Child Support Enforcement Lawyer in The Woodlands and Conroe, Texas
A court order is worth what a court will do about it. The deposits stopped in the spring, or the Friday exchanges quit happening, and the order in your filing cabinet has not fixed either one. Most people who call a child support enforcement lawyer in The Woodlands or Conroe have been carrying a broken order for months.
Here is what many have not heard: Texas law got stronger on September 1, 2025. Make-up time for denied possession is no longer something a judge may grant; it is something a judge must grant. Griffin & Cain, Attorneys at Law, PC enforces child support orders, conservatorship and possession orders (conservatorship is what Texas calls custody), and property divisions across Montgomery County. We will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us.
The 2025 Change: Make-Up Possession Is Now Mandatory
The old law said a judge may order make-up time for a denied weekend. Since September 1, 2025, Texas Family Code § 157.168 says the judge shall order it unless there is good cause not to. Not may. Shall.
The details favor the parent who lost the time:
- Same type, same length. Make-up periods must match what was denied, weekend for weekend, summer for summer, and must happen within two years of the date the court finds the denial occurred.
- You choose the timing. The parent who was denied picks when it happens, within that same-type-and-duration rule. Not the parent who caused the problem.
- Repeat offenders owe double. If the other parent has already been held in contempt at least three times for denying your possession or access, the make-up time must total twice what was denied.
The same law closed the escape hatches: a parent in contempt for refusing to obey a possession order, with at least three prior findings like it, cannot have the jail time probated, cannot avoid the other side's fees and costs, and the pattern itself now supports a modification of conservatorship or possession. A parent who keeps violating the order can lose the order.
The rule applies to cases pending or filed on or after September 1, 2025, even where the state's statute website still shows the old text.
What Your Motion for Enforcement Has to Say
Enforcement is a documentation case. A motion for enforcement must tell the judge, in ordinary language, which provision of your order was violated, how, and what relief you want. Vague grievances plead nothing.
For unpaid support, that means numbers: what was ordered, what was paid, the arrearage, and, for contempt, the amount due and paid on each missed date. For denied possession, it means the date and place of each occasion, with times where they apply. A motion missing a time can survive. A motion missing dates cannot.
That is why the parent who kept a calendar wins and the parent who remembers "he was always late" does not. Bring the bank statements, the registry printout, the texts, the calendar with the circled Fridays: that file is what a child support enforcement lawyer turns into a motion a judge can grant.
Contempt, and What a Judge Can Actually Do
Contempt comes in two kinds that share a name and do opposite work. Civil contempt is coercive: the judge can jail the respondent, the person the motion is filed against, until they comply. The keys to the jail are in their own pocket. Criminal contempt is punitive, a fixed fine or jail term for violations already committed.
Texas law caps punishment for contempt at a $500 fine, six months in county jail, or both, with total confinement for contempt capped at 18 months. Because jail is possible, the court must say so up front and warn an unrepresented respondent of the right to a lawyer, appointed if they cannot afford one.
Defenses, Whichever Side of the Motion You Are On
We work both sides of these motions, so we know the defenses from both chairs. On possession, the classic one is voluntary relinquishment: the complaining parent handed the time over voluntarily during the very periods now claimed as denied. On support, it takes two parts: the parent owed support voluntarily gave up possession of the child for longer than any court-ordered period, and the paying parent directly supported the child during that time.
Inability to pay is far narrower than people expect: the respondent must prove they lacked the ability to pay the amount ordered, had no property to sell, mortgage, or pledge, tried and failed to borrow, and knew of no other legal source for the money. Miss one and the defense fails, and the burden of proving it sits on the respondent, not you.
Deadlines: The Part People Get Wrong Most Often
Three clocks run on an enforcement case, at very different speeds.
- Denied possession: six months. Under Texas Family Code § 157.004, a motion to enforce possession or access by contempt must be filed no later than the sixth month after the right terminates. Six months is a short fuse for a summer denied last July.
- Contempt for unpaid support: two years. Measured from the date the child becomes an adult or the support obligation ends under the order.
- Money judgments: ten years. The court can confirm arrearages and render money judgments until the tenth anniversary of those same trigger dates, not from each missed payment, so a parent whose youngest graduated three years ago usually still has runway.
A Missed Payment Is Already a Judgment
Texas treats every support payment not timely made as a final judgment for the amount due, interest included. The court confirms the total and renders a cumulative money judgment; it may not reduce or modify what has accrued, though it can allow a legitimate counterclaim or offset. Support can change going forward through a modification. Accrued arrears are not forgivable, however sympathetic the story.
If one of these windows is closing on you, the six-month possession deadline especially, call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011 before it does. The consultation is complimentary.
How Unpaid Support Actually Gets Collected
Clients picture a courtroom showdown. Most collection is quieter and does not need the other parent's cooperation.
Their Paycheck
Support comes out of earnings first: up to 50 percent of disposable earnings withheld at the source, ahead of garnishment and other claims, with employers penalized up to $200 per occurrence for knowingly ignoring the order.
Their Licenses
Once overdue support reaches three months' worth and a repayment schedule was given and not followed, the state can suspend professional and occupational licenses, driver's licenses, even hunting and fishing licenses. Violating a possession or access order can cost a license too.
Their Property
A lien for all support owed plus interest arises automatically against real and personal property: financial accounts, retirement plans and IRAs, insurance and annuity proceeds, and real estate other than an exempt homestead.
Their Passport
This one is federal. When a state agency certifies arrears exceeding $2,500, the State Department denies, revokes, or restricts the passport, and clearing it after payment takes a minimum of two to three weeks.
