Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB1702 Compare Versions

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1	1	88R9423 AMF-D
2	2	By: Middleton S.B. No. 1702
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to orders providing for the conservatorship of or
8	8	possession of and access to a child by the child's parents in a suit
9	9	affecting the parent-child relationship.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Chapter 101, Family Code, is amended by adding
12	12	Section 101.0122 to read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 101.0122. EQUAL PARENTING ORDER. "Equal parenting
14	14	order" means an order that provides both parents of a child who are
15	15	joint managing conservators with rights of equal or nearly equal
16	16	periods of physical possession of and access to the child in
17	17	accordance with Section 153.135.
18	18	SECTION 2. Section 153.001(a), Family Code, is amended to
19	19	read as follows:
20	20	(a) The public policy of this state is to:
21	21	(1) assure that children will have frequent and
22	22	continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in
23	23	the best interest of the child;
24	24	(2) provide a safe, stable, and nonviolent environment
25	25	for the child; and
26	26	(3) encourage parents to share equally in the rights
27	27	and duties of raising their child after the parents have separated
28	28	or dissolved their marriage.
29	29	SECTION 3. Section 153.007(a), Family Code, is amended to
30	30	read as follows:
31	31	(a) To promote the amicable settlement of disputes between
32	32	the parties to a suit, the parties may enter into a written agreed
33	33	parenting plan containing provisions for conservatorship and
34	34	possession of the child and for modification of the parenting plan,
35	35	including variations from equal or nearly equal periods of physical
36	36	possession as provided by an equal parenting order under Section
37	37	153.135 or from the standard possession order under Subchapter F.
38	38	SECTION 4. Section 153.072, Family Code, is amended to read
39	39	as follows:
40	40	Sec. 153.072. WRITTEN FINDING REQUIRED TO LIMIT PARENTAL
41	41	RIGHTS AND DUTIES. The court may limit the rights and duties of a
42	42	parent appointed as a conservator only if the court makes a written
43	43	finding that the limitation is in the best interest of the child.
44	44	SECTION 5. Section 153.131(b), Family Code, is amended to
45	45	read as follows:
46	46	(b) It is a rebuttable presumption that the appointment of
47	47	the parents of a child as joint managing conservators with equal
48	48	rights to possession of and access to the child is in the best
49	49	interest of the child. A finding of a history of family violence
50	50	involving the parents of a child removes the presumption under this
51	51	subsection.
52	52	SECTION 6. Section 153.135, Family Code, is amended to read
53	53	as follows:
54	54	Sec. 153.135. EQUAL PARENTING ORDER FOR JOINT MANAGING
55	55	CONSERVATORS [POSSESSION NOT REQUIRED]. (a) Notwithstanding any
56	56	other provision of this chapter and except as otherwise provided by
57	57	this section, if the court renders an order under Section 153.134
58	58	appointing both parents of a child as joint [Joint] managing
59	59	conservators, the court shall render an equal parenting order
60	60	providing for [conservatorship does not require the award of] equal
61	61	or nearly equal periods of physical possession of and access to the
62	62	child to each of the managing [joint] conservators unless the court
63	63	determines and enters findings of fact on the record specifying
64	64	that:
65	65	(1) an equal parenting order is unworkable or
66	66	inappropriate due to the work schedule or other special
67	67	circumstances of a managing conservator or the child, or the school
68	68	schedule of the child; or
69	69	(2) equal or nearly equal periods of physical
70	70	possession and access are not in the best interest of the child.
71	71	(b) If the court determines under Subsection (a) that the
72	72	equal parenting order is unworkable or inappropriate or not in the
73	73	best interest of the child, the court may enter a standard
74	74	possession order under Subchapter F, including an expanded standard
75	75	possession order under Section 153.3171, if applicable. If the
76	76	court finds that the standard possession order is unworkable or
77	77	inappropriate, the court may modify the standard possession order
78	78	as provided by Section 153.253. If the court finds that the
79	79	standard possession order is not in the best interest of the child,
80	80	the court may render an order that the court finds to be in the best
81	81	interest of the child as provided by Section 153.256.
82	82	(c) The court shall render an order appropriate under the
83	83	circumstances for the possession of a child less than three years of
84	84	age, as provided by Section 153.254(a), which does not need to
85	85	provide equal or nearly equal periods of possession of or access to
86	86	a child to both joint managing conservators. The court shall render
87	87	a prospective order to take effect on the child's third birthday,
88	88	which presumptively will be an equal parenting order.
89	89	SECTION 7. Section 153.251(a), Family Code, is amended to
90	90	read as follows:
91	91	(a) The guidelines established in the standard possession
92	92	order are intended to guide the courts in ordering the terms and
93	93	conditions for possession of a child by a parent named as a
94	94	possessory conservator, or as the minimum possession for a joint
95	95	managing conservator if the court does not render an equal
96	96	parenting order under Section 153.135.
97	97	SECTION 8. Section 153.252, Family Code, is amended to read
98	98	as follows:
99	99	Sec. 153.252. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION. In a suit, there is a
100	100	rebuttable presumption that the standard possession order in
101	101	Subchapter F[:
102	102	[(1)] provides reasonable minimum possession of a
103	103	child for a parent named as a:
104	104	(1) possessory conservator; or
105	105	(2) joint managing conservator, if the court does not
106	106	render an equal parenting order under Section 153.135[; and
107	107	[(2) is in the best interest of the child].
108	108	SECTION 9. The enactment of this Act does not constitute a
109	109	material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to
110	110	warrant modification of a court order or portion of a decree that
111	111	provides for the possession of or access to a child rendered before
112	112	the effective date of this Act.
113	113	SECTION 10. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
114	114	suit affecting the parent-child relationship that is pending in a
115	115	trial court on the effective date of this Act or that is filed on or
116	116	after the effective date of this Act.
117	117	SECTION 11. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.