Denton Adoption Attorney

Joint Managing Conservatorships

In Texas, it is generally the case that parents are appointed Joint Managing Conservators. Conservatorship is the word used for custody in the state. Also, a custody regime is a “Parenting Plan”. There is some indication that the 2009 legislature will change the language of Texas’ child custody rules to bring them in line with the rest of the country.

The 2005 legislature enacted changes. Their changes included legislation designed to assist parties in minimizing conflicts in their post-divorce parenting. This is supposed to happen by creating a parenting plan which establishes the parents’ rights and responsibilities while taking the needs of the children into account. This also provides procedures for the resolution of future disputes. In addition, the court will appoint an “impartial third party” to assist the parents in developing and implementing their parenting plan.

A Joint Managing Conservatorship does not mean that each party will have the children for exactly half of the time. The parents will share, allocate, or apportion their parental rights and duties. One of the issues that will be determined is where the child will live the majority of the time. This is one of the most important parts of a Joint Managing Conservatorship. This will be established in the court’s final orders. In order for a residence to be established as the child’s residence, there must be a finding of no family violence either to approve an agreement or appoint the parents as joint managing conservators.

Most courts recommend that parents work out an appropriate conservatorship agreement on their own rather than have strangers do it for them. A custody battle is even worse as it is sometimes more damaging to the child than any flaw a parent might have.

If you are in need of assistance to draft a Joint Managing Conservatorship Agreement, contact the Denton divorce lawyers of Alexander & Associates at 972-420-6560. Their lawyers have extensive experience when it comes to dealing with all divorce steps.