Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an amicus brief in the Texas Supreme Court supporting parental custody rights and arguing against unnecessary government interference in the relationship between parents and children.
In the case, following the tragic death of a mother, a custody battle arose between the child’s father and her mother’s live-in boyfriend. The trial court issued temporary custody orders making the father sole managing conservator for his daughter, but also giving the deceased mother’s boyfriend possessory rights with an extensive visitation schedule. The child has lived with her father since her mother’s death.
“The State has no clear reason to force itself into a family when a fit parent is fulfilling his obligation to care for his child. This is an overreach that infringes on the fundamental right of parents to raise their children. Parents’ rights to act in the best interest of their child must be honored,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Although there may be rare circumstances where a non-parent should take on parental rights and custody of a child, those circumstances do not exist in this case.”
The trial court’s ruling not only fails to recognize the father as a fit parent with the right to make decisions for the child, but hinders the father’s ability to act in the child’s best interest by allowing a non-parent custody rights over the father’s objections.
To read a copy of the amicus brief, click here.