If your co-parent will not follow your custody order, Texas law gives you a remedy: an enforcement action, in which you ask the court to enforce its own order, and in appropriate cases to hold the violating parent in contempt. What you should do right now is simpler: document every violation with dates and specifics, keep following the order yourself, and get legal advice about whether your situation is ready for enforcement.
Here is how custody enforcement works in Texas, what courts can actually do, and the mistakes that hurt otherwise strong cases.
What Counts as Violating a Custody Order in Texas
Common violations include:
- Denying or withholding court-ordered possession.
- Repeatedly failing to appear for exchanges, or showing up hours late.
- Refusing to return the child at the end of a period of possession.
- Violating a geographic restriction.
- Interfering with court-ordered communication between the child and the other parent.
- Ignoring decision-making provisions, such as unilateral changes to school or medical care.
An occasional scheduling hiccup handled in good faith is life. A pattern of violations is a legal problem with a legal remedy.
Step One: Document Every Violation
Enforcement cases are decided on records, not recollections.
For each violation, record the date, the time, what the order required, and what actually happened. Keep the surrounding communications: the texts, emails, or parenting app messages showing you were ready to exercise possession and the other parent refused. Photographs of an empty exchange location with a time stamp have carried more weight in courtrooms than an hour of testimony.
Precision matters because Texas enforcement pleadings must identify specific violations. Vague frustration cannot be enforced. Dated events can.
Step Two: Keep Following the Order Yourself
Do not respond to violations with violations.
Do not withhold the child, skip support payments, or improvise your own schedule as payback. Possession and child support are independent obligations in Texas, and self-help exposes you to enforcement while undercutting your credibility in your own case. The parent who complies while documenting walks into court with clean hands and a usable record.
Step Three: The Enforcement Action
An enforcement suit asks the court to enforce the existing order. Depending on the violations, the court may:
- Hold the violating parent in contempt, with fines and, in appropriate cases, jail.
- Order make-up possession time for periods that were denied.
- Order the violating parent to pay attorney’s fees and costs.
- Impose conditions designed to stop the violations from continuing.
Repeated, serious violations can also become evidence in a later request to change the order itself, because a parent’s disregard of court orders speaks to the arrangement, and the threshold for modifying custody accounts for exactly that pattern.
One prerequisite worth knowing: contempt requires an order specific enough to enforce. If your order’s terms are vague, a clarification may be needed first.
What If the Violations Involve Safety or a Threatened Move?
Different problems call for different tools, sometimes on an emergency basis.
If your co-parent is threatening to leave with the child in violation of a geographic restriction, act quickly, because stopping a move is far easier before it happens. If the situation involves danger to you or the child, a protective order may be the appropriate tool. In an emergency, call 911 first.
What Enforcement Cannot Do
Honest expectations help.
Enforcement addresses violations of what the order says. It cannot punish behavior the order does not cover, and it cannot rewrite a schedule that no longer fits; that is a modification. It also is not a tool for relitigating the divorce. Courts respond to focused, documented enforcement requests and are skeptical of ones that read like general grievances.
That is why the first step with an attorney is often sorting the problem into the right category: asking the court to enforce the order for violations, modification for orders that no longer fit, clarification for orders too vague to apply.
Talk With a Collin County Enforcement Lawyer
An order that is being ignored is not an order you have to live with, and the sooner a violation pattern is documented, the stronger the case for stopping it.
Petitt Family Law handles enforcement matters throughout Collin County. Schedule a consultation with Melody Petitt, or call (469) 361-2606.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my ex go to jail for violating our custody order?
Contempt findings can carry jail time in appropriate cases, though courts often use fines, make-up time, and fee awards first. The available consequences depend on the violations proven and the specificity of the underlying order.
How many violations do I need before filing for enforcement?
There is no magic number. Courts respond to documented patterns, and a single serious violation, such as refusing to return a child, can justify action on its own. The quality of the documentation matters as much as the count.
Can I call the police when my ex refuses to hand over the kids?
Police responses to civil custody disputes vary, and officers often decline to enforce possession orders beyond keeping the peace. A police report can still document the event. The reliable remedy is through the court.
My ex says the kids don’t want to come. Is that a defense?
Generally no. The order binds the parents, and a parent is expected to comply with it rather than delegate the decision to the child. Persistent refusals are worth documenting and raising with counsel, because they may point to issues a modification should address.
What if my custody order is too vague to enforce?
That is a real and common problem. Contempt requires specific, enforceable terms, so a vague order may need a clarification first. An attorney can review your order and tell you what it will and will not support.