Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB519 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Harris S.B. No. 519
2	2
3	3
4	4	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
5	5	AN ACT
6	6	relating to the termination of the parent-child relationship and
7	7	the duty to pay child support in circumstances involving mistaken
8	8	paternity.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 154.006, Family Code, is
11	11	amended to read as follows:
12	12	(a) Unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly
13	13	provided in the order or as provided by Subsection (b), the child
14	14	support order terminates on:
15	15	(1) the marriage of the child;
16	16	(2) the removal of the child's disabilities for
17	17	general purposes;
18	18	(3) the death of the child;
19	19	(4) a finding by a court that the child:
20	20	(A) is 18 years of age or older; and
21	21	(B) has failed to comply with the enrollment or
22	22	attendance requirements described by Section 154.002(a); [or]
23	23	(5) the issuance under Section 161.005(h) of an order
24	24	terminating the parent-child relationship between the obligor and
25	25	the child based on the results of genetic testing that exclude the
26	26	obligor as the child's genetic father; or
27	27	(6) if the child enlists in the armed forces of the
28	28	United States, the date on which the child begins active service as
29	29	defined by 10 U.S.C. Section 101.
30	30	SECTION 2. Section 161.005, Family Code, is amended by
31	31	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c), (d), (e),
32	32	(e-1), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), and (k) to read as follows:
33	33	(a) A parent may file a suit for termination of the
34	34	petitioner's parent-child relationship. Except as provided by
35	35	Subsection (h), the [The] court may order termination if
36	36	termination is in the best interest of the child.
37	37	(c) Subject to Subsection (d), a man may file a suit for
38	38	termination of the parent-child relationship between the man and a
39	39	child if, without obtaining genetic testing, the man signed an
40	40	acknowledgment of paternity of the child in accordance with
41	41	Subchapter D, Chapter 160, or was adjudicated to be the father of
42	42	the child in a previous proceeding under this title in which genetic
43	43	testing did not occur. The petition must be verified, and must
44	44	allege facts showing that the petitioner:
45	45	(1) is not the child's genetic father; and
46	46	(2) signed the acknowledgment of paternity or failed
47	47	to contest parentage in the previous proceeding because of the
48	48	mistaken belief, at the time the acknowledgment was signed or on the
49	49	date the court order in the previous proceeding was rendered, that
50	50	he was the child's genetic father based on misrepresentations that
51	51	led him to that conclusion.
52	52	(d) A man may not file a petition under Subsection (c) if:
53	53	(1) the man is the child's adoptive father;
54	54	(2) the child was conceived by assisted reproduction
55	55	and the man consented to assisted reproduction by his wife under
56	56	Subchapter H, Chapter 160; or
57	57	(3) the man is the intended father of the child under a
58	58	gestational agreement validated by a court under Subchapter I,
59	59	Chapter 160.
60	60	(e) A petition under Subsection (c) must be filed not later
61	61	than the first anniversary of the date on which the petitioner
62	62	becomes aware of the acts alleged in the petition indicating that
63	63	the petitioner is not the child's genetic father.
64	64	(e-1) Subsection (e) applies beginning September 1, 2010.
65	65	Before that date, a petition may be filed under Subsection (c)
66	66	regardless of the date on which the petitioner became aware of the
67	67	acts alleged in the petition indicating that the petitioner is not
68	68	the child's genetic father. This subsection expires September 1,
69	69	2011.
70	70	(f) In a proceeding initiated under Subsection (c), the
71	71	court shall hold a pretrial hearing to determine whether the
72	72	petitioner has established a meritorious prima facie case for
73	73	termination of the parent-child relationship. If a meritorious
74	74	prima facie claim is established, the court shall order the
75	75	petitioner and the child to submit to genetic testing under
76	76	Subchapter F, Chapter 160.
77	77	(g) If the results of genetic testing ordered under
78	78	Subsection (f) identify the petitioner as the child's genetic
79	79	father under the standards prescribed by Section 160.505 and the
80	80	results of any further testing requested by the petitioner and
81	81	ordered by the court under Subchapter F, Chapter 160, do not exclude
82	82	the petitioner as the child's genetic father, the court shall deny
83	83	the petitioner's request for termination of the parent-child
84	84	relationship.
85	85	(h) If the results of genetic testing ordered under
86	86	Subsection (f) exclude the petitioner as the child's genetic
87	87	father, the court shall render an order terminating the
88	88	parent-child relationship.
89	89	(i) An order under Subsection (h) terminating the
90	90	parent-child relationship ends the petitioner's obligation for
91	91	future support of the child as of the date the order is rendered.
92	92	The order does not affect the petitioner's obligations for support
93	93	of the child incurred before that date or the petitioner's
94	94	obligation to pay interest that accrues after that date on the basis
95	95	of child support arrearages existing on that date. Those
96	96	obligations are enforceable until satisfied by any means available
97	97	for the enforcement of child support other than contempt.
98	98	(j) An order under Subsection (h) terminating the
99	99	parent-child relationship does not preclude:
100	100	(1) the initiation of a proceeding under Chapter 160
101	101	to adjudicate whether another man is the child's parent; or
102	102	(2) if the other man subject to a proceeding under
103	103	Subdivision (1) is adjudicated as the child's parent, the rendition
104	104	of an order requiring that man to pay child support for the child
105	105	under Chapter 154, subject to Subsection (k).
106	106	(k) Notwithstanding Section 154.131, an order described by
107	107	Subsection (j)(2) may not require the other man to pay retroactive
108	108	child support for any period preceding the date on which the order
109	109	under Subsection (h) terminated the parent-child relationship
110	110	between the child and the man seeking termination under this
111	111	section.
112	112	SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
113	113	154.006, Family Code, apply to an order for child support
114	114	regardless of whether the order was rendered before, on, or after
115	115	the effective date of this Act.
116	116	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
117	117	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
118	118	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
119	119	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
120	120	Act takes effect September 1, 2009.