A Texas Affidavit of Possession of Child is a sworn statement telling a family court who currently has physical custody of a minor and how that came to be. You complete it by gathering the child’s identifying information and a factual account of the current living arrangement, signing it before a notary, and filing it with the District Clerk in the county with jurisdiction over the child — or, if it concerns a change in child-support possession, with the Office of the Attorney General on its own form.1Texas Access. Notice of Change of Status The affidavit usually rides along with a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR), and the judge uses it to establish the child’s living situation before issuing custody or visitation orders.
Confirm You Can File
The court will not read your affidavit until it decides you have standing. Texas Family Code Section 102.003 lists who may file an original suit. Parents, legal guardians, and court-appointed custodians qualify automatically. A man claiming to be the child’s father may file under Chapter 160. Relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity — including grandparents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings, and first cousins — can file if both parents are deceased.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.003 – General Standing to File Suit
If you are not a parent or relative, you can still qualify by showing you have had exclusive care, control, and possession of the child for at least six months, with that period ending no more than 90 days before you file. A 2025 amendment replaced “actual” care with “exclusive” care, so shared or occasional custody arrangements no longer count.3Texas Children’s Commission. Texas Child Welfare Law Bench Book – Section: Standing to File Original Suit The six months do not need to be continuous, but the child’s principal residence during that window must have been with you.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.003 – General Standing to File Suit
Grandparents and other relatives within the third degree have a separate path under Section 102.004 for managing conservatorship, which requires showing significant impairment to the child or parental consent.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.004 – Standing for Grandparent or Other Person Without one of these standing bases, the case is dismissed before anyone reads your facts.
Get the Right Form
TexasLawHelp.org hosts free, court-approved templates for standing affidavits and related SAPCR filings.5TexasLawHelp.org. Exhibit A(2) Standing: Managing Conservatorship Paper copies are available at the District Clerk’s office in the county where the child lives. Some counties use local versions of the form, so ask the clerk before you start filling anything out. If your affidavit is going to the Attorney General’s office for a support-possession change instead of into a court file, use the OAG’s own format, available through its regional offices.
Fill It Out Carefully
Have the details in front of you before you begin. Blanks and guesses are easier to avoid than to fix.
Identifying Information
You need the child’s full legal name, date of birth, and current residential address. List both legal parents by name, along with anyone who holds court-ordered visitation. If you are filing under the six-month exclusive-possession standard, write down the exact date you took possession of the child, who handed the child over, and where the exchange happened. The court will measure those dates against the Section 102.003(a)(9) timeline.
Statement of Facts
The narrative section is where you explain, in your own words, why you have possession and why the child should stay in your care. Stick to concrete details: school enrollment and attendance, medical care you have arranged, the stability of your home, and the adults currently living in the household. Specifics beat generalities. “I enrolled the child at Oak Hill Elementary on August 15, 2025, and he has attended every school day since” tells a judge more than a paragraph about the child’s best interests.
Related Cases and the UCCJEA Disclosure
List every court case involving the child, whether pending or closed — child-support orders, protective orders, CPS investigations. Texas Family Code Section 152.209, part of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, requires you to disclose the child’s current address, every place the child has lived during the past five years, and the names and current addresses of every person the child lived with during that period.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 152.209 – Information to Be Submitted to Court You also have to state whether you know of any other custody or domestic-violence proceedings in any state that could affect this case. The point of the disclosure is to keep courts in different states from issuing conflicting orders.7Texas Law Help. Interstate Child Custody: The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
Do not sign yet. The signature line stays blank until you are in front of a notary.
Sign Before a Notary
An affidavit has to be sworn and signed before a notary public or another officer authorized to administer oaths. The notary confirms your identity, watches you sign, and applies the seal. Under Texas Government Code Section 406.024, the maximum fee for administering an oath with a certificate and seal is $10.8State of Texas. Texas Government Code 406.024
Texas also allows remote online notarization under Subchapter C of Chapter 406. The notary must be physically located in Texas, but you can appear by two-way video and audio from anywhere. Identity is verified through credential analysis and knowledge-based questions. Online notaries may charge up to $25 per notarization on top of the standard $10 fee.9Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Online Notary Public Educational Information That option helps if you live far from the courthouse or cannot travel easily.
