50/50 custody

mommytosam011011

Can we get 50/50 custody officially without an attorney. I cannot afford one but I need to get out of this hell.

FyreFlyeRush

Married or unmarried? Texas doesn't do 50/50 custody in most cases. You will be granted the equivalent of Joint LEGAL custody, but one of you will granted primary physical custody with the other getting "liberal" visitation until LO is old enough for the Standard Posession Order. In almost all cases, the mother is made the primary. You decide residence and have the legal right to claim LO on tax returns. It's basically a 75/25 split with the SPO, and 95/5 before that.The other paret may request a geographical restriction in where you can live. In Texas, that's most often limited to the state, but can be as restrictive as the school district. It all has to be done through lawyers, unless you're unmarried, and can come up with an agreement before you go to CS court. 

Ooglybear

FyreFlyeRush:

Married or unmarried? Texas doesn't do 50/50 custody in most cases. You will be granted the equivalent of Joint LEGAL custody, but one of you will granted primary physical custody with the other getting "liberal" visitation until LO is old enough for the Standard Posession Order. In almost all cases, the mother is made the primary. You decide residence and have the legal right to claim LO on tax returns. It's basically a 75/25 split with the SPO, and 95/5 before that.The other paret may request a geographical restriction in where you can live. In Texas, that's most often limited to the state, but can be as restrictive as the school district. It all has to be done through lawyers, unless you're unmarried, and can come up with an agreement before you go to CS court. 

While its not the standard, I disagree that "Texas doesn't do 50/50". In our case, it was agreed upon by both bioparents outside of court and a judge signed off on it. I would still expect to pay an attorney to draw up the paperwork, but if you both agree on everything it'll be much less expensive.

dmndsr4eva

I'm curious why you would want 50/50?  A child needs routine and stability and to bond well with a primary caregiver.  Because of this I personally think it is best for my son to be primarily in my care with visitation with his father.  Right now my son's dad has about 30% time.  He has him Weds. nights and every other Fri & Sat. (he has every other Fri off work).  Honestly even with this schedule I feel it is hard on my son.  Sometimes he comes back on Thursday mornings and is in a bad mood which I think is from all the disruption of going back and forth all the time.

In my state you can agree to whatever you want.  If you both agree on visitation and child support you can probably get one lawyer to fairly inexpensively draw up the papers and file it.  However if you disagree on anything it is going to be a battle and I would recommend shelling out the money for a lawyer.  I don't know for sure but you can probably go to mediation at the court without a lawyer first to see if you can get it solved that way.  In that case you probably could get an approved agreement without an atty.

mdotm0904

in my county you can go to a mediator and they'll work with you to draft a parenting agreement that gets turned into an order. no lawyers needed. (but it'd behoove you to get one. some lawyers charge a "small' flat fee to draft orders)

riabiron

depending on your specific situation, 50/50 custody can also be routine. Whatever works best for your family.

riabiron

generally if you both agree, you can put together any agreement you want without a lawyer.

amarissa85

I did mine without an attorney, you can usually find public court forms online that you can tailor to your needs. But usually courts like to rule JOINT custody...you may want to consider joint with one residence being primary if you know what i mean...you still have to pay a small fee when filing or at least i did when i filed mine but each state can vary...