Anyone who practices family law in Texas should be very familiar with the case In re C.J.C., 603 S.W.3d 804 (Tex. 2020) by this point. As the attorney representing the father in a 9-0 victory in the Texas Supreme Court, I argued for the protection of the constitutional rights of fit parents to parent their children as they see fit free from government interference. The court’s opinion, relying on the U.S. Supreme Court opinion of Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), came out very strongly in favor of parents. Specifically, the court held that even in certain modifications, so long as a parent is fit, a trial court cannot substitute its opinion of best interest for that of the fit parent. This constitutional “fit parent presumption” applies in both original suits and certain modification proceedings where a non-parent enters the litigation for the first time.

On its face, C.J.C. appeared to leave little hope for non-parents seeking to have rights or access to a child. Although, as Justice Lehrmann pointed out in her concurrence, the court did not address the level of proof required to overcome the fit parent presumption, the opinion appeared to swing the pendulum far to the side of parents in cases involving non-parents.

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