By: RodrÃguez S.B. No. 815
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a temporary restraining order for preservation of
property and protection of the parties in a suit for the dissolution
of marriage.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 6.501(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) After the filing of a suit for dissolution of a
marriage, on the motion of a party or on the court's own motion, the
court may grant a temporary restraining order without notice to the
adverse party for the preservation of the property and for the
protection of the parties as necessary, including an order
prohibiting one or both parties from:
(1) intentionally communicating in person or in any
other manner, including by telephone or another electronic voice
transmission, video chat, [or] in writing, or electronic messaging,
with the other party by use of vulgar, profane, obscene, or indecent
language or in a coarse or offensive manner, with intent to annoy or
alarm the other party;
(2) threatening the other party in person or in any
other manner, including by telephone or another electronic voice
transmission, video chat, [or] in writing, or electronic messaging,
to take unlawful action against any person, intending by this
action to annoy or alarm the other party;
(3) placing a telephone call, anonymously, at an
unreasonable hour, in an offensive and repetitious manner, or
without a legitimate purpose of communication with the intent to
annoy or alarm the other party;
(4) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing
bodily injury to the other party or to a child of either party;
(5) threatening the other party or a child of either
party with imminent bodily injury;
(6) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly
destroying, removing, concealing, encumbering, transferring, or
otherwise harming or reducing the value of the property of the
parties or either party with intent to obstruct the authority of the
court to order a division of the estate of the parties in a manner
that the court deems just and right, having due regard for the
rights of each party and any children of the marriage;
(7) intentionally falsifying a writing or record,
including an electronic record, relating to the property of either
party;
(8) intentionally misrepresenting or refusing to
disclose to the other party or to the court, on proper request, the
existence, amount, or location of any tangible or intellectual
property of the parties or either party, including electronically
stored or recorded information;
(9) intentionally or knowingly damaging or destroying
the tangible or intellectual property of the parties or either
party, including electronically stored or recorded information;
[or]
(10) intentionally or knowingly tampering with the
tangible or intellectual property of the parties or either party,
including electronically stored or recorded information, and
causing pecuniary loss or substantial inconvenience to the other
party;
(11) except as specifically authorized by the court:
(A) selling, transferring, assigning,
mortgaging, encumbering, or in any other manner alienating any of
the property of the parties or either party, regardless of whether
the property is:
(i) personal property, real property, or
intellectual property; or
(ii) separate or community property;
(B) incurring any debt, other than legal expenses
in connection with the suit for dissolution of marriage;
(C) withdrawing money from any checking or
savings account in a financial institution for any purpose;
(D) spending any money in either party's
possession or subject to either party's control for any purpose;
(E) withdrawing or borrowing money in any manner
for any purpose from a retirement, profit sharing, pension, death,
or other employee benefit plan, employee savings plan, individual
retirement account, or Keogh account of either party; or
(F) withdrawing or borrowing in any manner all or
any part of the cash surrender value of a life insurance policy on
the life of either party or a child of the parties;
(12) entering any safe deposit box in the name of or
subject to the control of the parties or either party, whether
individually or jointly with others;
(13) changing or in any manner altering the
beneficiary designation on any life insurance policy on the life of
either party or a child of the parties;
(14) canceling, altering, failing to renew or pay
premiums on, or in any manner affecting the level of coverage that
existed at the time the suit was filed of, any life, casualty,
automobile, or health insurance policy insuring the parties'
property or persons, including a child of the parties;
(15) opening or diverting mail or e-mail or any other
electronic communication addressed to the other party;
(16) signing or endorsing the other party's name on any
negotiable instrument, check, or draft, including a tax refund,
insurance payment, and dividend, or attempting to negotiate any
negotiable instrument payable to the other party without the
personal signature of the other party;
(17) taking any action to terminate or limit credit or
charge credit cards in the name of the other party;
(18) discontinuing or reducing the withholding for
federal income taxes from either party's wages or salary;
(19) destroying, disposing of, or altering any
financial records of the parties, including a canceled check,
deposit slip, and other records from a financial institution, a
record of credit purchases or cash advances, a tax return, and a
financial statement;
(20) destroying, disposing of, or altering any e-mail,
text message, video message, or chat message or other electronic
data or electronically stored information relevant to the subject
matter of the suit for dissolution of marriage, regardless of
whether the information is stored on a hard drive, in a removable
storage device, in cloud storage, or in another electronic storage
medium;
(21) modifying, changing, or altering the native
format or metadata of any electronic data or electronically stored
information relevant to the subject matter of the suit for
dissolution of marriage, regardless of whether the information is
stored on a hard drive, in a removable storage device, in cloud
storage, or in another electronic storage medium;
(22) deleting any data or content from any social
network profile used or created by either party or a child of the
parties;
(23) using any password or personal identification
number to gain access to the other party's e-mail account, bank
account, social media account, or any other electronic account;
(24) terminating or in any manner affecting the
service of water, electricity, gas, telephone, cable television, or
any other contractual service, including security, pest control,
landscaping, or yard maintenance at the residence of either party,
or in any manner attempting to withdraw any deposit paid in
connection with any of those services;
(25) excluding the other party from the use and
enjoyment of a specifically identified residence of the other
party; or
(26) entering, operating, or exercising control over a
motor vehicle in the possession of the other party.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a suit for dissolution of marriage that is filed on or after the
effective date of this Act. A suit for dissolution of marriage
filed before the effective date of this Act 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.