Terms Used In Texas Family Code 153.371

  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • United States: includes a department, bureau, or other agency of the United States of America. See Texas Government Code 311.005

Unless limited by court order or other provisions of this chapter, a nonparent, a licensed child-placing agency, or the Department of Family and Protective Services appointed as a managing conservator of the child has the following rights and duties:
(1) the right to have physical possession and to direct the moral and religious training of the child;
(2) the duty of care, control, protection, and reasonable discipline of the child;
(3) the duty to provide the child with clothing, food, shelter, education, and medical, psychological, and dental care;
(4) the right to consent for the child to medical, psychiatric, psychological, dental, and surgical treatment and to have access to the child’s medical records;
(5) the right to receive and give receipt for payments for the support of the child and to hold or disburse funds for the benefit of the child;
(6) the right to the services and earnings of the child;
(7) the right to consent to marriage and to enlistment in the armed forces of the United States;
(8) the right to represent the child in legal action and to make other decisions of substantial legal significance concerning the child;
(9) except when a guardian of the child’s estate or a guardian or attorney ad litem has been appointed for the child, the right to act as an agent of the child in relation to the child’s estate if the child’s action is required by a state, the United States, or a foreign government;
(10) the right to designate the primary residence of the child and to make decisions regarding the child’s education;
(11) if the parent-child relationship has been terminated with respect to the parents, or only living parent, or if there is no living parent, the right to consent to the adoption of the child and to make any other decision concerning the child that a parent could make; and
(12) the right to:
(A) apply for a passport for the child;
(B) renew the child’s passport; and
(C) maintain possession of the child’s passport.