By Greenbeg                                           H.B. No. 1105
       74R1697 JMM-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the appointment of a guardian ad litem and an attorney
    1-3  ad litem for a child in a suit to terminate the parent-child
    1-4  relationship.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Sections 11.10(a) and (d), Family Code, are
    1-7  amended to read as follows:
    1-8        (a)  In any suit in which termination of the parent-child
    1-9  relationship is sought, the court or a master shall appoint a
   1-10  guardian ad litem to represent the interests of the child, unless
   1-11  the child is a petitioner <or unless an attorney ad litem has been
   1-12  appointed for the child> or unless the court or a master finds that
   1-13  the interests of the child will be represented adequately by a
   1-14  party to the suit and are not adverse to that party.  In any other
   1-15  suit under this subtitle, the court or a master may appoint a
   1-16  guardian ad litem.  The managing conservator may be appointed
   1-17  guardian ad litem if he is not a parent of the child or a person
   1-18  petitioning for adoption of the child and if he has no personal
   1-19  interest in the suit.
   1-20        If the judge or master of the court determines that the
   1-21  parties or litigants are able to defray the costs of the ad litem's
   1-22  compensation as determined by the reasonable and customary fees for
   1-23  similar services in such county of jurisdiction, such costs may be
   1-24  ordered paid by either or both parties, or the judge or master may
    2-1  order either or both parties, prior to final hearing, to pay said
    2-2  sums into the registry of the court or into an account authorized
    2-3  by the court, for the use and benefit of the ad litem upon order of
    2-4  the court.
    2-5        (d)  In any suit <brought by a governmental entity> seeking
    2-6  termination of the parent-child relationship or a suit brought by a
    2-7  governmental entity seeking to be named conservator of a child, the
    2-8  court shall appoint an attorney ad litem to represent the interests
    2-9  of the child as soon as practicable to insure adequate
   2-10  representation of the child's interest.  In any suit in which
   2-11  termination of the parent-child relationship is sought, the court
   2-12  shall appoint an attorney ad litem to represent the interests of
   2-13  each indigent parent of the child who responds in opposition to the
   2-14  termination.  If both parents of the child are indigent and oppose
   2-15  termination and the court finds that the interests of the parents
   2-16  are not in conflict, the court may appoint a single attorney ad
   2-17  litem to represent the interests of both parents.
   2-18        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-19  applies to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship:
   2-20              (1)  pending on that date; or
   2-21              (2)  brought on or after that date.
   2-22        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-24  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-25  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-26  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.