1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to jury submissions in a suit affecting the parent-child
1-3 relationship.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 105.002, Family Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 (c) In a jury trial:
1-9 (1) a party is entitled to a verdict by the jury on
1-10 the issues of:
1-11 (A) the appointment of a managing conservator;
1-12 (B) the appointment of joint managing
1-13 conservators;
1-14 (C) the appointment of a possessory conservator;
1-15 and
1-16 (D) the determination of the primary residence
1-17 of the child;
1-18 (2) a party is not entitled to a jury verdict on the
1-19 issues of:
1-20 (A) child support;
1-21 (B) a specific term or condition of possession
1-22 of or access to the child; or
1-23 (C) any right or duty of a possessory or
1-24 managing conservator, other than the issue of primary residence
2-1 determined under Subdivision (1)(D); and
2-2 (3) the court may submit to the jury an issue
2-3 described by Subdivision (2) [The court may not render an order
2-4 that contravenes the verdict of the jury, except with respect to
2-5 the issues of the specific terms and conditions of possession of
2-6 and access to the child, support of the child, and the rights,
2-7 privileges, duties, and powers of sole managing conservators, joint
2-8 managing conservators, or possessory conservators, on which the
2-9 court may submit or refuse to submit issues to the jury as the
2-10 court determines appropriate, and on which issues the jury verdict
2-11 is advisory only].
2-12 (d) The court may not contravene a jury verdict on an issue
2-13 submitted under Subsection (c)(1). A jury verdict on an issue
2-14 submitted under Subsection (c)(3) is advisory only.
2-15 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
2-16 applies only to a suit in which the trial on the merits has not
2-17 begun on that date, a suit in which a trial has been held and a new
2-18 trial is ordered on or after that date, and a suit filed on or
2-19 after that date. The fact of the enactment of this Act is not a
2-20 ground for a new trial.
2-21 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 646 was passed by the House on March
26, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 646 was passed by the Senate on May
8, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor