Texas Custody Orders: Conservatorship, Possession, and SAPCR Filing

A Texas custody order is a court-signed document, issued under Chapter 153 of the Texas Family Code, that spells out which parent makes major decisions for a child, where the child lives, and when each parent has physical time with the child. Texas law calls this “conservatorship” rather than custody, and every decision inside the order is governed by one standard: what serves the child’s best interest.¹

To get one, you file a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR) in the county where the child lives. Everything that follows, from the type of conservatorship a judge orders to the specific weekend hours a parent gets, flows from that filing.

What a Texas Custody Order Actually Decides

A custody order does two separate things. It assigns decision-making authority over the child (conservatorship), and it sets the schedule for when the child is physically with each parent (possession and access). These two pieces are decided separately, so a parent can share full decision-making authority while still having less than half the overnights, or vice versa.

Behind both decisions sits the best-interest standard. When the dispute is between a parent and a nonparent, the law presumes the parent acts in the child’s best interest, and the nonparent must prove by clear and convincing evidence that denying their request would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development.¹

Types of Conservatorship

Joint Managing Conservatorship

Texas law presumes that appointing both parents as joint managing conservators is in the child’s best interest.² Joint does not mean equal time. It means both parents share decision-making responsibilities, though the court still designates one parent with the exclusive right to choose the child’s primary residence.

When no written agreement exists, the court weighs whether the child’s emotional and psychological development will benefit, whether each parent can prioritize the child’s welfare and cooperate on decisions, whether each parent encourages a positive relationship with the other, how involved each parent was before the case was filed, and how close together the parents live.³ If the child is 12 or older, the court also considers the child’s preference about which parent should choose the primary residence.

A finding that one parent has a history of family violence removes the joint-conservatorship presumption entirely.²

Sole Managing Conservatorship

A sole managing conservator holds exclusive authority over most major decisions: choosing the child’s primary residence, consenting to medical and surgical procedures, making educational decisions, consenting to psychiatric treatment, representing the child in legal matters, and applying for the child’s passport.⁴ Courts appoint a sole managing conservator when evidence of violence, neglect, or substance abuse makes shared decision-making unworkable.

Possessory Conservatorship

When one parent is sole managing conservator, the other is typically appointed possessory conservator. A possessory conservator keeps the baseline rights all parents share under the Family Code (access to medical and school records, the right to attend school activities) plus whatever additional rights the order grants.⁵ A possessory conservator still gets scheduled time with the child.

The Possession and Access Schedule

Texas law establishes a Standard Possession Order as the presumptive minimum for the parent who does not have the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence.⁶ It applies to children three years old and older.⁷

When Parents Live Within 100 Miles

The possessory conservator gets the child on the first, third, and fifth weekends of each month, from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday. During the school year, there’s also a Thursday evening visit from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.⁸

Summer possession works on a notice rule. If the possessory conservator sends written notice by April 1 specifying the dates, they get 30 days during the summer break, split into no more than two blocks of at least seven consecutive days each. Miss that April 1 deadline, and the default kicks in: 30 consecutive days from July 1 through July 31.⁸ Holidays, birthdays, and spring break alternate between parents in even and odd years.

When Parents Live More Than 100 Miles Apart

A possessory conservator living more than 100 miles away can either keep the first-third-fifth weekend schedule or switch to one weekend per month of their choosing with 14 days’ written notice.⁹ That election has to be made within 90 days of the parents beginning to live more than 100 miles apart.

The tradeoff for fewer weekends is more extended time. Spring break goes entirely to the possessory conservator every year, and summer possession stretches from 30 to 42 days.⁹ The same April 1 notice deadline applies for summer dates.

The Expanded Standard Possession Order

Parents can opt into an expanded version that stretches each possession weekend. Pickup moves to when school lets out Thursday (or 6 p.m. Thursday if school isn’t in session), and return moves to when school resumes Monday (or 6 p.m. Monday). Many judges treat the expanded version as the default starting point in negotiations.

Supervised Visitation

When the court has concerns about a child’s safety during one parent’s possession, it can order a designated third party or professional supervision service to be present. Courts order supervision in cases involving documented domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health concerns, or a pattern of neglect. Supervision can be temporary while a parent completes required programs, or it can stay in place until the parent demonstrates changed circumstances and petitions for modification.

How to File a SAPCR

The Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship is the legal action that produces a custody order. Without one, informal arrangements have no enforcement power.

Prepare the Petition

You’ll need the child’s full legal name, residence history, Social Security numbers for all parties, and details about any existing court orders involving the child. The residence history matters because it determines which court has jurisdiction. The petition identifies you as the Petitioner and the other parent as the Respondent, and it specifies what you want the court to order: the type of conservatorship, the possession schedule, and whether you’re asking for child support or medical support. Free forms for agreed and default cases are available through TexasLawHelp.org.¹⁰

File and Pay

Attorneys must file electronically through the eFileTexas system; parents representing themselves can file electronically but aren’t required to.¹¹ The mandatory base fees include a $213 local consolidated civil fee and a $137 state consolidated civil fee, totaling at least $350 before any county surcharges.¹² Some counties push the total above $400.

If you can’t afford the fees, file a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs. Once the court accepts it, the clerk must docket your case and issue citation without payment. You’ll need evidence of financial hardship, such as proof you receive government benefits or are represented by a free legal services provider.

Serve the Other Parent

After the clerk accepts your petition, the other parent must be formally served with citation and a copy of the petition. Service can be completed by a sheriff, constable, certified process server, the clerk via certified mail with return receipt requested, or someone over 18 authorized by court order.¹³ A return of service is then filed with the court. Until service is complete, the case cannot move to a hearing.

