Well the Texas Family Code is gender neutral so it says that gender should not be considered in appointing conservatorship. A lot of men come to me and say well, she’s just going to get custody anyway so why should I even bother? And I go through with them all of the different factors that the court looks at concerning the best interest of the child. And if the father has been the primary caregiver maybe he’s the stay at home dad while mom’s got a career or there is some substance abuse involved on the other side or there’s any neglect of the child involved on the other side. I mean, then that parent has just as good of chance of custody as the other.

We have to also consider whether or not we’re coming without a prior court order or with a prior court order already in place because the standard to modifies I just mentioned requires a very big change in circumstances and a finding of best interest for the child.