83R1535 EES-F
By: West S.B. No. 1148
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to possession of or access to a child by a grandparent or
certain other persons.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 102.004(a) and (b), Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) In addition to the general standing to file suit
provided by Section 102.003, a grandparent, or another relative of
the child related within the third degree by consanguinity, may
file an original suit requesting managing conservatorship if there
is satisfactory proof to the court that:
(1) the order requested is necessary because the
child's present circumstances would significantly impair the
child's physical health or emotional development; or
(2) both parents, the surviving parent, or a [the]
managing conservator or custodian either filed the petition or
consented to the suit.
(b) An original suit requesting possessory conservatorship
may not be filed by a grandparent or other person. However, the
court may grant a grandparent or other person deemed by the court to
have had substantial past contact with the child leave to intervene
in a pending suit filed by a person authorized to do so under this
subchapter if, after notice and hearing, there is satisfactory
proof to the court that appointment of a parent as a sole managing
conservator or both parents as joint managing conservators would
significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional
development.
SECTION 2. Section 153.432, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) An affidavit submitted under Subsection (c) is not
required to contain expert opinion.
SECTION 3. Section 153.433, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 153.433. POSSESSION OF OR ACCESS TO GRANDCHILD. (a)
The court may order reasonable possession of or access to a
grandchild by a grandparent if:
(1) at the time the relief is requested, at least one
biological or adoptive parent of the child has not had that parent's
parental rights terminated; and
(2) the grandparent requesting possession of or access
to the child overcomes the presumption that a parent acts in the
best interest of the parent's child by proving by a preponderance of
the evidence that denial of possession of or access to the child
would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional
well-being[; and
[(3) the grandparent requesting possession of or
access to the child is a parent of a parent of the child and that
parent of the child:
[(A) has been incarcerated in jail or prison
during the three-month period preceding the filing of the petition;
[(B) has been found by a court to be incompetent;
[(C) is dead; or
[(D) does not have actual or court-ordered
possession of or access to the child].
(a-1) To meet the burden of proof under Subsection (a)(2), a
grandparent requesting possession of or access to a grandchild is
not required to offer expert testimony.
(b) An order granting possession of or access to a child by a
grandparent that is rendered over a parent's objections must state,
with specificity, that:
(1) at the time the relief was requested, at least one
biological or adoptive parent of the child had not had that parent's
parental rights terminated; and
(2) the grandparent requesting possession of or access
to the child has overcome the presumption that a parent acts in the
best interest of the parent's child by proving by a preponderance of
the evidence that the denial of possession of or access to the child
would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional
well-being[; and
[(3) the grandparent requesting possession of or
access to the child is a parent of a parent of the child and that
parent of the child:
[(A) has been incarcerated in jail or prison
during the three-month period preceding the filing of the petition;
[(B) has been found by a court to be incompetent;
[(C) is dead; or
[(D) does not have actual or court-ordered
possession of or access to the child].
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed on or after
the effective date of this Act. A suit filed before that date is
governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was filed, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.