A Texas child possession order is the court order that sets out exactly when each parent has physical time with the child, including overnights, holidays, and summer. For most families, the court applies the Standard Possession Order, a default schedule that gives the parent without primary custody the first, third, and fifth weekends of each month, Thursday evenings during the school year, and roughly 30 days in the summer when the parents live within 100 miles of each other.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.312 – Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart Texas presumes that schedule is in the child’s best interest for any child three or older, and judges apply it unless a parent gives the court a good reason to do something different.
Possession Is Not the Same as Conservatorship
Three terms do different jobs in a Texas family case, and mixing them up causes real problems during negotiations. Conservatorship is the legal authority to make major decisions about the child, including medical care, education, and religious upbringing. Possession is the calendar: which nights, which weekends, which holidays. Access is the broader right to interact with the child outside possession periods through phone calls, video chats, or school events.
A parent can share decision-making conservatorship while having the child far fewer nights than the other parent. A parent can also have access without possession if a court decides overnights are not appropriate. Texas public policy favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, as long as each parent acts in the child’s best interest.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.001 – Public Policy
The Standard Possession Order
The Standard Possession Order is the default. It builds predictable, recurring blocks of time into the calendar so both parents and the child know what to expect. When the parents live within 100 miles of each other, the possessory conservator (the parent without primary custody) receives:
- Weekends on the first, third, and fifth Friday of each month, from 6:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 p.m. Sunday.
- Thursday evenings during the regular school term from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., unless the court finds the visit is not in the child’s best interest.
- Thirty days of summer possession, which the possessory conservator can split into two periods of at least seven consecutive days each. If that parent does not notify the other parent by April 1, the default summer block runs July 1 through July 31.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.312 – Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart
Parents can also elect the expanded Standard Possession Order. Weekends then begin when school lets out Friday and end when school resumes Monday morning, which adds meaningful time without requiring a custom order. The parent who wants the expanded times has to make the election. It changes the feel of the schedule because the child spends Friday afternoon and Monday morning with the possessory conservator rather than sitting in transition.
One summer wrinkle catches parents off guard. The managing conservator can claim one weekend during the possessory conservator’s summer period by sending written notice by April 15. If the summer period runs longer than 30 days, the managing conservator can claim two nonconsecutive weekends. That parent has to handle transportation for those visits.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.312 – Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart
When Parents Live More Than 100 Miles Apart
Distance changes the math. When parents live more than 100 miles apart, the possessory conservator picks between the regular weekend schedule (first, third, and fifth weekends) or one weekend per month of their choosing with at least 14 days’ written notice before the selected weekend.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.313 – Parents Who Reside More Than 100 Miles Apart That election has to be made in writing within 90 days after the parents begin living more than 100 miles apart.
The trade-off for fewer weekends is more vacation time. A long-distance possessory conservator gets the entire spring break every year and 42 days of summer possession rather than 30. The 42-day period can be split into two blocks of at least seven consecutive days each. If the possessory conservator does not send notice by April 1, the default runs June 15 through July 27.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.313 – Parents Who Reside More Than 100 Miles Apart
Holidays Override the Regular Schedule
Holiday periods override the regular weekend and Thursday schedule whenever they overlap. Spring break alternates: the possessory conservator gets spring break in even-numbered years, and the managing conservator gets it in odd-numbered years. Possession begins at 6:00 p.m. on the day school dismisses and ends at 6:00 p.m. the day before school resumes.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.312 – Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart
Thanksgiving and Christmas work the same way. The Thanksgiving holiday and the Christmas school vacation split between the parents, switching each year so neither parent has the same holiday two years in a row. Start and end times track the school’s dismissal schedule rather than fixed calendar dates, so the actual dates shift slightly from year to year with the school district’s calendar.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.317 – Weekend Possession Extended by Holiday
Children Under Three
The Standard Possession Order’s best-interest presumption does not apply to children under three. The court instead designs a schedule for the specific infant or toddler, weighing who provided most of the caregiving before the suit, how separation from either parent would affect the child, each parent’s availability to personally care for the child, and the child’s medical and behavioral needs.5State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.254 – Child Under Three Years of Age
These orders usually start with shorter, more frequent visits and gradually add overnights as the child grows. The court is required to issue a prospective order that takes effect on the child’s third birthday, and that prospective order presumptively follows the Standard Possession Order.5State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.254 – Child Under Three Years of Age Parents of very young children should expect the schedule to evolve rather than lock in from day one.
Custom and Supervised Schedules
Judges deviate from the Standard Possession Order when a family’s situation makes the default unworkable. The guiding standard is the child’s best interest, and courts look at the child’s physical and emotional needs, the stability of each home, and the child’s existing daily routine.
Parents with rotating work schedules are common candidates for custom orders. A firefighter working 48-hour shifts or a nurse on night rotations may need a schedule built around their calendar rather than every-other-weekend blocks. Courts also customize schedules when a child has medical or developmental needs that require consistent care from a particular parent during certain periods.
