Houston Geographic Restrictions Attorney

The state of Texas can place geographic restrictions on divorced families to allow both parents to maintain a relationship with the child or children. Whether you need to remove those restrictions to move elsewhere or you need to enforce those restrictions to maintain your relationship with your child, you’ll need to speak with a geographic restrictions attorney.

Texas makes every effort to provide equal access to a child for both parents, which is why the state can limit the area the primary parent can move. However, sometimes circumstances change, and you may find that you need to move with your child outside the geographic limits the courts set during the custody process. Other times, you may need to make sure geographic limitations are enforced so your former spouse doesn’t move far away, endangering your relationship with your child. In either case, you’ll need to work with a lawyer that can help handle the geographic restrictions set by the court.

Gregory Law PLLC has significant experience handling these difficult cases. For decades, we’ve been helping families stay close while also ensuring parents are able to pursue every opportunity. We bring a thorough understanding of the law and a deep sense of commitment to every case.

If you need to place, enforce, or lift geographic restrictions in your divorce agreement, Gregory Law PLLC is ready to represent you. Call us at (713) 861-1293 to discuss your legal options.

Why You Need a Lawyer to Lift Your Geographic Restrictions

Geographic restrictions are notoriously difficult to change in Texas. When you need to remove geographic restrictions, you will quickly run up against the state’s strong bias towards keeping both parents within close reach of their children. While there are reasons to remove the restrictions, you will need to put a very compelling case before the court in order to have any chance of success.

At the same time, if you want to enforce geographic restrictions, you’ll also have to fight to prove in court that those restrictions are absolutely necessary and any move planned by your co-parent will damage your relationship with your children.

In order to build your case and present it properly, you’ll need to engage a lawyer. Your lawyer can advise you on the best strategies to achieve your goals, improving your odds of success dramatically. With a skilled lawyer, you may even discover that some compromise may be possible with the co-parent of your child. A lawyer can help remove the high tensions and emotions often present during child custody cases and focus on the well being of the children.

Gregory Law PLLC Has the Compassion and Experience You Need to Make Your Case a Success

Gregory Law PLLC has built its success upon a sense of compassion and understanding for our clients. We fight harder because we care about our clients and the results of their cases. We know how much this case means to you, and we will do everything in our power to reach the best outcome for your family.

Additionally, we have decades of experience fighting in family court to make sure the geographic restrictions fit the situation. We know the system, the judges, and the arguments that work best to achieve a positive result.

Whether a better future awaits you elsewhere or you need your family to stay right where they are, you need to put your case in the hands of a lawyer that wants what’s best for your family and knows how to achieve it.

Reasons You May Enforce or Remove Geographic Restrictions

Gregory Law PLLC can help whether you need to implement, enforce, or remove geographic restrictions. How we go about handling your case will vary depending on your goal. For instance, if you want to enforce your current geographic restrictions, you’ll need to show that either your former spouse has moved in violation of the restrictions or intends to move in violation of the restrictions. You’ll also want to show how a move makes it harder for you to maintain a substantial relationship with your child. We will make similar arguments when trying to implement geographic restrictions.

Removing geographic restrictions is a little more complicated. Because Texas prefers families to remain under the geographic restrictions set during the initial custody agreement, you will need to develop strong arguments to convince the court to change its previous ruling. Some of the reasons to change or remove your geographic restrictions include:

• Agreement of the other parent: Your case will be strengthened significantly if the other parent agrees with the prospective changes. We can work with the other parent to help reach this ideal agreement.
• Moving for a new job or promotion: If you can show the court that a better work opportunity exists that will provide more income and a better life for your child, we can argue the move is in the best interests of the child.
• Better education opportunities: Likewise, if there are better education opportunities outside the geographically restricted area, we can argue a better education for your child outweighs other concerns.
• A lack of interest in the child from the other parent: You are bound to these restrictions in order to allow your child’s other parent to participate fully and comfortably in their lives. If the child’s other parent is showing little or no interest in taking advantage of this benefit, we can argue that you shouldn’t be bound by these restrictions.
• Your reasons for being in Texas in the first place: If you only moved to Texas to be with your ex-partner, we may be able to argue that you shouldn’t be bound to stay in the state long-term.
• Desire to move back home: Somewhat similar to the point directly above, if your roots aren’t within the geographically restricted area, we may be able to argue that you should be allowed to return to a location where you are more comfortable and where you have a deeper connection.
• Better support from family: If you need more support, and that support is available from your family elsewhere, we can argue it is in the child’s interests to go where your family is.
• The ability for the other parent to maintain a relationship: We may be able to argue that the child’s other parent will be able to maintain their relationship through a combination of technology and visits to the new location.

In general, if there is a compelling reason to move that will improve your child’s quality of life, we can argue to remove your restrictions.

Contact Us

If you need to implement, enforce, or lift geographic restrictions in your custody agreement, Gregory Law PLLC can help. Call our Houston office at (713) 861-1293 to find out more about how our child custody and support lawyers can give you and your child the best possible future.