Texas Interference with Child Custody: Penalties, Defenses & Enforcement

Interference with child custody in Texas is a state jail felony under Penal Code § 25.03, punishable by 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000. The parent who was shut out can also go back to family court and file a motion for enforcement, which can bring contempt findings, make-up visitation, and a mandatory order that the violating parent pay attorney’s fees. Both tracks can run at the same time, because they protect different things: the criminal case punishes the conduct, and the civil case enforces the order.

What Counts as Interference Under Section 25.03

Texas Penal Code § 25.03 covers taking or keeping a child under 18 when the person knows the act violates the express terms of a court order on custody.¹ That reaches final orders, temporary orders, and restraining orders issued while a divorce or custody case is pending.

The statute hits three scenarios: violating a custody order directly, removing a child from the court’s geographic jurisdiction during a pending case with intent to undermine the court’s authority, and taking a child outside the United States to deprive another person of court-ordered possession or access. It also reaches a noncustodial parent who entices or persuades a child to leave the custodial parent, even without physically taking the child.¹

The offense is not limited to parents. A grandparent, new partner, or anyone else who knowingly helps take or keep a child in violation of a court order can face the same charge. What prosecutors have to prove is knowledge: the person knew the order existed and knew their actions violated it.

Criminal Penalties

Every version of the offense under § 25.03 is a state jail felony.¹ A state jail felony carries:

Confinement of 180 days to two years in a state jail facility.
A fine of up to $10,000, at the court’s discretion.

Those are the baseline numbers. The charge can be enhanced to a third-degree felony — two to ten years in prison — when the person has certain prior felony convictions or a deadly weapon was involved.²

One overlap matters. If the same conduct also qualifies as aggravated kidnapping under Penal Code § 20.03, the person can only be prosecuted for kidnapping, not both.¹ Kidnapping carries much steeper penalties, so prosecutors in the most extreme cases pursue that charge instead. A state jail felony conviction also leaves a permanent record that affects employment, housing, and professional licensing long after any sentence ends.

Defenses and Exceptions

The statute builds in several defenses, and they are easy to miss.

Returning the Child Within Three Days

Taking a child out of the court’s geographic jurisdiction during a pending case is a complete defense if the child is returned within three days.¹ This defense is narrow. It does not cover violating a final custody order and it does not cover taking a child out of the country.

Defenses to International Taking

Taking a child outside the United States is the harshest version of the offense, but two affirmative defenses apply. The person acted under a valid order granting possession or access, or the retention was caused by circumstances beyond their control and they promptly notified or tried to notify the other parent.¹ A canceled flight or a medical emergency abroad could qualify, but only with genuine efforts to communicate.

Fleeing Family Violence

The international-taking provision does not apply at all when a parent with possession or access rights flees the commission or attempted commission of family violence against themselves or the child.¹ This is not a trial defense but an outright exception that puts the conduct outside the statute.

Civil Enforcement in the Family Court

The civil track is the one most parents use. A motion for enforcement under Texas Family Code Chapter 157 can enforce any provision of a temporary or final order.³ The judge can hold the violating parent in contempt for deliberately disobeying the order.

Contempt

Contempt findings can include jail time and fines, imposed on a per-violation basis. A parent who denied access on five different occasions can be punished for all five. These financial penalties are separate from the criminal fine under § 25.03.

Make-Up Visitation

Courts can order additional periods of possession to compensate for time the other parent lost with the child.⁴ Judges tend to schedule make-up time quickly, especially with young children, where even short gaps in contact disrupt bonding.

Mandatory Attorney’s Fees

When the court finds a parent failed to comply with a possession or access order, the statute requires the court to order that parent to pay the other side’s reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs. The language says “shall.” A judge may waive the requirement for good cause, but must state the reasons on the record. And once a parent has been found in contempt at least three times for denying court-ordered access, the judge cannot waive attorney’s fees at all.⁵ That provision exists because repeat offenders were gaming the system.

