Texas Family Code 105.001: Temporary Orders, TROs, and Hearings

Texas Family Code Section 105.001 gives a judge in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR) the authority to issue temporary orders that protect a child while the case moves toward final trial. Those orders can decide who the child lives with, set child support, restrict a parent’s conduct, keep the child inside a defined geographic area, and shift attorney’s fees, and they bind both parents from the moment the judge signs them. One thing to know up front: a temporary order under 105.001 cannot be appealed before the final judgment, so the practical way to change one is to persuade the same judge who signed it.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

What a Judge Can Order Under 105.001

Section 105.001(a) names five categories of relief a court can put in place for the safety and welfare of the child:

  • Temporary conservatorship, deciding who the child lives with and who makes decisions about medical care, education, and daily life.
  • Temporary child support, calculated under the same guidelines in Chapters 153 and 154 that apply to final orders.
  • An order restraining a party from disturbing the peace of the child or another party, which reaches direct threats and less obvious things like disparaging the other parent in front of the child.
  • A prohibition on removing the child beyond a defined geographic area.
  • Payment of reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses, useful when one parent has far more income than the other.

Courts treat that list as a floor, not a ceiling. Judges routinely require health insurance for the child, bar a parent from canceling existing coverage, and freeze the dissipation of marital or community assets. The controlling standard is whatever the court considers necessary for the child’s safety and welfare.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

A temporary order stays in force until the court signs a final order, modifies the temporary arrangement, or the case is otherwise resolved.

How the Court Decides What Is in the Child’s Best Interest

Every temporary order has to serve the child’s best interest, and Texas judges rely on the Holley factors from Holley v. Adams to weigh the evidence. They are not a checklist, but they shape how a judge listens to the case:2Justia Law. Holley v. Adams

  • The child’s wishes, which carry more weight once the child is 12 or older.
  • The child’s emotional and physical needs, now and in the future.
  • Current and future emotional or physical danger.
  • Each parent’s parenting abilities.
  • Programs available to help, such as counseling or parenting classes.
  • Each parent’s actual plans for the child.
  • Stability of the home each parent offers.
  • Any acts or omissions suggesting the parent-child relationship is not healthy.
  • Excuses or explanations for those acts.

No single factor is decisive. A parent with a less stable living situation can still prevail on a stronger bond with the child and legitimate safety concerns about the other parent.

Getting a TRO Without Notice to the Other Parent

Standard temporary orders on conservatorship, support, and fees require notice to the other parent and a hearing before anything is signed. Section 105.001(b) creates a different path for temporary restraining orders and temporary injunctions in family cases. A court can issue one without the sworn affidavit of immediate and irreparable harm that the general civil rules would normally require, and without spelling out in the order why it was issued without notice.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

That relaxed standard has a hard limit. If the order would physically take a child from a parent’s care, Section 105.001(c) requires a verified pleading or a sworn affidavit complying with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. This applies to orders that attach the body of the child, take the child into court possession, or exclude a parent from access.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order Preventing someone from draining a bank account is one thing. Removing a child from a parent without notice is another, and the statute treats them differently.

How Long a TRO Lasts

A TRO issued without notice expires within 14 days of signing unless the court extends it for good cause. Only one extension is allowed unless the restricted party consents to more. The court must set a hearing before the TRO expires to decide whether to convert it into a temporary injunction or full temporary order, and if the person who obtained the TRO does not pursue that hearing, the court dissolves it.3Court Rules Network. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 680 – Temporary Restraining Order

The restricted parent does not have to wait for that hearing. On two days’ notice to the person who obtained the TRO, the restricted party can file a motion to dissolve or modify it, and the court must hear it as quickly as justice requires.

Emergency Orders When a State Agency Is Involved

Section 105.001(h) creates a separate track for emergencies involving government intervention. When the Department of Family and Protective Services or another governmental entity seeks emergency possession of a child under Chapter 262, the court can issue a temporary conservatorship order with no notice and no adversary hearing.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order This is reserved for situations where a child faces immediate danger to physical health or safety, or is a victim of neglect or sexual abuse, and there is no time for a hearing.4Texas Children’s Commission. Texas Child Protection Law Bench Book – Emergency Removal With a Court Order

Standing Orders Are Not the Same Thing

Many Texas counties impose standing orders that take effect automatically the moment a family case is filed. They apply equally to both parties and typically restrict destroying documents, hiding assets, canceling insurance, and harassing the other party. Nobody has to ask for them.

A TRO under 105.001 is different. It has to be specifically requested, lasts only 14 days absent extension, and can go further than a standing order by, for example, excluding a parent from the home or restricting access to the child. Whether your county uses standing orders depends on local rules, so check with the district clerk or the court’s website when the case begins.

What You File and What It Costs

Getting temporary orders takes specific paperwork, and a missing document can delay the hearing or sink the request.

