later. If you need a new order, a modification, or help enforcing one, our Austin visitation attorney team can review your situation and explain your options. Call the Law Office of Oprea & Weber to schedule a consultation with an attorney who will handle your case personally.