Where a parent has a history of neglect or abuse, the court can restrict that parent to supervised possession, meaning visits happen only in the presence of an approved third party. A supervised possession order must spell out specific steps the restricted parent needs to take to eventually reduce the level of supervision.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 263.109 – Court Implementation of Visitation Plan Professional supervision agencies charge hourly fees that typically run $10 to $60 per hour, usually paid by the restricted parent.
Geographic Restrictions on Where the Child Can Live
Most Texas possession orders include a geographic restriction limiting where the child can live, commonly to a specific county and its surrounding counties. Parents can agree to this restriction and include it in their order, or the court can impose one. It applies to whichever parent has the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence.
If you want to move outside the restricted area, you must file a petition to modify the order before relocating. You cannot move first and seek permission later. The court weighs whether the move serves the child’s best interest, and if granting it would make the other parent’s possession more expensive, the judge can reallocate transportation costs between the parents.
Lifting a geographic restriction while a modification is pending is hard. A court can only issue a temporary order changing or eliminating the restriction if the child’s current living situation would significantly harm them physically or emotionally, the custodial parent has voluntarily given up primary care for more than six months, or the child is at least 12 and has told the judge in chambers whom they prefer to live with.7State of Texas. Texas Family Code 156.006 – Temporary Orders
When the Child Can Tell the Judge Who They Prefer
Starting at age 12, a child has the right to speak privately with the judge in chambers about which parent they would prefer to live with. If a party or the child’s attorney requests the interview, the court is required to conduct it. For children under 12, the interview is permitted but not mandatory.8State of Texas. Texas Family Code 153.009 – Interview of Child in Chambers
The child’s stated preference matters but does not control the outcome. The judge keeps full discretion to decide what serves the child’s best interest regardless of what the child says. In modification cases, though, a child who is at least 12 and expresses a preference to the judge in chambers can independently satisfy one of the grounds for changing an existing order, even without proof of changed circumstances.9State of Texas. Texas Family Code 156.101 – Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access
How to File for a Possession Order
If you need a court-ordered possession schedule outside of a divorce, you file a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR) in the district court of the county where the child lives. The petition needs the full legal names and current addresses of both parents and the child, the specific possession schedule you are requesting, exchange times and locations, and any deviations from the Standard Possession Order you want the court to consider.
Filing fees for a SAPCR typically run $350 to $400 depending on the county, and some counties add fees for domestic relations office services. After filing, you have to formally serve the other parent with a citation and a copy of the petition through a constable, sheriff, or private process server.10State of Texas. Texas Family Code 157.002 – Contents of Motion for Enforcement The other parent then has a deadline to respond.
If both parents agree on a schedule, they can present a signed agreed order to the judge for approval at a brief hearing. Contested cases go to a full hearing where the judge reviews evidence before ruling. Once the judge signs the final order, the possession schedule is legally enforceable. Docket backlogs vary widely by county, so the timeline from filing to a final hearing can run from a few weeks for agreed cases to several months for contested ones.
Changing an Existing Possession Order
Possession orders can change, but the bar is intentionally high. To modify an existing order, you must show the court that modification would be in the child’s best interest and that at least one of three grounds exists:
- The circumstances of the child, a conservator, or another affected party have materially and substantially changed since the order was signed or since the mediated settlement agreement it was based on.
- The child is at least 12 and has told the judge in chambers whom they prefer to have the exclusive right to designate their primary residence.
- The conservator with the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence has voluntarily given up primary care and possession of the child for at least six months.9State of Texas. Texas Family Code 156.101 – Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access
The “material and substantial change” standard trips up a lot of parents. The change has to be both significant and directly relevant to the specific terms you want modified. A parent’s relocation, a shift in the child’s needs, job loss, serious illness, or remarriage can all qualify. The passage of time alone almost never does. And a parent who deliberately creates a changed circumstance generally cannot use it as grounds for modification.
There is a specific carve-out for military families. A conservator who temporarily gives up primary care during a military deployment, mobilization, or temporary duty assignment is protected from losing custody on the voluntary-relinquishment ground.9State of Texas. Texas Family Code 156.101 – Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access
Enforcing the Order When the Other Parent Won’t Follow It
A signed possession order is a court order, and violating it has real consequences. If the other parent repeatedly denies your scheduled time, shows up late for exchanges, or refuses to return the child, you can file a motion for enforcement in the court that issued the original order.11State of Texas. Texas Family Code 157.001 – Motion for Enforcement
The motion must identify the specific provision that was violated, describe exactly how the other parent failed to comply (dates, places, and times for each incident), and state what relief you are requesting.10State of Texas. Texas Family Code 157.002 – Contents of Motion for Enforcement Vague allegations will not survive a hearing. The more precisely you document each violation, the stronger your case.
If the court finds the violation was willful, available remedies include fines, jail time, makeup possession time for missed visits, payment of your attorney’s fees, and modification of the order if the violations form a pattern. The noncompliant parent can defend by showing they were unable to comply or that the order was unclear. Sloppy drafting in the original order becomes a real liability here: if the exchange time or location is ambiguous, enforcement gets much harder. Precise terms in the order you ask the court to sign are what make the order actually work later.