I fear for my child's safety! What should I do?
As a parent, one of the most horrifying things is to know that your child may be in danger and not knowing what you can do to protect your child. Should you just call the police? What if they still make you return the child to the other parent? And if you don’t, won’t you be in violation of the Court’s orders? How do you protect your child and still not be in violation of the Court’s orders?
NOTE: If you believe you or your child are in an emergency and need immediate assistance from the police, please call 9-1-1.
Sometimes, the police cannot do more than follow the court’s orders. While you may worry that your child may be in danger, the police may not be able to stop the other parent from being able to pick up the child without a court order. In those circumstances, you may find yourself having to hand over the child even if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.
Does that mean that you have no option but to go through a lengthy court case to try to modify custody and parenting time? What if you don’t want the other side to have advanced notice for the fear of your child’s safety.
Fortunately, under Texas Rules of Civil Procedures (TRCP), the Court can grant a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) without notice to the adverse party under the right circumstances.
Under TRCP Rule 680,
No temporary restraining order shall be granted without notice to the adverse party unless it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the applicant before notice can be served and a hearing had thereon.
Under the Temporary Restraining Orders, you may ask for various immediate reliefs from the court, such as preventing the other party from having contact with the child, or order that the other party have access only under a supervised setting. There may also be other requests you can make to the Court that are reasonable under the circumstances.
If the Court grants your requests, the Order will be effective immediately, and will expire after some time, but not for a period of longer than 14 days. You may be able to request an extension, but that is up to the discretion of the Court. Under some circumstances, an extension may even require the agreement of the other party.
At the expiration of the TRO, the Court will typically bring the parties to Court for a hearing to determine if the TRO should be continued in the form of Temporary Order and if additional orders should be made.
The process for filing for TRO may be complicated for those unfamiliar with the Court process. As stated, it requires a showing of cause clear to the Court that meets the requirement under the Rules, and there needs to be an affidavit and a verified complaint to accompany it. Getting the TRO to the Judge for signing is also a process different from what one may normally do for other types of Petitions.
Therefore, should you feel the need to file a TRO, you should get help from an experienced family law attorney. This is a time of urgency. You may not have time to waste and try to figure this out on your own.
The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only. This is not legal advice, and your viewing of this blog does not form any attorney-client relationship.
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