Child Custody Dispute – Protective Order Granted

In a child welfare case involving a request for a protective order, my client was a mother whose children were terrified of their father after he got drunk at a wedding, got in a fight with several men (including the security officer present), and then got arrested and charged with assault family violence.

After this event, my client also learned that the father was on felony probation for assaulting his then-fiancé.

I filed an Application for Protective Order with a special pleading for an Ex Parte Protective Order and also drafted a detailed affidavit which showed that the children would be in clear and present danger if they were in the father’s custody, which the current custody order allowed.

I also prepared a motion for transfer because their divorce case was still in the Tarrant County District Court even though my client and the children had moved to Abilene years previous.

We had to have a trial on the protective order because the father wanted a fight – he had hired an experienced litigator to represent him and would not agree to any measure of protective for the kids.

The trial was difficult – the children’s grandmother, who witnessed the drunken altercation at the wedding would not allow her child (the father) to bear any fault for the matter.

Additionally, the judge was quite concerned with hearing all 5 witnesses in about 45 minutes.

But to his credit, he allowed hearsay testimony of the children’s description of the event due to the exception in Tex. Fam. Code § 104.006.

The judge held it against the father that on the witness stand he “plead the fifth” (definition: refused to answer questions in court because the answers might be harmful to one or might show that one has committed a crime) when put under oath.

The protective order was granted. The motion for transfer was granted. My client was able to gain some much-needed control over the children’s visitation situation.