87R7651 MLH-D
By: Dutton H.B. No. 1422
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the child support obligation of an obligor during the
obligor's confinement in jail or prison.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 157.162, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) The court may not find a respondent in contempt of court
for failure to pay child support if the respondent, or the
respondent's attorney if the respondent is confined in jail or
prison at the time of the hearing, appears at the hearing and
presents credible evidence showing that:
(1) the unpaid child support accrued during the
obligor's confinement in a local, state, or federal jail or prison
for a period of at least 90 consecutive days, other than
confinement:
(A) for an offense constituting an act of family
violence, as defined by Section 71.004, committed against the
obligee or a child covered by the child support order; or
(B) resulting from the obligor's failure to
comply with a child support order; and
(2) the obligor did not have sufficient resources
available to comply with the child support order during the period
of the obligor's confinement.
SECTION 2. Section 157.162(d), Family Code, as added by
this Act, applies to a hearing to enforce an order in a suit
affecting the parent-child relationship that commences on or after
the effective date of this Act. A hearing that commences before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the hearing commenced, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.