A concern that many Texas family law firms help their clients navigate is the question of parental rights when addressing a situation where there is an absent father.

Texas family law protects the parental rights of biological fathers, even if they are not present for a variety of reasons.

However, there are ways that mothers working with family law attorneys can file to have an absentee father’s parental rights terminated.

Whether a parent is an absentee father who still wishes to retain their parental rights or a mother seeking to have the rights of an absentee father terminated, it is a complex legal situation that must be decided in the Texas family court.

How Does Texas Family Law Define An Absentee Father?

Texas family law recognizes an absentee father as one who has not remained involved in the life of their child for one of several reasons.

Among those reasons, family law attorneys see parental separation or divorce, military service, geographical distance due to work or personal commitments, incarceration, and mental health or substance abuse issues to be the main reasons why fathers may fail to be present in their child’s life.

Although fathers can be assumed to be absent due to these or other reasons, this does not automatically mean they are at risk of losing their parental rights, which requires the family court to also determine a status of voluntary abandonment.

How Long Must A Father Be Absent to Lose Parental Rights?

When law firms assist clients looking to terminate the parental rights of an absentee father, it is important to understand that there is no definitive time frame in which that can happen.

Typically, questions of parental rights for an absentee father may not be brought to the court by a family law attorney before six months have passed, but even then, other stipulations must be met.

Ultimately, it must be proven after what is considered a prolonged separation that the father has voluntarily decided not to take part in his child’s life, which involves providing evidence of such in a court hearing.

Will An Absentee Father Automatically Lose Parental Rights?

Texas family law states that prolonged absence alone is not grounds for the termination of parental rights, as the reasons and circumstances must also be considered.

The court recognizes that fathers who need to be away from their children for various reasons may still take an active part in their child’s life, including by keeping up with child support payments.

If the father is found to have abandoned their child as determined by the family court based on their willful and voluntary failure to stay in contact, they could lose their parental rights.

Because the Texas family court finds it to be in the child’s best interest that they remain connected to both parents, efforts by family attorneys and their clients to have the parental rights of an absentee father terminated must show ample evidence of abandonment.

If abandonment can be proven, absentee fathers can willingly terminate their parental rights if asked to by signing a termination agreement, they can be required to do so by the court, or the court can terminate their rights outright if an absentee and abandoning father is uncooperative or simply unable to be contacted.

Ask A Family Law Attorney About Parental Rights

Challenges to parental rights in Texas are serious family law concerns that must be decided carefully.

While an absentee father may not automatically lose their parental rights due to their absenteeism, family law attorneys stress that if voluntary abandonment can be proven, they might.

Parents on both sides of this issue should contact a Texas family law firm that can explain the laws on parental rights, when an absentee father’s rights can be terminated, and whether the court will consider doing so valid for the individual case.