AN ACT
1-1 relating to standard orders for the possession of a child.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Sections 153.316 and 153.317, Family Code, are
1-4 amended to read as follows:
1-5 Sec. 153.316. General Terms and Conditions. The court shall
1-6 order the following general terms and conditions of possession of a
1-7 child to apply without regard to the distance between the residence
1-8 of a parent and the child:
1-9 (1) the managing conservator shall surrender the child
1-10 to the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-11 the possessory conservator's possession at the residence of the
1-12 managing conservator;
1-13 (2) if the possessory conservator elects to begin a
1-14 period of possession at the time the child's school is regularly
1-15 dismissed, the managing conservator shall surrender the child to
1-16 the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-17 possession at the school in which the child is enrolled;
1-18 (3) the possessory conservator shall be ordered to do
1-19 one of the following:
1-20 (A) the possessory conservator shall surrender
1-21 the child to the managing conservator at the end of each period of
1-22 possession at the residence of the possessory conservator; or
1-23 (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
3-1 in which the child is enrolled;
3-2 (5) each conservator shall return with the child the
3-3 personal effects that the child brought at the beginning of the
3-4 period of possession;
3-5 (6) either parent may designate a competent adult to
3-6 pick up and return the child, as applicable; a parent or a
3-7 designated competent adult shall be present when the child is
3-8 picked up or returned;
3-9 (7) a parent shall give notice to the person in
3-10 possession of the child on each occasion that the parent will be
3-11 unable to exercise that parent's right of possession for a
3-12 specified period;
3-13 (8) written notice shall be deemed to have been timely
3-14 made if received or postmarked before or at the time that notice is
3-15 due; and
3-16 (9) if a conservator's time of possession of a child
3-17 ends at the time school resumes and for any reason the child is not
3-18 or will not be returned to school, the conservator in possession of
3-19 the child shall immediately notify the school and the other
3-20 conservator that the child will not be or has not been returned to
3-21 school.
3-22 Sec. 153.317. Alternative Possession Times. If a child is
3-23 enrolled in school and the possessory conservator elects before or
3-24 at the time of the rendition of the original or modification order,
3-25 the standard order must [may] expressly provide that the possessory
4-1 conservator's period of possession shall begin or end, or both, at
4-2 a different time expressly set in the standard order under and
4-3 within the range of alternative times provided by one or both of
4-4 the following subdivisions:
4-5 (1) [except for the Christmas school vacation and
4-6 Wednesday evening possession,] instead of a period of possession by
4-7 a possessory conservator beginning at 6 p.m. on the day school
4-8 recesses, the period of possession may be set in the standard
4-9 possession order to begin at the time the child's school is
4-10 regularly dismissed or at any time between the time the child's
4-11 school is regularly dismissed and 6 p.m.; and
4-12 (2) except for Wednesday evening possession, instead
4-13 of a period of possession by a possessory conservator ending at 6
4-14 p.m. on the day before school resumes, the period of possession may
4-15 be set in the standard order to end at the time school resumes.
4-16 SECTION 2. The changes made by this Act to orders for the
4-17 possession of a child apply only to an order rendered on or after
4-18 the effective date of this Act. This Act does not affect the terms
4-19 or conditions of an order made before that date.
4-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 435 passed the Senate on
March 13, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 435 passed the House on
April 3, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor