I get asked all the time by people going through custody fights, what do I do when the other side just makes stuff up. Somebody claims you were drunk, claims you screamed at the kids, claims you missed pickups you never missed. Your gut reaction is to get on the stand and say that’s a lie. And you should say that. But standing there saying “no I didn’t” is not a strategy, it’s just noise the judge has heard from both sides a thousand times.
Here’s the thing that actually moves a judge. Texas courts don’t decide custody by picking whoever sounds more sincere. They walk through a list of factors laid out by the Texas Supreme Court back in Holley v. Adams, 544 S.W.2d 367 (Tex. 1976), a case that is still the backbone of every best interest determination in this state. Judges look at things like the emotional and physical needs of the kids, the stability of each parent’s home, the parenting abilities of each parent, and specifically the acts or omissions that show whether a parent’s relationship with the child is a healthy one, along with any excuse offered for those acts. That last part matters more than people realize. An accusation is just an allegation. What actually moves the needle is what you can put in front of the judge that speaks to those factors directly.
So instead of just denying the accusation, build the counter record. If they say you missed a pickup, show your text messages, your location history if you have it, or a witness who was there. If they say you’re unstable, show up with a clean CPS history, consistent work records, therapy records if applicable, and a calendar of actual time spent with the kids. You are not just rebutting one claim, you are giving the judge a full picture under those Holley factors that makes the false claim look like what it is: one data point that doesn’t fit the pattern.
One mistake I see constantly is people saving all their evidence for trial day and thinking they’ll just explain it verbally. Judges hear explanations all day. What they remember is documents, screenshots with timestamps, and third party witnesses who have no reason to lie for you. Start a folder today, physical or digital, and every time something happens that matters, drop it in there with a date. Text argument, missed exchange, a doctor’s note, a report card, all of it. By the time you’re in a courtroom, you want to be the parent with a paper trail, not the parent with a story.
If you’re in the middle of this and feeling like it’s your word against theirs, it usually isn’t. You just haven’t built the record yet. That’s exactly the kind of thing I help people work through.
Have questions about your own case? Reach out anytime at ben@prosecoachtx.com or visit www.prosecoachtx.com.