Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
By Williams H.B. No. 2526
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the duties of an Attorney Ad Litem appointed to
1-3 represent a child in a suit affecting the parent-child
1-4 relationship.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Sections 107.014(a) and (b), Family Code, are
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) An attorney ad litem appointed under this subchapter to
1-9 represent a child [may] shall:
1-10 (1) investigate to the extent the attorney ad litem
1-11 considers appropriate to determine the facts of the case;
1-12 (2) obtain and review copies of all of the child's
1-13 relevant medical, psychological, and school records; and
1-14 (3) call, examine, and cross-examine witnesses.
1-15 (b) An attorney ad litem appointed to represent a child
1-16 shall within a reasonable time after the appointment:
1-17 (1) interview the child if the child is four years of
1-18 age or older; [and]
1-19 (2) interview individuals with significant knowledge
1-20 of the child's history and condition; and
1-21 (3) interview all parties to the suit.
1-22 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
1-23 applies only to an appointment of an attorney ad litem made on or
1-24 after September 1, 1997. An appointment made before September 1,
2-1 1997, is governed by the law as it existed immediately before
2-2 September 1, 1997, and that law is continued in effect for that
2-3 purpose.
2-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.