Your Attorney's Fees
On a finding of unpaid support or a violated possession order, the court must order the respondent to pay your reasonable attorney's fees and costs. Waiver takes good cause stated in writing, and where arrears top $20,000 with a contempt finding there is none unless the respondent is involuntarily unemployed or disabled and lacks resources.
Which tool we reach for first depends on where the money is; a wage earner and a self-employed parent are different cases. Bring what you know about where the other parent works and banks, and call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011.
Enforcing the Property Division in Your Divorce Decree
Sometimes it is not the support. The property division in your divorce decree says the house gets refinanced or the truck delivered, and it has not happened. Those cases return to the court that granted the divorce, on the shortest clock on this page: a suit to enforce the division of tangible personal property that existed when the decree was signed must be filed before the second anniversary of the date it was signed or became final after appeal. For property awarded to you in the future, the two years run from when your right matures.
The court can enforce the division, and clarify a decree too vague to enforce, but it cannot rewrite the split. That cuts both ways: no one can reopen the division against you, and a division you regret cannot be fixed here. An asset the decree never divided can still be divided in a separate suit, on a two-year clock that runs from the day your ex unequivocally repudiates your interest, not from the decree.
Is Your Order Being Ignored?
Learn how to enforce child support or possession. Your first consultation is complimentary. Send us a message using the form below.
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We will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us. Get started by calling us or contacting us via email, and we will respond as soon as possible.
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Our last review post was a year ago; Brian has continued to provide excellent work and advice on legal matters.
Mistakes We Correct Most Often
- Self-help. Holding the child back because support was not paid, or stopping payments because your weekends were denied. A court cannot condition possession on payment of support; the duties are independent, and self-help turns one enforcement case into two. Enforcing conservatorship and possession orders is the remedy.
- Waiting out the six-month window. Hoping the other parent comes around is how the possession deadline gets blown.
- Filing a vague motion. "She never follows the order" pleads nothing. The court wants dates and places, occasion by occasion.
- Taking cash with no record. Payments outside the registry become a swearing match.
- Assuming a judge can forgive arrears. No judge can, and waiting only adds interest.
Enforcement in Montgomery County
Your case will land in one of three courts: the District Clerk's checklist routes family filings to the 410th District Court, the 418th District Court, and County Court at Law No. 3. State law requires the 418th to give preference to family law matters, and the 410th functions as a family court in practice. Filing runs through eFileTexas at the District Clerk's office, 301 N. Main in Conroe.
Pay through the registry. Under the district courts' local rules, the District Clerk is the designated local registry for court-ordered support, and the registry record, not an app history, is what decides the case two years later. If the Attorney General is involved in your case, its local Child Support Division office is at 5452 Highway 105 W, Suite 202, in Conroe.
Both family courts order mediation before any temporary orders hearing, so an enforcement motion paired with a temporary orders request will usually be mediated first. They also hold filings to notice and conference requirements that can sink a motion before a judge reads it, procedural weight we carry for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I do if my ex won't pay child support?
File a motion for enforcement. Every missed payment is already a final judgment for the amount due plus interest under Texas law, so the court confirms what you are owed and can hold the other parent in contempt. Collection then runs through paycheck withholding, liens, license suspension, and passport denial.
What if my ex won't let me see my kids?
File to enforce possession and access, and move quickly, because the contempt deadline can be as short as six months. Since September 1, 2025, courts must order make-up time matching what you lost in type and length unless there is good cause not to, and you choose when it happens.
Can my ex go to jail for not paying child support?
Yes, although jail is rarely the first outcome. Contempt can carry up to a $500 fine, up to six months in county jail, or both, with total confinement capped at 18 months. An unrepresented respondent facing possible jail must first be warned of the right to a lawyer.
How far back can I collect unpaid child support in Texas?
Further back than most people think. Money judgments are available until the tenth anniversary of the date your child becomes an adult or the obligation ends, and the clock does not run from each missed payment. Contempt is shorter, two years from those same dates.
Can a judge lower what my ex already owes?
No. The court may not reduce or modify arrears that have accrued, though it can allow a legitimate counterclaim or offset when confirming the total. Support can change going forward through a modification, but the past-due amount stands as a judgment.
Can I stop paying support if I'm not getting my visitation?
No, and doing it turns one enforcement case into two. Texas courts cannot condition possession on payment of support, and the two duties are independent. Keep paying, document every denial, and enforce the possession order on its own terms.
Will I get my attorney's fees back?
Usually. On a finding of unpaid support or a violated possession or access order, the court must award reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and can skip that award only for written good cause. With arrears over $20,000 and a contempt finding, there is no waiver unless the respondent is involuntarily unemployed or disabled and lacks resources.
Can they lose their driver's license over child support?
Yes. Driver's, professional, occupational, and even hunting and fishing licenses can be suspended once overdue support reaches three months' worth and a repayment schedule was given and not followed. A violated possession or access order can trigger suspension as well.
Talk to a Conroe Child Support Enforcement Lawyer
Enforcement rewards preparation and punishes delay. The motion has to plead dates, the deadlines do not bend, and make-up possession is a remedy the court now must grant absent good cause. What you do next, the records you gather and the window you file inside, matters more than anything your ex does.
Griffin & Cain handles enforcement, defense against it, and the family law matters around it in these same Montgomery County courts, with partner Brian Cain, a Montgomery County Bar Association member and past board member, handling child support and conservatorship cases in Conroe. Bring your order, your calendar, and your payment records. Call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011, visit us at 400 W. Davis St., Suite 200, Conroe, or contact our office online to schedule a complimentary consultation.
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Contact Our Office
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We will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us. Get started by calling us or contacting us via email, and we will respond as soon as possible.
Phone:
936-539-1011
Address:
400 W. Davis St., Suite 200. Conroe, TX. 77301