Covid Cost Me Custody

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I have been separated since January of 2017 and divorced since October of 2018, having primary custody the entire time. After my ex got remarried, moved into a home, and was able to secure a 9-5 position, he at that point decided to take me back to court for primary custody. This was supposed to be an easy open and shut case before Covid came into play. On November 24th he filed a temporary restraining order and temporary orders sighting that I was being reckless with Covid-19 and they were granted. We went to court on December 4th and at that time the judge flipped custody, put sanctions on how many people I can be around, and is allowing my ex to require that I get Covid tested before I take procession of her. My next step is to try and take this to a court of appeals and to do that I need help.

The judge said that normally what I do in my free time is not her concern, but the fact that I would be around people in the pandemic made me a physical danger to my child, even though she admitted that my daughter was in a minimal risk group

I am a single parent and work from home. When my daughter was not with me I would occasionally go to social gatherings. I wore my mask when required by the mandates. I was only at places I was allowed to be, in ways that I was allowed to by those state mandates. I made sure that I wasn’t indoors with large groups and tried to stay outdoors and spread out. I had taken my daughter to an outdoor fair, a couple of local baseball games, and a bull riding competition. The bull riding competition was indoors at the AT&T stadium and was socially distanced, the rest were outdoors and socially distanced. All of the events that they referenced as being reckless happened before cases began to spike in Texas. Neither me nor my daughter have gotten the virus and I believe that to be a testament to me taking measures to stay safe.

My ex has admitted to taking her trick or treating and even brought her to my house, as well as to his place of work, meaning he is exposing her and putting her at risk as well. Plus, both him and his wife work outside of their home and come into contact with more people on a daily basis than I do. The case all came down to when I wore my mask or not, even though i was allowed by state mandates to have it off, and me being around people. This is what my ex’s lawyer posted after the trial.

No matter how you feel about gatherings or masks the fact that a temporary situation is determining long term custody is concerning. What precedence does this set for future cases and peoples individual freedoms.