As we discussed in our last post, there are two big dates coming up if you follow the Texas Standard Possession Order. April 1st is when the parent with the possession schedule must designate his or her periods of summer possession. Additionally, April 15 is another important date in the Texas Standard Possession Order. Under the Texas Family Code, the parent with whom the child/children normally reside can designate a weekend within the other conservator's summer possession. That weekend begins at 6pm that Friday and ends at 6pm that Sunday so long as that parent picks up and returns the child/children to the other parent who is exercising their summer possession. Further, that weekend possession can't interfere with the other parent's Father's Day possession. So, an example would be parent 1 elects to exercise their summer possession from July 1 to July 31. Parent 2 can provide notice and elect any weekend in July to have the kids so long as Parent 2 picks up the kids and returns the kids to Parent 1. 

    Further, If the parent with whom the kid or kids primarily resides gives 14 days notice on or after April 16, that parent can elect to exercise possession of the kids on a weekend that normally would be the other parent's time. Again, notice is necessary in order to exercise this period of possession. 

     Finally, parents can agree to whatever schedule they find works best for them and their children. We fall back to the Standard Possession Schedule when parties can't or won't agree. No one wants to plan a vacation or pay for the kids' summer camp and find out later that the other parent refuses to allow the child/children to attend. That is why these notice provisions of the Family Code are so important. If you find yourself unable to work with your children's other parent, or need help protecting your rights, give us a call at 817-338-4500 for your family law consultation.