West Lake Hills Child Custody Attorney

Texas does not use the word “custody” in its family code, and the difference shapes how every parenting case in West Lake Hills is built. The law speaks of conservatorship, which covers who makes decisions for a child, and possession and access, which covers who has the child and when. Finding a West Lake Hills child custody attorney who thinks in those terms matters, because the outcome turns on separate decisions about rights, duties, and a calendar, not on a single “winner” label. The Law Office of Oprea & Weber handles custody and visitation, child support, paternity, SAPCR suits, and modifications for families in West Lake Hills, Travis County, and across Central Texas.

West Lake Hills families often bring a specific set of pressures into a custody case: two demanding careers, children enrolled in schools and activities that the parents want to keep stable, a family home that both parents hope to keep the children connected to, and sometimes a business or equity compensation that complicates support. Those facts do not change the legal standard, which is the child’s best interest, but they change what a workable parenting plan looks like and what evidence matters when parents cannot agree.

What Texas Courts Actually Decide in a Custody Case

A custody case produces an order with several distinct parts. The court names each parent as a conservator, usually joint managing conservators, and then allocates the rights and duties that come with the role: making education decisions, consenting to medical treatment, handling psychological care, and deciding where the child lives. One parent typically receives the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence, often with a geographic restriction. That single allocation drives much of the practical reality of the arrangement, so it is frequently the most contested piece of a case.

Possession and access is the second layer. Texas law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, and it builds that preference into a default schedule. For new orders where the parents live within 50 miles of each other, the Expanded Standard Possession Order is now the default, with Thursday overnights and weekends that run through Monday morning. A parent who already has an order under the older schedule does not receive the expanded version automatically; adopting it requires filing a modification. Parents are free to agree on something different, including an equal week-on, week-off schedule, and courts approve those agreements when they serve the child.

Child support is decided alongside conservatorship and follows a guideline built on a percentage of the paying parent’s net monthly resources: 20 percent for one child, 25 percent for two, 30 percent for three, 35 percent for four, and 40 percent for five, with no less than that figure for six or more. The percentages apply only up to a cap on net resources that the state adjusts periodically. Net resources include all wage and salary income and other pay for personal services, such as bonuses, commissions, overtime, and tips, which matters in households where a large share of income arrives as variable compensation.

Why Choose The Law Office of Oprea & Weber for Custody Cases

The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique divorce and family law firm serving West Lake Hills and the surrounding Travis County communities, as well as Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop Counties and Central Texas more broadly. Kevin Weber, Attorney, and Karen Oprea, Attorney, both graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. The firm keeps an intentionally manageable caseload, and your attorney personally handles your case from the first consultation to the final decree. You are not passed to layers of staff or junior associates, and you have direct access to the lawyer who knows your file.

Those credentials translate directly into custody work. Kevin trained in complex commercial litigation and negotiation at Latham & Watkins in Manhattan, which is useful when a custody case involves a closely held business, deferred compensation, or contested financial disclosures that feed into child support. 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 shapes how the firm builds a trial record and evaluates the strength of a position before it ever reaches a judge. Kevin also mediates family law disputes and represents clients in mediation, so he understands from both sides of the table what makes a parenting agreement hold up over time.

The firm prepares every case as though it may be tried, because that preparation creates leverage, and it pursues cooperative resolution whenever the other parent is willing. Clients describe the firm as knowledgeable, thorough, and caring, and one parent who came to Kevin through a referral for a custody matter wrote that he provided great legal guidance and helped hold the family steady through a very emotional situation. Communication is in plain language, with options explained so that you make the decisions.

