By Goolsby H.B. No. 24
76R568 MCK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to access to a child by certain grandparents.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 153.433, Family Code, is amended to read
1-5 as follows:
1-6 Sec. 153.433. [POSSESSION OF AND] ACCESS TO GRANDCHILD.
1-7 Except as provided by Section 153.434, the [The] court shall order
1-8 reasonable access to a grandchild by a grandparent if[:]
1-9 [(1) at the time the relief is requested, at least one
1-10 biological or adoptive parent of the child has not had that
1-11 parent's parental rights terminated; and]
1-12 [(2)] access is in the best interest of the child[,
1-13 and at least one of the following facts is present:]
1-14 [(A) the grandparent requesting access to the
1-15 child is a parent of a parent of the child and that parent of the
1-16 child has been incarcerated in jail or prison during the
1-17 three-month period preceding the filing of the petition or has been
1-18 found by a court to be incompetent or is dead;]
1-19 [(B) the parents of the child are divorced or
1-20 have been living apart for the three-month period preceding the
1-21 filing of the petition or a suit for the dissolution of the
1-22 parents' marriage is pending;]
1-23 [(C) the child has been abused or neglected by a
1-24 parent of the child;]
2-1 [(D) the child has been adjudicated to be a
2-2 child in need of supervision or a delinquent child under Title 3;]
2-3 [(E) the grandparent requesting access to the
2-4 child is the parent of a person whose parent-child relationship
2-5 with the child has been terminated by court order; or]
2-6 [(F) the child has resided with the grandparent
2-7 requesting access to the child for at least six months within the
2-8 24-month period preceding the filing of the petition].
2-9 SECTION 2. Section 153.434, Family Code, is amended to read
2-10 as follows:
2-11 Sec. 153.434. LIMITATION ON RIGHT TO REQUEST ACCESS. A
2-12 biological or adoptive grandparent may not request possession of or
2-13 access to a grandchild if:
2-14 (1) the grandparent is a parent of a person:
2-15 (A) whose parental rights with the child have
2-16 been terminated by court order or by death; or
2-17 (B) [(2) the grandparent is a parent of a
2-18 person] who has executed an affidavit of waiver of interest in
2-19 child or an affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights under
2-20 Chapter 161 and the affidavit designates an authorized agency,
2-21 licensed child-placing agency, or person other than the child's
2-22 stepparent as the managing conservator of the child; and
2-23 (2) [(3)] the other biological parent has died, has
2-24 executed an affidavit of waiver of interest in child or an
2-25 affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights under Chapter 161,
2-26 or has had that parent's parental rights terminated and the
2-27 grandchild has been adopted by a person other than the child's
3-1 stepparent.
3-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-8 passage, and it is so enacted.