An assault family violence charge in Texas is a domestic assault treated more harshly than ordinary assault because of the relationship between the people involved. A first offense involving any physical injury starts as a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, and the charge climbs to a third-degree felony if choking is alleged or if you have a prior family violence conviction. Beyond the sentence itself, a conviction brings a lifetime federal firearm ban, locks you out of Texas’s record-sealing system, and can reshape custody of your children. The stakes are not just the jail time printed on the statute.
Who the Law Treats as Family
The enhancement turns on the relationship between you and the person who made the complaint. Texas defines three categories, and all of them reach further than most people assume.
Family includes anyone related by blood or marriage, former spouses, parents who share a child whether or not they ever married, and foster parents and foster children. You do not have to live together. An ex-spouse from a decade ago still counts.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.003 – Family
Household means people living in the same dwelling, with or without any family or romantic connection. Roommates qualify. A long-term houseguest qualifies. The shared address is enough.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.005 – Household
Dating partners are people in a continuing romantic or intimate relationship, or who were in one in the past. Courts weigh how long the relationship lasted, the nature of the interactions, and how often the people were in contact. A casual acquaintance or someone you only know socially does not count. A former girlfriend or boyfriend does, even if the relationship ended years before the alleged incident.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.0021 – Dating Violence
Charge Levels and What Each One Costs You
There is no single assault family violence offense. The same conduct gets classified differently depending on what is alleged, whether anyone was choked, and whether you have prior history.
Threat Only — Class C Misdemeanor
If the accusation is a threat of harm with no physical contact, the offense is a Class C misdemeanor. The maximum punishment is a $500 fine with no jail. Texas does not enhance a threat-only assault for a family relationship, but the family violence label still attaches to the case and brings the lasting consequences described below.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault
Bodily Injury, First Offense — Class A Misdemeanor
When the allegation involves any physical pain or injury, the charge is a Class A misdemeanor. The injury does not have to be serious. A scratch, a bruise, redness from being grabbed — any of those can support the charge. The punishment range is up to one year in county jail, a fine up to $4,000, or both.5State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor Most first-time cases start here.
Strangulation or a Prior Conviction — Third-Degree Felony
Two circumstances push the charge to a third-degree felony. The first is choking or strangling — applying pressure to the throat, neck, nose, or mouth to block normal breathing or blood circulation. Texas treats this as a near-lethal act and enhances the offense automatically. The second trigger is any prior conviction for family violence. One is enough, even if both the old and new incidents involved only minor injuries.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault
Continuous Violence Against the Family — Third-Degree Felony
Texas also charges a standalone third-degree felony when a person commits two or more assaults against a family member, household member, or dating partner within twelve months. The state does not need a prior conviction; the two incidents themselves are the case.6State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 25.11 – Continuous Violence Against the Family
Felony Punishment Range
Any of the third-degree felony versions carries two to ten years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and an optional fine up to $10,000.7State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment Probation remains possible in many cases, but the ceiling at trial is prison.
Aggravated assault — serious bodily injury or use of a deadly weapon — is a separate offense under Section 22.02 and carries second-degree felony penalties, or first-degree penalties in some family-related circumstances. That is a different charge and not covered here.
What Happens Right After the Arrest
Family violence arrests trigger a protective mechanism that catches most defendants off guard. When you see the magistrate after booking, the judge can issue an emergency protective order on the spot. If the offense involved serious bodily injury or a deadly weapon, the order is mandatory.8Texas Courts. Magistrates Order of Emergency Protection
The order typically prohibits contacting the alleged victim, going near their home, workplace, or children’s school, and communicating with their family in any threatening or harassing way. It also suspends your handgun license and bars you from possessing any firearm while the order is in effect.
Most orders last 31 to 61 days. If a deadly weapon was used or displayed, the range runs 61 to 91 days. Violating the order, including by sending a single text, is a separate Class A misdemeanor. If you already have two prior violations, or if the new violation involved an assault or stalking, it becomes a third-degree felony.9State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 25.07 – Violation of Certain Court Orders or Conditions of Bond in a Family Violence Case A defendant who reaches out during a pending case can stack a fresh charge on top of the original one.
