1-1 By: Harris S.B. No. 435
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 4, 1997; February 6, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 March 4, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 0; March 4, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to standard orders for the possession of a child.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Sections 153.316 and 153.317, Family Code, are
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 Sec. 153.316. General Terms and Conditions. The court shall
1-13 order the following general terms and conditions of possession of a
1-14 child to apply without regard to the distance between the residence
1-15 of a parent and the child:
1-16 (1) the managing conservator shall surrender the child
1-17 to the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-18 the possessory conservator's possession at the residence of the
1-19 managing conservator;
1-20 (2) if the possessory conservator elects to begin a
1-21 period of possession at the time the child's school is regularly
1-22 dismissed, the managing conservator shall surrender the child to
1-23 the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-24 possession at the school in which the child is enrolled;
1-25 (3) the possessory conservator shall be ordered to do
1-26 one of the following:
1-27 (A) the possessory conservator shall surrender
1-28 the child to the managing conservator at the end of each period of
1-29 possession at the residence of the possessory conservator; or
1-30 (B) the possessory conservator shall return the
1-31 child to the residence of the managing conservator at the end of
1-32 each period of possession, except that the order shall provide that
1-33 the possessory conservator shall surrender the child to the
1-34 managing conservator at the end of each period of possession at the
1-35 residence of the possessory conservator if:
1-36 (i) at the time the original order or a
1-37 modification of an order establishing terms and conditions of
1-38 possession or access the possessory conservator and the managing
1-39 conservator lived in the same county, the possessory conservator's
1-40 county of residence remains the same after the rendition of the
1-41 order [establishing terms and conditions of possession and access],
1-42 and the managing conservator's county of residence changes,
1-43 effective on the date of the change of residence by the managing
1-44 conservator; or
1-45 (ii) the possessory conservator and
1-46 managing conservator lived in the same residence at any time during
1-47 a six-month period preceding the date on which a suit for
1-48 dissolution of the marriage was filed and the possessory
1-49 conservator's county of residence remains the same and the managing
1-50 conservator's county of residence changes after they no longer live
1-51 in the same residence, effective on the date the order is rendered;
1-52 (4) if the possessory conservator elects to end a
1-53 period of possession at the time the child's school resumes, the
1-54 possessory conservator shall surrender the child to the managing
1-55 conservator at the end of each period of possession at the school
1-56 in which the child is enrolled;
1-57 (5) each conservator shall return with the child the
1-58 personal effects that the child brought at the beginning of the
1-59 period of possession;
1-60 (6) either parent may designate a competent adult to
1-61 pick up and return the child, as applicable; a parent or a
1-62 designated competent adult shall be present when the child is
1-63 picked up or returned;
1-64 (7) a parent shall give notice to the person in
2-1 possession of the child on each occasion that the parent will be
2-2 unable to exercise that parent's right of possession for a
2-3 specified period;
2-4 (8) written notice shall be deemed to have been timely
2-5 made if received or postmarked before or at the time that notice is
2-6 due; and
2-7 (9) if a conservator's time of possession of a child
2-8 ends at the time school resumes and for any reason the child is not
2-9 or will not be returned to school, the conservator in possession of
2-10 the child shall immediately notify the school and the other
2-11 conservator that the child will not be or has not been returned to
2-12 school.
2-13 Sec. 153.317. Alternative Possession Times. If a child is
2-14 enrolled in school and the possessory conservator elects before or
2-15 at the time of the rendition of the original or modification order,
2-16 the standard order must [may] expressly provide that the possessory
2-17 conservator's period of possession shall begin or end, or both, at
2-18 a different time expressly set in the standard order under and
2-19 within the range of alternative times provided by one or both of
2-20 the following subdivisions:
2-21 (1) [except for the Christmas school vacation and
2-22 Wednesday evening possession,] instead of a period of possession by
2-23 a possessory conservator beginning at 6 p.m. on the day school
2-24 recesses, the period of possession may be set in the standard
2-25 possession order to begin at the time the child's school is
2-26 regularly dismissed or at any time between the time the child's
2-27 school is regularly dismissed and 6 p.m.; and
2-28 (2) except for Wednesday evening possession, instead
2-29 of a period of possession by a possessory conservator ending at 6
2-30 p.m. on the day before school resumes, the period of possession may
2-31 be set in the standard order to end at the time school resumes.
2-32 SECTION 2. The changes made by this Act to orders for the
2-33 possession of a child apply only to an order rendered on or after
2-34 the effective date of this Act. This Act does not affect the terms
2-35 or conditions of an order made before that date.
2-36 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-37 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-38 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-39 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-40 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-41 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-42 * * * * *