Temporary Orders While the Case Is Pending

A SAPCR can take months to resolve. Temporary orders fill that gap, covering conservatorship, child support, geographic restrictions, medical and dental expenses, and attorney’s fees. They require a motion and a hearing with notice to both parties. The court can skip notice only if there’s a serious question about the child’s immediate welfare, such as a risk the child will be hidden or removed from the state.¹⁴ Temporary orders cannot be appealed before the final order is entered.

Mediation

Texas courts frequently refer custody disputes to mediation, either on a party’s request or on the court’s own initiative.¹⁵ If both parents sign an agreement in the required format (with a prominently displayed statement that it is not subject to revocation, signed by both parties and any attorneys present), that agreement is binding and the court must enter it as a judgment.

There’s an important exception. The court can refuse to enter a mediated agreement if it finds that one party was a victim of family violence, that circumstance impaired their ability to negotiate freely, and the resulting agreement isn’t in the child’s best interest.¹⁵ A parent can object to mediation itself on the basis of family violence. If the court orders mediation anyway, it must place the parties in separate rooms with no face-to-face contact.

Child Support in the Same Case

Child support is almost always addressed in the SAPCR alongside conservatorship and possession. Guideline support is calculated as a percentage of the paying parent’s monthly net resources:

1 child: 20%
2 children: 25%
3 children: 30%
4 children: 35%
5 children: 40%
6 or more children: not less than 40%

The guidelines apply when the obligor’s monthly net resources fall at or below the statutory cap, which is periodically updated by the Texas Attorney General’s office.¹⁶ Courts can deviate from the guidelines when circumstances justify it, but they must explain the deviation in the order. Medical and dental support are handled separately and can require a parent to maintain health insurance or contribute to coverage costs.

Enforcing the Order

If the other parent withholds the child, refuses to return the child, or ignores decision-making provisions, you can file a motion for enforcement in the court that issued the original order.¹⁷ The motion must identify each specific violation by date, place, and time.

Courts enforce custody orders through contempt, which can carry fines and jail time. If the court finds that a parent denied the other parent’s possession or access rights, it must order the violating parent to pay the other parent’s reasonable attorney’s fees and all court costs.¹⁸ The court can also order make-up time and require a bond from a parent who has repeatedly denied access. The deadline to file an enforcement motion for possession violations is no later than six months after the child turns 18 or after the possession rights terminate, whichever applies.

Modifying an Existing Order

Texas Family Code Chapter 156 provides the path for changing a final order. A court can modify conservatorship, possession, or access if the change would be in the child’s best interest and at least one of three conditions is met:

A material and substantial change in the circumstances of the child, a conservator, or another affected party since the order was signed or since a mediated settlement agreement was reached.
The child is at least 12 and has told the judge in chambers which parent they prefer to have the exclusive right to choose the primary residence.
The parent with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence has voluntarily given up primary care and possession for at least six months. This ground does not apply when the transfer was temporary because of a military deployment.¹⁹

Filing a modification follows the same procedural track as the original SAPCR: a new petition, filing fees, service, and a hearing. You’ll need concrete evidence of what changed and why the new arrangement serves the child better. Vague complaints about the other parent won’t clear the material-and-substantial-change threshold.

Interstate and Military Situations

If the parents live in different states, jurisdiction is governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, adopted in Texas as Family Code Chapter 152. The core rule is “home state” jurisdiction: the state where the child has lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months before filing has priority. For a child younger than six months, the home state is wherever the child has lived since birth. If the child recently left Texas but a parent still lives here, Texas retains home-state jurisdiction for six months after the child’s departure. A Texas court cannot make an initial custody determination if another state already qualifies as the home state and hasn’t declined jurisdiction.²⁰

If a parent in the military faces a custody action during deployment, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act allows a deployed parent to request a stay of at least 90 days by submitting a letter explaining why they cannot appear and a commanding officer’s confirmation that military duty prevents attendance. Deployment alone cannot be the sole basis for a permanent custody modification, and any temporary order based on deployment must expire once the deployment ends. If Texas law offers stronger protections than the federal floor, the court applies the Texas standard.²¹

1
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.002 Best Interest of Child Rebuttable Presumption in Suit Between Parent and Nonparent
2
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.131 Presumption That Parents to Be Appointed Joint Managing Conservators
3
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.134 Court-Ordered Joint Conservatorship
4
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.132 Rights and Duties of Parent Appointed Sole Managing Conservator
5
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.192 Rights and Duties of Parent Appointed Possessory Conservator
6
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.252 Rebuttable Presumption
7
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.251 Policy and General Application of Guidelines
8
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.312 Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart
9
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.313 Parents Who Reside Over 100 Miles Apart
10
Texas Law Help. SAPCR Custody Cases
11
eFileTexas.Gov. Official E-Filing System for Texas
12
Texas Judicial Branch. District Court Civil Filing Fees
13
Texas State Law Library. Serving the Defendant – Small Claims Cases
14
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 105.001 Temporary Orders
15
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 153.0071 Alternate Dispute Resolution Procedures
16
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 154.125 Application of Guidelines to Net Resources
17
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 157.001 Motion for Enforcement
18
Justia Law. Texas Code Family Code – Chapter 157 Enforcement
19
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 156.101 Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access
20
State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code – Section 152.201 Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction
21
United States Air Force. Child Custody Protections Afforded to Servicemembers Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act