If your ex keeps filing modification after modification and nothing ever actually changes except your legal bills, I want you to know there is a real tool in the Texas Family Code for that, and most pro se litigants have no idea it exists. Section 156.005 of the Family Code says that if the court finds a suit for modification was filed frivolously or was designed to harass you, the judge shall state that finding in the order and assess attorney’s fees as costs against the person who filed it. That word “shall” matters. It is not a maybe. Once the court makes that finding, the fees are supposed to be assessed against the other party.
Here is where people go wrong. They feel harassed, they know in their gut the filing is garbage, but they never actually ask the judge to make the finding. You have to put it in front of the court. When you file your response to a modification you believe is baseless, plead it specifically, tell the court you are requesting a finding that the suit was frivolous or filed to harass under Section 156.005, and build your evidence around the real legal standard for modification, which is a material and substantial change in circumstances since the last order. If the other side cannot point to an actual change, if they are relitigating the same facts that were already decided, or if the timing lines up suspiciously with something good happening in your life, like a promotion, a new relationship, or your kid finally settling into a routine, that is exactly the pattern this statute was written for.
I tell my clients to keep a simple timeline. Every time the other side files something, note the date, what they alleged, and what happened at the hearing. If you start seeing a pattern of filings that go nowhere, that timeline becomes your evidence at the next hearing that this is harassment, not genuine concern for the kids. Judges see this behavior more than you think, and they do not like having their docket used as a weapon. But they are not going to make that finding for you. You have to ask, and you have to show up with the receipts.
One caveat, because I always want you working with accurate information and not just what sounds good on a Facebook post. This statute applies to modification suits specifically, not to the original divorce or custody filing, and not to enforcement actions. If you are dealing with harassment through repeated enforcement motions or discovery abuse instead, there are other tools for that, and I am happy to walk through which one fits your situation.
If you are in the middle of this right now and feel like you are just playing defense every few months, you are not crazy, and you are not powerless. Reach out and let’s talk about what your actual filings look like.
I’m Ben Schooley, a pro se coach for people handling their own Texas family law cases. I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve helped a lot of people push back on filings designed to wear them down. Email me at ben@prosecoachtx.com or go to www.prosecoachtx.com if you want help thinking through your situation.