One alternative to know about: Texas law lets an unsworn declaration substitute for an affidavit in most court filings. You sign it yourself and include the statutory language, and no notary is needed.10Texas Law Help. General Affidavits If the form or the court’s local rules call specifically for a sworn affidavit, though, an unsworn declaration will not do. Check before relying on it.
File With the District Clerk
File the notarized affidavit with the District Clerk in the county with jurisdiction over the child. Fees depend on what you are filing. A new SAPCR runs $350 total (a $213 local fee plus a $137 state consolidated civil fee). A motion inside an existing SAPCR — modification, enforcement, or contempt — is $80.11Texas Courts. District Court Civil Filing Fees Some counties tack on a Domestic Relations Office fee of up to $51. If you cannot afford the fee, file a sworn Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (sometimes called an affidavit of indigency) asking the court to waive it.
Attorneys must file electronically through eFileTexas.gov, the state’s mandatory e-filing portal.12eFileTexas.Gov. Official E-Filing System for Texas For self-represented filers, e-filing is generally optional under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1), though some counties require it locally.13TexasLawHelp.org. I Want to Electronically File (E-File) My Documents Call the District Clerk before you drive over with paper. When you file electronically, you upload the scanned notarized affidavit and pay through the portal.
However you file, the clerk stamps the document with the date and time. Ask for a file-stamped copy for your records. If the affidavit accompanies an emergency motion, the clerk routes the file to the presiding judge.
Serve the Other Parties
Filing is not the last step. Every person named as a respondent has to receive formal notice, and you cannot deliver the papers yourself. Service goes through a constable, sheriff, or licensed private process server.14TexasLawHelp.org. How to Serve the Initial Court Papers – Family Law The respondent receives the citation issued by the clerk, a copy of the petition, and copies of any attached documents, including your affidavit.
Service can happen several ways:
- Personal service, where a constable, sheriff, or process server hands the papers directly to the respondent and files a Return of Service with the court.
- Certified mail with return receipt requested; the respondent’s signature on the green card is what makes service valid.
- Substituted service, if personal delivery and mail both fail. You file a motion asking the judge to authorize leaving papers with someone over 16 at the respondent’s address, or another method the judge finds reasonably effective.
- Service by publication, a last resort when the respondent cannot be located after a diligent search. The court publishes notice in a newspaper and on a statewide public-information website.
The respondent can skip formal service by signing a Waiver of Service before a notary, but only after the petition has been filed. A waiver signed before the filing date is invalid.15TexasLawHelp.org. Waiver of Service Only (Specific Waiver)
What the Court Does Next
Once the affidavit and petition are filed and served, the court sets a hearing. If the child is in immediate danger, you can request a temporary restraining order at filing. Texas Family Code Section 105.001 authorizes temporary orders in SAPCR cases, including orders that temporarily assign possession while the case proceeds. A temporary restraining order can take effect the day a judge signs it without notice to the other side, but a full hearing follows within 14 days.
At the hearing, the judge weighs the facts in your affidavit against any competing evidence. Bring the originals of any documents you referenced — school records, medical records, lease agreements — rather than leaning on the affidavit alone. The judge may appoint an amicus attorney or guardian ad litem to investigate the child’s situation independently.
Perjury Exposure
Everything in the affidavit is sworn under oath. A false statement in a sworn document is perjury under Texas Penal Code Section 37.02.16State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 37.02 – Perjury Perjury is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $4,000, or both.17State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor Beyond the criminal risk, a judge who catches a false statement will read the rest of your filings with a cold eye. An honest mistake on a date is one thing. Inventing facts about who has been caring for the child is the kind of error that ends a custody case before it starts.