By Thompson H.B. No. 592
75R3923 JBN-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to standard orders for the possession of a child.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 153.316 and 153.317, Family Code, are
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 153.316. General Terms and Conditions. The court shall
1-7 order the following general terms and conditions of possession of a
1-8 child to apply without regard to the distance between the residence
1-9 of a parent and the child:
1-10 (1) the managing conservator shall surrender the child
1-11 to the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-12 the possessory conservator's possession at the residence of the
1-13 managing conservator;
1-14 (2) if the possessory conservator elects to begin a
1-15 period of possession at the time the child's school is regularly
1-16 dismissed, the managing conservator shall surrender the child to
1-17 the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-18 possession at the school in which the child is enrolled;
1-19 (3) the possessory conservator shall be ordered to do
1-20 one of the following:
1-21 (A) the possessory conservator shall surrender
1-22 the child to the managing conservator at the end of each period of
1-23 possession at the residence of the possessory conservator; or
1-24 (B) the possessory conservator shall return the
2-1 child to the residence of the managing conservator at the end of
2-2 each period of possession, except that the order shall provide that
2-3 the possessory conservator shall surrender the child to the
2-4 managing conservator at the end of each period of possession at the
2-5 residence of the possessory conservator if:
2-6 (i) at the time the original order or a
2-7 modification of an order establishing terms and conditions of
2-8 possession or access the possessory conservator and the managing
2-9 conservator lived in the same county, the possessory conservator's
2-10 county of residence remains the same after the rendition of the
2-11 order [establishing terms and conditions of possession and access],
2-12 and the managing conservator's county of residence changes,
2-13 effective on the date of the change of residence by the managing
2-14 conservator; or
2-15 (ii) the possessory conservator and
2-16 managing conservator lived in the same residence at any time during
2-17 a six-month period preceding the date on which a suit for
2-18 dissolution of the marriage was filed and the possessory
2-19 conservator's county of residence remains the same and the managing
2-20 conservator's county of residence changes after they no longer live
2-21 in the same residence, effective on the date the order is rendered;
2-22 (4) if the possessory conservator elects to end a
2-23 period of possession at the time the child's school resumes, the
2-24 possessory conservator shall surrender the child to the managing
2-25 conservator at the end of each period of possession at the school
2-26 in which the child is enrolled;
2-27 (5) each conservator shall return with the child the
3-1 personal effects that the child brought at the beginning of the
3-2 period of possession;
3-3 (6) either parent may designate a competent adult to
3-4 pick up and return the child, as applicable; a parent or a
3-5 designated competent adult shall be present when the child is
3-6 picked up or returned;
3-7 (7) a parent shall give notice to the person in
3-8 possession of the child on each occasion that the parent will be
3-9 unable to exercise that parent's right of possession for a
3-10 specified period;
3-11 (8) written notice shall be deemed to have been timely
3-12 made if received or postmarked before or at the time that notice is
3-13 due; and
3-14 (9) if a conservator's time of possession of a child
3-15 ends at the time school resumes and for any reason the child is not
3-16 or will not be returned to school, the conservator in possession of
3-17 the child shall immediately notify the school and the other
3-18 conservator that the child will not be or has not been returned to
3-19 school.
3-20 Sec. 153.317. Alternative Possession Times. If a child is
3-21 enrolled in school and the possessory conservator elects before or
3-22 at the time of the rendition of the original or modification order,
3-23 the standard order must [may] expressly provide that the possessory
3-24 conservator's period of possession shall begin or end, or both, at
3-25 a different time expressly set in the standard order under and
3-26 within the range of alternative times provided by one or both of
3-27 the following subdivisions:
4-1 (1) [except for the Christmas school vacation and
4-2 Wednesday evening possession,] instead of a period of possession by
4-3 a possessory conservator beginning at 6 p.m. on the day school
4-4 recesses, the period of possession may be set in the standard
4-5 possession order to begin at the time the child's school is
4-6 regularly dismissed or at any time between the time the child's
4-7 school is regularly dismissed and 6 p.m.; and
4-8 (2) except for Wednesday evening possession, instead
4-9 of a period of possession by a possessory conservator ending at 6
4-10 p.m. on the day before school resumes, the period of possession may
4-11 be set in the standard order to end at the time school resumes.
4-12 SECTION 2. The changes made by this Act to orders for the
4-13 possession of a child apply only to an order rendered on or after
4-14 the effective date of this Act. This Act does not affect the terms
4-15 or conditions of an order made before that date.
4-16 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-17 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.