By Harris                                        S.B. No. 799

      75R4998 JBN-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 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.