The Motion and Affidavit

The core filing is a motion for temporary orders. If you want a TRO, you file a combined motion for temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, and temporary orders. The motion has to state exactly what you want: who should have temporary conservatorship, how much support you are asking for, and what conduct should be restricted.

For an order that would remove a child from a parent or exclude a parent from access, Section 105.001(c) requires a verified pleading or sworn affidavit under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. Even where the statute relaxes the affidavit requirement, filing one is still smart because it gives the judge a factual record for granting the request.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

The UCCJEA Affidavit

Texas Family Code 152.209 requires a separate sworn statement in every custody case. It has to disclose the child’s current address, every place the child has lived during the past five years, the people the child has lived with during that time, and any other custody, enforcement, protective-order, or termination proceedings you know of involving the child.5State of Texas. Texas Family Code Chapter 152 – Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act Skipping this can create jurisdictional problems that derail the whole case.

Financial Disclosures

If temporary child support or attorney’s fees are on the table, both sides have to produce financial documentation. Section 154.063 requires copies of income tax returns for the past two years, a current financial statement, and recent pay stubs.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 154.063 – Party to Furnish Information Bring these to the hearing. Showing up without them gives the judge less to work with and can produce an order based on incomplete numbers.

Filing, Service, and Bond

File with the district clerk in the county where the child resides. If a SAPCR case is already open, a motion for temporary orders goes into that existing case. The statewide clerk’s fee for an action within a SAPCR is $80, and additional county costs may apply.7Texas Office of Court Administration. County-Level Court Civil Filing Fees An ex-parte TRO can be reviewed and signed the same day it is filed, but it is not enforceable against the other parent until served by a constable or private process server.

Section 105.001(d) also relaxes the bond that a civil TRO usually requires. In a family case, the court may dispense with the bond entirely for orders on behalf of a child, and most family courts do exactly that when the order is focused on the child’s welfare.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

What Happens at the Temporary Orders Hearing

A temporary orders hearing is a condensed trial. Both parents present evidence and testimony, and the judge decides on a preponderance of the evidence, meaning whichever side is more likely right.8State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.005 – Findings

You can put on witnesses, documents, photos, text messages, and expert reports. Anyone who prepared a social study or psychological evaluation is subject to cross-examination the same as any other witness in a civil case.9State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.003 – Procedure One category is off-limits: statements a parent made during a court-ordered parenting class or family stabilization course cannot come in unless both parties agree in writing.

These hearings move fast. Judges commonly give each side 20 to 30 minutes, though complex cases may get more. Focus on the facts that go to safety and to the Holley factors. After the hearing, the judge signs a temporary order that governs the case until trial.

Changing a Temporary Order Before Trial

Temporary orders are not necessarily fixed for the duration of the case. Either parent can move to modify one under the court’s general authority in Section 105.001(a) if circumstances change.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

When the case is a modification proceeding under Chapter 156, the bar for changing certain temporary arrangements gets higher. A court generally cannot issue a temporary order changing who designates the child’s primary residence, or changing the geographic restriction on where the child lives, unless one of three conditions is met:

  • The child’s current circumstances would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development. The person seeking the change has to attach an affidavit with specific supporting facts, and the court must review the affidavit before even scheduling a hearing.
  • The parent with primary custody voluntarily gave up care and possession of the child for more than six months. A military deployment does not count.
  • The child is at least 12 and has told the judge in chambers which parent they prefer as primary custodian.

All three still require the change to be in the child’s best interest.10State of Texas. Texas Family Code 156.006 – Temporary Orders The significant-impairment standard demands more than ordinary disagreement. Complaints about diet or bedtime routines will not clear it. A new partner in the home with a violent criminal history might.

Enforcing a Temporary Order

A temporary order carries the full weight of a court order. Section 105.001(f) states plainly that violating a TRO, temporary injunction, or other temporary order is punishable by contempt and enforceable under Chapter 157.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 105.001 – Temporary Orders Before Final Order

Enforcement starts with a motion for enforcement filed in the court that issued the order. Section 157.001 allows the motion to target any provision of a temporary or final order and defines “temporary order” broadly to include TROs, standing orders, and injunctions.11State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 157.001 – Motion for Enforcement The motion has to identify the specific provision violated and describe exactly what the other parent did or failed to do.

Contempt comes in two forms. Civil contempt coerces future compliance and often results in make-up visitation time or a money judgment. Criminal contempt punishes the violation itself and can bring fines, community supervision, or jail. For child support specifically, the court has additional tools, including wage garnishment under Chapter 158 and suspension of state-issued licenses such as a driver’s license or professional license.

The enforcement process requires personal service of the motion and a show-cause order followed by a hearing. The hearing cannot take place until the return of citation has been on file for at least 10 days, so even urgent enforcement carries a built-in waiting period.