Plain-language summaries of the Texas Family Code sections our guides cite. Each section gives you the statute number, what it says, and how it shows up in real cases. The verbatim statutory text is the controlling authority. Our summaries are not legal advice.
This page is built to grow. Each hub on the site links its readers here for the specific section it relies on. New sections will be added as we publish more guides.
How to use this page
Every statute below has three parts: the section number, a plain-language summary, and a “how this applies in practice” note that connects the statute to a real procedural question. Where a guide sends you to a specific anchor on this page, that anchor is the section that controls the rule you read on the guide.
Statutes change. The Texas Legislature amends the Family Code most regular sessions. If you found this page through a search engine, check the “last reviewed” date under the section heading and confirm the current text on the official Texas Legislature website before relying on a summary.
Section index
- § 156.101 · Material and substantial change in circumstances
- § 156.101(a)(2) · Child age 12 preference
- § 156.102 · Modification within one year (heightened standard)
- § 156.401 · Modification of child support
§ 156.101: Material and substantial change in circumstances
Citation: Tex. Fam. Code § 156.101 · Last reviewed: August 2026
Official text at statutes.capitol.texas.gov →
Plain-language summary
A Texas court can modify an existing order on conservatorship, possession, or access if two things are true. First, the circumstances of the child, a conservator, or a person affected by the order have materially and substantially changed since the prior order or the agreement underlying the prior order. Second, the modification is in the child’s best interest.
The statute leaves “material and substantial” intentionally open. Texas courts read it case by case. The change has to be more than ordinary life movement. Remarriage, a new job, a school change, a medical diagnosis, a relocation, a safety event: any of these can qualify, and none of them automatically do. What matters is whether the facts have moved enough that the existing order no longer fits the family.
How this applies in practice
The first question your attorney will ask is whether the change you are describing is material and substantial under § 156.101. Not whether it feels significant to you. The two are not the same thing. A change that reshaped your week may or may not move a court. A change that looks small on paper may, if it shifts the child’s stability.
Your attorney builds the modification petition around the change first, the best-interest argument second. The order in which those two arguments land at the hearing changes the case.
Cross-reference: See material change in circumstances for the procedural walkthrough on how a § 156.101 modification gets filed.
§ 156.101(a)(2): Child age 12 preference
Citation: Tex. Fam. Code § 156.101(a)(2) · Last reviewed: August 2026
Official text at statutes.capitol.texas.gov →
Plain-language summary
When a child is 12 or older, the statute allows the court to modify the right to designate the child’s primary residence if the child has expressed a preference and the court finds the modification is in the child’s best interest. The child’s preference is one ground for modification, alongside the general material-and-substantial-change standard in § 156.101(a)(1).
The preference is not a vote. The court interviews the child in chambers under Tex. Fam. Code § 153.009, weighs the preference alongside the rest of the record, and decides what serves the child’s best interest. A 12-year-old saying where they want to live opens a procedural door. The case still has to walk through it.
How this applies in practice
If your child is turning 12 and asking to change households, your attorney is going to ask three questions before filing. Whose idea was it. What is the child saying about why. What does the rest of the record support.
A modification built on the child’s preference alone, with no other supporting facts, is a difficult case. A modification built on the child’s preference plus a documented material change is a different case. The order of operations matters.
Cross-reference: See child age 12 preference for how the in-chambers interview works and what the court actually weighs.
§ 156.102: Modification within one year (heightened standard)
Citation: Tex. Fam. Code § 156.102 · Last reviewed: August 2026
Official text at statutes.capitol.texas.gov →
Plain-language summary
If you are trying to modify the right to designate the child’s primary residence within one year after the prior order was rendered or the underlying agreement was signed, the statute imposes a heightened evidentiary standard. The petition must be accompanied by an affidavit containing facts supporting at least one of three grounds:
- The child’s present environment may endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair the child’s emotional development.
- The person who has the exclusive right to designate primary residence is the petitioner or has consented to the modification, and the modification is in the child’s best interest.
- The person who has the exclusive right to designate primary residence has voluntarily relinquished primary care and possession of the child for at least six months, and the modification is in the child’s best interest.
If the affidavit fails to satisfy at least one of those grounds, the court denies the petition without a hearing.
How this applies in practice
Timing controls strategy. A modification filed eleven months and three weeks after the prior order looks procedurally identical to a modification filed at month fourteen, but the legal standard is different. Inside the one-year window, your attorney drafts the affidavit before the petition. Outside the window, the petition leads.
If the timing is tight, the affidavit carries the case past its first procedural gate. The statute directs the court to deny the petition without a hearing when the affidavit does not allege adequate facts on at least one of the three grounds, which is why the affidavit is drafted before the petition, not after, and why specificity in the affidavit is a procedural requirement rather than a stylistic preference.
Cross-reference: See material change in circumstances for how the one-year rule interacts with the general material-change standard, and safety and emergency modifications for the endangerment ground specifically.
§ 156.401: Modification of child support
Citation: Tex. Fam. Code § 156.401 · Last reviewed: August 2026
Official text at statutes.capitol.texas.gov →
Plain-language summary
Child support has its own modification standards, separate from the conservatorship-and-possession standards. A court may modify a child support order if either of two things is true:
- The circumstances of the child or a person affected by the order have materially and substantially changed since the date of the order’s rendition or the date of the underlying agreement.
- It has been three years since the order was rendered or last modified, and the monthly amount of the support order differs by either 20 percent or $100 from the amount that would be awarded under the current child support guidelines.
Either ground is sufficient. You do not need both.
How this applies in practice
Support modification can move independently of custody. A change in either parent’s income, a shift in health insurance costs, or a change in the number of children covered can trigger a support recalculation without touching the possession schedule.
Your attorney runs the guideline calculation first. If the current order is within the guideline range under today’s incomes, the three-year-plus-guideline-gap path is not yet open. If the current order is out of guideline range, the petition gets drafted around the gap. Either way, the calculation precedes the strategy.
Cross-reference: See the modifications hub for the overall modification framework and the income-shift trigger.
Frequently asked questions
Are these summaries the law?
No. The verbatim text of the Texas Family Code, as published by the Texas Legislature, is the controlling authority. Our summaries are written for orientation. They are not a substitute for reading the statute or consulting an attorney about how it applies to your facts.
Where do I find the verbatim statute?
The Texas Legislature publishes the Family Code at statutes.capitol.texas.gov. Each section above links directly to the official text.
How often is this page updated?
Each section carries a “last reviewed” date. We re-review every section after each Texas legislative session and any time a guide citing the section is updated.
Why is this page on a law firm’s website?
Because the alternative, a paragraph that paraphrases a statute and links nowhere, is the pattern that makes legal websites untrustworthy. We publish the statute summaries the way we would explain them in a consultation.