87R16782 MLH-D
By: Ramos H.B. No. 3005
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to annulment of a marriage on the grounds of concealed
divorce.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 6.109, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 6.109. CONCEALED DIVORCE. (a) The court may grant an
annulment of a marriage to a party to the marriage if:
(1) the other party was divorced from a third party
within the 30-day period preceding the date of the marriage
ceremony;
(2) at the time of the marriage ceremony the
petitioner did not know, and a reasonably prudent person would not
have known, of the divorce; and
(3) [since] the petitioner ceased cohabitation with
the other party not more than one year after the petitioner
discovered or a reasonably prudent person would have discovered the
fact of the divorce and [, the petitioner] has not voluntarily
cohabited with the other party since ceasing cohabitation.
(b) A suit may not be brought under this section after the
second [first] anniversary of the date of the marriage.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a suit for dissolution of a marriage that is filed on or after the
effective date of this Act. A suit for dissolution of a 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, 2021.