The Custody Issues That Come Up Most Often

• Initial Custody in a Divorce: When spouses with children divorce, conservatorship, the primary-residence designation, the possession schedule, and child support are all set in the final decree. The decree is a long-lived document, so precise drafting of geographic restrictions, holiday rotation, and decision-making rights prevents disputes years later.
• Custody Without a Marriage (SAPCR): Unmarried parents resolve custody, visitation, and support through a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship. A father who is not yet a legal parent must first establish parentage, and the timing rules for doing so are strict.
• Paternity and Acknowledgments: A signed acknowledgment of paternity can be rescinded within 60 days. After that window, a signer may challenge it only for fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. Where a child has a presumed father, a parentage proceeding generally must begin before the child’s fourth birthday, subject to narrow exceptions.
• Modification of Existing Orders: Changing conservatorship or possession requires a material and substantial change in circumstances plus a showing that the change serves the child’s best interest. A child who is 12 or older and tells the judge in chambers which parent they prefer can support a change in primary residence, though the preference is one factor, not an automatic result.
• Relocation Disputes: When the parent with the right to designate residence wants to move, or the other parent wants the restriction lifted, the dispute often becomes a modification case. For West Lake Hills families, moves to Dripping Springs, Lakeway, or out of the region are common triggers.
• Enforcement: When a parent withholds possession, misses support payments, or ignores the order, enforcement actions ask the court to hold the violating parent to the order’s terms.
• Family Violence and Protective Orders: A protective order generally lasts up to two years, can run longer only on specific findings, and for a parent respondent the court must make those findings by clear and convincing evidence while weighing the child’s best interest. A pending protective order directly affects possession terms.
• Non-Parent and Stepparent Claims: Texas narrowed standing for non-parents such as stepparents to seek custody or possession, and the law now looks to exclusive care, control, and possession rather than the former six-month standard.

What to Do Right Now If a Custody Dispute Is Developing

Start by keeping the child’s routine as stable as you can, because courts look at who has actually been handling school, medical care, and daily logistics. Keep a factual record of that involvement: pediatrician and school contacts, activity schedules, and written communications with the other parent. Keep those communications civil and brief, since texts and emails frequently become exhibits. Avoid moving the child out of the home or the school district without an order or a written agreement, and do not withhold the child from the other parent as leverage; judges notice, and it tends to backfire.

If you are married and divorcing, remember that a divorce case in Texas requires that at least one spouse has lived in Texas for six months and in the filing county for 90 days, and that the court cannot grant the divorce until 60 days after the petition is filed. That waiting period runs from filing, not service, and agreement between spouses does not shorten it; the only exceptions involve family violence. Within that window, temporary orders are the tool that matters most for children. Either parent can ask for temporary orders on residence, possession, and support, and those early orders often set the pattern the final result follows, so they deserve real preparation.

Custody cases for West Lake Hills families are filed in the district courts of Travis County, which sit at the Civil and Family Courts Facility in downtown Austin. Travis County has twelve district courts, associate courts, and Title IV-D child support courts, and the family courts publish a standing order that applies to family law cases. Contested hearings and trials are held in person unless the parties agree otherwise or the judge directs differently. If the other parent lives in Williamson, Hays, or Bastrop County, the case may belong in that county’s courts instead, and choosing the proper venue early avoids delay and expense. A parent who is concerned about safety should raise it immediately, since a protective order or emergency relief changes the timeline entirely.

The most common mistakes are signing an informal agreement that is never turned into an order, assuming that an equal schedule is guaranteed, and waiting to file after an informal arrangement collapses. An unenforceable handshake deal leaves a parent with no remedy when it breaks down. A conversation with a West Lake Hills child custody lawyer before positions harden gives you the chance to propose a plan, rather than respond to one.

Modifying an Order When Life Changes

Orders are not frozen. For child support, a modification is available when three years have passed since the order was made or last changed and the monthly amount differs from the guideline figure by 20 percent or $100, or when there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances, which carries no waiting period. If the parents originally agreed to a support amount that departs from the guidelines, the court may modify only on a showing of material and substantial change since the order. Incarceration of more than 180 days counts as such a change.

Changing the exclusive right to designate a child’s primary residence is more tightly controlled. When the request is filed within a year of the original order, or within a year of the mediated or collaborative settlement agreement the order rests on, the filing parent must attach an affidavit. The affidavit must allege that the child’s present environment may endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair emotional development, that the parent holding the right is seeking or agreeing to the change, or that the parent voluntarily gave up primary care for at least six months. Certain qualifying convictions or deferred adjudications for offenses against a child remove both the one-year restriction and the changed-circumstances burden. A Texas custody attorney can tell you quickly whether your facts fit one of these routes before you spend money on a filing that cannot succeed.

Custody Questions West Lake Hills Parents Ask

Is custody in Texas always split 50/50?

