Q: My wife and I had a verbal agruementshe left and took the kids from Austin to Houston, I am on probation for bi/fv-a

A: You have rights, but its not entirely clear to me what they are. First, I'm assuming that when you say you're on probation for "bi/fv-a" you mean "Assault Causing Bodily Injury - Family Violence". The next question is whether you're on probation for assaulting your wife, or someone else. I'm assuming it's your wife and, if so, it means she'll probably be named the "sole managing conservator" of the kids and you'll be named the "possessory conservator." As sole managing conservator, your wife would have most of the decision-making rights for the children. As possessory conservator, you'd have some limited decision-making rights and, also, the right to visitation with the kids (your criminal case may, or may not, also impact the conditions under which you get to see the kids - it just depends on the circumstances of the case).

But, to establish any rights to see the kids, you're going to have to file a lawsuit - probably a divorce, although you could technically just file what's called a SAPCR to establish custody and visitation orders (without terminating the marriage). But, until you file suit and get some orders put in place, she has every right to just take the kids with her (as do you). Another reason to move quickly on filing the suit is that, if your wife and the kids live in Harris County for 90 days before a suit is filed, then the suit will probably have to be tried there whenever it does get filed.