How to File a Motion for Enforcement

The motion must be filed in the court of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction, which is the same court that issued the original custody order.³

What the Motion Has to Contain

Texas Family Code § 157.002 sets the contents. The motion must identify the exact provision of the order that was violated, describe how the other parent failed to comply, and state the relief requested. For possession and access violations, the motion must list the date, place, and time of each occasion the other parent failed to comply.⁶ Each missed visit is a separate count. You can also allege repeated past violations and ask the court to address the likelihood of future violations before the hearing. Attach a copy of the current custody order. TexasLawHelp.org publishes blank enforcement forms with instructions.⁷

Evidence

Enforcement cases are won on documentation. Keep a written log of every denied visit with the date, time, and exchange location. Save text messages, emails, and any other communications in which the other parent refused access or failed to respond. Screenshots of social media posts can help if the profile name and date are visible. Contemporaneous records are much harder to dispute than memory.

Filing and Service

E-filing is mandatory for attorneys in Texas civil and family cases, and self-represented filers can also submit through eFileTexas.⁸ Filing fees vary by county. After the clerk processes the motion, contact the court coordinator for a hearing date. The other parent must be formally served with the motion and hearing notice before the court can proceed. A private process server or local constable handles delivery. Without proper service, the court cannot enforce anything.

When Interference Supports a Custody Change

Enforcement punishes past violations. Modification changes the arrangement going forward, and a pattern of interference can be the basis for it. Under Texas Family Code § 156.101, a court can modify a custody order if the change would serve the child’s best interest and the circumstances of the child, a parent, or another affected person have materially and substantially changed since the original order.⁹

Texas courts have recognized that a parent trying to damage the child’s relationship with the other parent, sometimes called parental alienation, can be a material and substantial change in circumstances.¹⁰ A documented history of blocked access puts the interfering parent at real risk of losing primary custody.

Interstate and International Cases

When a child is taken across state lines or out of the country, federal law joins the Texas charges.

The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act

The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (28 U.S.C. § 1738A) requires every state to enforce custody and visitation orders made by another state, provided the issuing state had proper jurisdiction.¹¹ A parent cannot flee to another state, file a new case, and get a conflicting order. The original state retains authority as long as at least one parent or the child still lives there, and another state cannot modify the order unless the original state has lost jurisdiction or declined to exercise it.

International Parental Kidnapping

Removing a child from the United States to obstruct another parent’s custody or visitation rights is a separate federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1204, punishable by up to three years in federal prison, a fine, or both.¹² The federal statute covers children under 16, a lower age threshold than the Texas offense, which covers children under 18.

The federal law has three affirmative defenses: the parent acted under a valid custody or visitation order; the parent was fleeing domestic violence; or the failure to return the child resulted from circumstances beyond the parent’s control, and the parent notified or tried to notify the other parent within 24 hours.¹² A parent who takes a child abroad in violation of a Texas custody order can face both the state jail felony and the federal charge at the same time.

For countries that have signed the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, a civil process exists to secure the child’s return to the country of origin so that custody disputes are heard by the proper court. Act quickly: waiting more than a year to start the return process weakens the case significantly.

1
State of Texas. Texas Code Penal 25.03 – Interference with Child Custody
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.35 – State Jail Felony Punishment
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 157.001 – Motion for Enforcement
4
Texas State Law Library. Child Custody and Support – Enforcing a SAPCR
5
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 157.167 – Respondent to Pay Attorneys Fees, Court Costs, and Expenses
6
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 157.002 – Contents of Motion
7
TexasLawHelp.org. Motion to Enforce and for Contempt
8
eFileTexas.Gov. Official E-Filing System for Texas
9
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 156.101 – Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access
10
Texas Law Help. Material and Substantial Changes in Circumstances for Custody Modification Suits
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1738A – Full Faith and Credit Given to Child Custody Determinations
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1204 – International Parental Kidnapping