No. The law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, but it does not guarantee an equal split. Many families use a standard schedule in which one parent designates the primary residence and the other has set weekends, holidays, and summer time. Parents can agree to an equal schedule, and courts approve it when it serves the child’s best interest.

What is the difference between conservatorship and possession?

Conservatorship is about legal rights and duties, including decisions on education, health care, and residence. Possession and access is the schedule of when each parent has the child. A parent can share decision-making rights as a joint managing conservator while having less than half of the calendar time.

How is child support calculated?

Texas applies a percentage of the paying parent’s net monthly resources, rising with the number of children, up to a cap that is adjusted periodically. A court can depart from the guideline when it would be unjust or inappropriate, for example when a child has extraordinary medical needs. A lower schedule applies when the paying parent’s net resources are very low.

When does child support end?

Support generally continues until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later, provided the child stays enrolled and meets attendance requirements. Support for a disabled child who cannot support themselves may continue indefinitely.

Does the new Expanded Standard Possession Order apply to my existing order?

Not automatically. The expanded schedule, with Thursday overnights and weekends through Monday morning, is the default for new orders where the parents live within 50 miles of each other. If you already have an order, you must file a modification to adopt it, and the other parent may agree or object.

Can my child choose which parent to live with?

A child who is at least 12 can tell the judge in chambers which parent they prefer to have the right to designate their primary residence, and that statement is a recognized ground for a modification. It is not binding. The judge weighs it with everything else about the child’s best interest.

I am not married to the other parent. How do I get a custody order?

You file a SAPCR suit. If parentage is not already legally established, that has to be resolved first, through an acknowledgment of paternity or a court adjudication. Once parentage is established, the court sets conservatorship, possession, and support the same way it would for married parents.

Can I challenge a paternity acknowledgment I signed?

You may rescind it within 60 days of signing. After that, a signer may challenge it only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, and the challenge must come before any order affecting the child is issued. Separate time limits apply to someone who never signed.

Can a stepparent seek custody or visitation in Texas?

Standing for non-parents has been narrowed. The law now refers to exclusive care, control, and possession of the child, replacing the older rule that looked to six months of actual care. A stepparent considering a claim should have the facts reviewed against the current standard before filing.

How long does a custody case take in the Travis County courts?

It depends on whether the parents can agree. A case resolved by agreement can be finished soon after any required waiting period, while a contested case involving discovery, a custody evaluation, or a business can run many months. Temporary orders usually come first, so the child has a schedule in place while the case continues.

Will a protective order affect my custody case?

Yes. A protective order can restrict contact and shape possession terms, and where the respondent is a party to a divorce with the applicant, the order lasts until the second anniversary of the signed decree. Orders longer than two years against a parent require specific findings by clear and convincing evidence.

Do we have to go to court if we agree on a parenting plan?

The agreement still has to become a court order to be enforceable, and the judge must approve it as consistent with the child’s best interest. Mediation, collaborative, and cooperative processes can get you to an agreed order without a contested trial.

Serving Custody Clients Across West Lake Hills and Travis County

The firm represents parents in West Lake Hills and throughout Travis County, including the neighboring communities of Rollingwood, Bee Cave, Lakeway, Barton Creek, Westlake, Tarrytown, Austin’s Zilker, Barton Hills, Bouldin Creek, and Hyde Park neighborhoods, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Manor, Lago Vista, and Jonestown. Beyond Travis County, the firm serves families in Williamson County, including Round Rock, Georgetown, Leander, and Hutto, in Hays County, including Dripping Springs, Kyle, Buda, and San Marcos, and in Bastrop County, including Bastrop, Elgin, and Smithville. Because custody cases belong in the court of the county where the child lives, knowing which county’s courts will hear your case is part of the work from the first meeting.

Talk With a West Lake Hills Child Custody Attorney

Decisions about where your children live and how much time they spend with each parent are made once, then lived with for years. The Law Office of Oprea & Weber will meet with you, review your situation, and lay out a strategy built around your child’s needs and your goals, whether the best route is a cooperative agreement or a prepared trial. Call to schedule a consultation with a West Lake Hills child custody attorney who will handle your case personally from the first meeting through the final order.