82R2885 JSC-D
By: Dutton H.B. No. 486
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the application of certain disability payments in
connection with a claim for child support arrearages.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 157.009, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 157.009. AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE TO MOTION [CREDIT] FOR
ENFORCEMENT [PAYMENT] OF CHILD SUPPORT: DISABILITY PAYMENTS
[BENEFITS]. (a) This section applies only to an obligor who has a
disability and who is required to pay support for a child who
receives benefits as a result of the obligor's disability.
(b) An [In addition to any other credit or offset available
to an] obligor may plead as an affirmative defense in whole or in
part to a motion for enforcement of [under this title, if a child
for whom the obligor owes] child support that [receives a lump-sum
payment as a result of the obligor's disability and that payment is
made to the obligee as the representative payee of the child,] the
obligor is entitled to an offset against the obligee's claim for
child support arrearages and interest. An offset under this
section is an amount [a credit. The credit under this section is]
equal to the amount of any benefit payments, including [the]
lump-sum benefit payments, made as a result of the obligor's
disability to the obligee as the representative payee of the child.
(c) The offset permitted under this section may [payment and
shall] be applied only against arrearages [to any child support
arrearage] and interest [owed by the obligor on behalf of] that
accrued during the period of the obligor's disability and that are
not assigned to [child at the time] the Title IV-D agency under
Section 231.104(a) [payment is made].
(d) To the extent that this section conflicts with
Subchapter F, this section prevails.
SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, Section 157.009, Family Code, as amended by this Act,
applies to a motion for enforcement of child support that is pending
before a trial court on or filed on or after the effective date of
this Act.
(b) A motion for enforcement of child support involving an
obligor who has been awarded a credit under Section 157.009, Family
Code, as that section existed immediately before the effective date
of this Act, is covered by the law as it existed immediately before
that date, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.