“I need to evict my son….”

“I need to evict my daughter….”

We hear these unfortunate works all too often.

The first thing you need to understand about evicting any family member is that you are not alone.  Our firm receives calls from parents who need to evict their grown children on a daily basis.  The first thing most of these parents experience as they start the process is an intense feeling of guilt.  While we would never go as far as telling you these feelings will pass entirely, we can say with confidence our clients frequently tell us these feelings dramatically reduce over time.  Over the long term, our clients often tell us the experience of evicting their grown child was ultimately a good thing for everyone involved.  Drawing such a dramatic line in the sand seems to force these young adults to do a lot of growing up in a short amount of time.

What to Do When Your Grown Child or Other Family Member Threatens Violence

This is a question we cannot answer for you.  But the answer to this question entirely depends on your grown child’s history of acting out violently, your own perception of whether you believe your grown child will act on such threats, and whether these threats have left you feeling unsafe.  We, of course, do not want to see anyone get hurt.  Our default recommendation, therefore, is advise that you leave the premises and find temporary housing.  And before you go there – there is ABSOLUTELY NO principal worth being injured, maimed, or dying over in these situations.  Err on the side of caution.  Stay with a friend; stay in a hotel, if you have to.

What Can I Do If I Find My Family Member Brought Drugs into My Home? 

You may call the police to report this sort of thing, but drugs have become a bit of a dog-bites-man story for the police in most Texas communities.  The police are likely to tell you to dispose of the drugs, but they will often not give you much information on how to do so.

Having a small amount of recreational drugs in your home because of a drug-using family member can be a complex issue.  You may have heard stories about the DEA kicking in someone’s door and later confiscating their home over a small bag of drugs.  These stories are generally exaggerations of enforcement activities from the 1980-era war on drugs.  The truth is, the DEA is not very interested in kicking in your doors because your drug-using grown child has a half-used bag of Purple Kush in his night stand.

But just because you don’t have to worry about a visit from the DEA doesn’t mean this is not a problem.  Handle this situation wrong, you could find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

If your grown child is using drugs in your home, please give us a call immediately at (469) 423-6828.

What Do I Do if My Grown Child Threatens to Harm My Property?

The more important question is what do you NOT do.  Never threaten to report your grown child to the police or to press criminal charges against them when they threaten to damage your home.

Texas has laws against extortion.  While it may not seem like it, you can easily run afoul of these laws only to find yourself facing your own criminal charges!  You are not allowed to threaten anyone with criminal consequences in order to get your way in a civil matter.  An eviction is a civil matter.  Making such a threat can meet this state’s definition of extortion if you have also been discussing eviction to the person you are threatening.

If your grown child has tried to intimidate you by threatening to damage your home, please give us a call immediately at (469) 423-6828.

Can I Just Change the Locks?

Of course not.  If it were that simple, we would not have eviction courts.

Changing the locks while your grown child is away, shutting off the utilities, and removing windows or doors can result in substantial penalties.  And these tactics are not new ideas; they have been tried before and we have people ask us about them all the time.  Texas law and Justice of the Peace Courts frown on property owners treating their tenants, occupants, and even squatters this way.  Should you attempt to resolve your issues with your family member by using one of these unlawful tactics, your grown child will quickly find instructions on the internet on how to challenge you and burn you for taking this course of action.  Justice of the Peace Courts will be happy to provide them with all of the paperwork needed to start this process.

Changing the locks or shutting off the utilities is a VERY BAD idea in Texas.

 

Can I Confiscate My Grown Child’s Gaming System

Possibly.

If your grown child is a gamer, this is a very effective means of getting under their skin.  We get regular calls from clients who complain, “My son just wants to smoke weed and play _______ video game.”  From our perspective, this seems to be a near-epidemic issue!  And this is a terribly frustrating experience for parents going through this with their thirty-something.

However, if this tactic is handled poorly it could result in the police arresting the parent!  Taking possession of your grown child’s gaming system can be a useful tactic if it is paired with the eviction process.

If you would like to learn more about how you can use this strategy to your advantage, please give us a call immediately at (469) 423-6828.

 

I Don’t Want to Ruin My Grown Child’s Credit

This is a very common concern.  We meet with many clients who hesitate to proceed on their eviction because, although they want to remove their grown child, they do not want to make it impossible form them to find housing in the future.

The good news is we can evict your grown child without having any eviction judgment report on your grown child’s credit report.  Girling Law’s eviction processes are highly customizable.  We can easily modify the steps we normally take on an eviction to ensure any eviction judgment you receive does not report to your adult child’s credit report.

If you have additional questions about evicting your grown child without injuring their credit, please give us a call immediately at (469) 423-6828.