Some of the most emotionally intense matters to come before Texas family law courts are child custody disputes. And, among child custody disputes, some of the hardest involve parental relocation.
Texas residents may have heard of one long-running custody dispute involving an Olympic athlete who was a star at the recent Winter Olympics. Behind the scenes, he was locked in a sometimes bizarre dispute with the mother of his infant son.
As the mother recently told the story in a first-person account in Cosmopolitan magazine, she and the athlete met when both of them lived in California. They dated briefly but had ended their relationship by the time she realized she was pregnant. The woman, a former Marine, and firefighter, told the father that she had decided to keep the baby. She also decided to study political science at Columbia University and have a baby in New York. The athlete had other ideas.
He filed for custody of the infant in California, and a New York judge ruled in his favor. A judge ordered the mother to hand over the baby. That decision was later stayed, and the case has continued. Recently, the two sides met in court again but failed to reach an agreement on a shared parenting schedule. The woman’s attorney claims that the athlete has yet to pay any child support. As of this writing, the legal disputes continued in two states.
According to news reports, the two parents can’t even agree on the baby’s name. Each calls him by a different name.
There are times in child custody cases when a parent has to stand firm and a time when a parent has to compromise. In the heated emotional atmosphere of these cases, it can be difficult for a parent to know which time is which. A Texas attorney with experience in these difficult cases can help stand up for a client’s interests while everyone involved keeps the child’s best interests first and foremost in their minds.
Source: New York Daily News, “Bode Miller’s custody battle with Sara McKenna over baby son still on as former couple can’t reach agreement,” Nathaniel Vinton, March 31, 2014