88R9423 AMF-D
By: Middleton S.B. No. 1702
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to orders providing for the conservatorship of or
possession of and access to a child by the child's parents in a suit
affecting the parent-child relationship.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 101, Family Code, is amended by adding
Section 101.0122 to read as follows:
Sec. 101.0122. EQUAL PARENTING ORDER. "Equal parenting
order" means an order that provides both parents of a child who are
joint managing conservators with rights of equal or nearly equal
periods of physical possession of and access to the child in
accordance with Section 153.135.
SECTION 2. Section 153.001(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The public policy of this state is to:
(1) assure that children will have frequent and
continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in
the best interest of the child;
(2) provide a safe, stable, and nonviolent environment
for the child; and
(3) encourage parents to share equally in the rights
and duties of raising their child after the parents have separated
or dissolved their marriage.
SECTION 3. Section 153.007(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) To promote the amicable settlement of disputes between
the parties to a suit, the parties may enter into a written agreed
parenting plan containing provisions for conservatorship and
possession of the child and for modification of the parenting plan,
including variations from equal or nearly equal periods of physical
possession as provided by an equal parenting order under Section
153.135 or from the standard possession order under Subchapter F.
SECTION 4. Section 153.072, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 153.072. WRITTEN FINDING REQUIRED TO LIMIT PARENTAL
RIGHTS AND DUTIES. The court may limit the rights and duties of a
parent appointed as a conservator only if the court makes a written
finding that the limitation is in the best interest of the child.
SECTION 5. Section 153.131(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) It is a rebuttable presumption that the appointment of
the parents of a child as joint managing conservators with equal
rights to possession of and access to the child is in the best
interest of the child. A finding of a history of family violence
involving the parents of a child removes the presumption under this
subsection.
SECTION 6. Section 153.135, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 153.135. EQUAL PARENTING ORDER FOR JOINT MANAGING
CONSERVATORS [POSSESSION NOT REQUIRED]. (a) Notwithstanding any
other provision of this chapter and except as otherwise provided by
this section, if the court renders an order under Section 153.134
appointing both parents of a child as joint [Joint] managing
conservators, the court shall render an equal parenting order
providing for [conservatorship does not require the award of] equal
or nearly equal periods of physical possession of and access to the
child to each of the managing [joint] conservators unless the court
determines and enters findings of fact on the record specifying
that:
(1) an equal parenting order is unworkable or
inappropriate due to the work schedule or other special
circumstances of a managing conservator or the child, or the school
schedule of the child; or
(2) equal or nearly equal periods of physical
possession and access are not in the best interest of the child.
(b) If the court determines under Subsection (a) that the
equal parenting order is unworkable or inappropriate or not in the
best interest of the child, the court may enter a standard
possession order under Subchapter F, including an expanded standard
possession order under Section 153.3171, if applicable. If the
court finds that the standard possession order is unworkable or
inappropriate, the court may modify the standard possession order
as provided by Section 153.253. If the court finds that the
standard possession order is not in the best interest of the child,
the court may render an order that the court finds to be in the best
interest of the child as provided by Section 153.256.
(c) The court shall render an order appropriate under the
circumstances for the possession of a child less than three years of
age, as provided by Section 153.254(a), which does not need to
provide equal or nearly equal periods of possession of or access to
a child to both joint managing conservators. The court shall render
a prospective order to take effect on the child's third birthday,
which presumptively will be an equal parenting order.
SECTION 7. Section 153.251(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The guidelines established in the standard possession
order are intended to guide the courts in ordering the terms and
conditions for possession of a child by a parent named as a
possessory conservator, or as the minimum possession for a joint
managing conservator if the court does not render an equal
parenting order under Section 153.135.
SECTION 8. Section 153.252, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 153.252. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION. In a suit, there is a
rebuttable presumption that the standard possession order in
Subchapter F[:
[(1)] provides reasonable minimum possession of a
child for a parent named as a:
(1) possessory conservator; or
(2) joint managing conservator, if the court does not
render an equal parenting order under Section 153.135[; and
[(2) is in the best interest of the child].
SECTION 9. The enactment of this Act does not constitute a
material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to
warrant modification of a court order or portion of a decree that
provides for the possession of or access to a child rendered before
the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 10. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
suit affecting the parent-child relationship that is pending in a
trial court on the effective date of this Act or that is filed on or
after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.