A longer civil protective order can also be sought under the Family Code. These typically last up to two years.10State of Texas. Texas Family Code 85.025 – Duration of Protective Order
The Affirmative Finding — and Why Deferred Adjudication Is Not a Clean Exit
Every conviction involving family violence receives a permanent label in the judgment. Under Article 42.013 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the judge must determine whether the offense involved family violence and, if so, must enter an affirmative finding. The judge has no discretion to skip it.11State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art 42.013 – Finding of Family Violence
The finding also attaches when a defendant receives deferred adjudication, a form of probation that normally avoids a formal conviction if completed successfully. Many defendants accept deferred adjudication believing it keeps their record clean. In family violence cases it does not. The affirmative finding goes into the judgment at the plea hearing, and that finding triggers most of the same lifelong consequences as a conviction. Other courts and agencies look to this finding when assessing your firearm rights, your custody standing, and whether a future offense is enhanced to a felony.
The Alleged Victim Cannot Drop the Charges
One of the most common misconceptions is that the alleged victim controls whether the case moves forward. They do not. The State of Texas is the prosecuting party. Once charges are filed, only the prosecutor can decide to dismiss.
Texas law also forbids prosecutors from requiring a victim to leave the accused or file for divorce as a condition of pursuing the case. Victims routinely recant or ask the DA to drop the case, and prosecutors hear this often. A victim’s refusal to cooperate can make the case harder to prove, but it does not automatically end it. The state can still rely on 911 recordings, body camera footage, photographs of injuries, neighbor testimony, and the defendant’s own statements to police. Expecting the case to vanish because the other person has changed their mind is a strategy that fails more often than it works.
The Lifetime Federal Firearm Ban
This is the collateral consequence that surprises people most, and it does not expire. Federal law makes it a crime for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to possess, purchase, or receive any firearm or ammunition. The ban reaches handguns, rifles, and shotguns alike.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
Because this is federal, no Texas court can override it. Even a Class A misdemeanor conviction for a first-time slap that left no visible injury triggers the lifetime ban if the relationship qualifies. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System flags these convictions, and any future purchase attempt will be denied.
How the ban interacts with Texas deferred adjudication is more complicated. Federal law looks to each jurisdiction’s definition of “conviction,” and whether Texas deferred adjudication qualifies for this purpose has been the subject of legal argument that can turn on specific circumstances. Anyone in that position should talk to a lawyer who handles both Texas criminal procedure and federal firearms law before assuming they are clear.
Immigration Exposure for Non-Citizens
A family violence conviction creates serious immigration risk. Federal immigration law classifies a crime of domestic violence as a deportable offense for any non-citizen, including lawful permanent residents, visa holders, and undocumented individuals. The definition covers crimes of violence against a current or former spouse, a co-parent, a cohabitant, or anyone else protected under state domestic violence laws.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens
Violating a protective order is independently listed as a deportable offense, separate from the underlying assault. Even a misdemeanor family violence conviction can start removal proceedings. If the offense is classified as an aggravated felony, deportation becomes nearly automatic and most forms of relief fall away.
Impact on Child Custody
A family violence finding reshapes custody. Texas Family Code Section 153.004 requires courts to consider evidence of family violence when deciding custody, and a history of domestic violence creates a rebuttable presumption against being appointed a joint managing conservator — the Texas equivalent of joint custody. A parent with that history can still receive some form of custody, but they carry the burden of rebutting the presumption, and supervised visitation or other restrictions are common.
The affirmative finding from your criminal case becomes evidence in any later family court proceeding. Even probation with no jail time gives the other parent a document to use when arguing for sole custody or restricted access. These custody consequences often outlast the criminal sentence.
Batterer Intervention Program on Probation
If you receive probation on a family violence offense, you will almost always be required to complete a Batterer’s Intervention and Prevention Program, or BIPP. Texas accredits these programs through the Department of Criminal Justice, and courts typically require enrollment within 60 days of being placed on community supervision.
An accredited BIPP runs at least 36 hours of group sessions over a minimum of 18 weekly meetings, focused on accountability, ending violent behavior, and victim safety. Breaks, assessments, and orientation do not count toward the 36 hours. Participants pay out of pocket, with program fees that can reach into four figures over the length of the program, on top of fines and supervision fees. Missing or failing the program can revoke your probation and send you to jail or prison.14Texas Department of Criminal Justice. BIPP Accreditation Guidelines
Your Record Cannot Be Sealed
Texas lets some offenses be hidden from public background checks through an order of nondisclosure. Family violence is explicitly excluded. Under Government Code Section 411.074, a person cannot receive an order of nondisclosure if the offense involved family violence or if the court made an affirmative finding of family violence in the judgment. The bar applies whether the case ended in a conviction or deferred adjudication.15State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.074
A prior family violence finding also disqualifies you from seeking nondisclosure on other, unrelated offenses. The label effectively closes Texas’s record-sealing system to you. The only remaining path is expunction, and that is available only if the case was dismissed, you were acquitted, or the arrest never led to a charge. Completed probation or a finished sentence does not qualify.