By Smith                                               H.B. No. 753
         76R9404 CMR-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a child's choice in certain family law suits.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 45.002(b), Family Code, is amended to
 1-5     read as follows:
 1-6           (b)  If the child is 10 [12] years of age or older, the
 1-7     child's written consent to the change of name must be attached to
 1-8     the petition.
 1-9           SECTION 2.  Section 153.008, Family Code, is amended to read
1-10     as follows:
1-11           Sec. 153.008. CHILD'S CHOICE OF MANAGING CONSERVATOR. If the
1-12     child is 10 [12] years of age or older, the child may, by writing
1-13     filed with  the court, choose the managing conservator, subject to
1-14     the approval of the court.
1-15           SECTION 3.  Section 156.006(b), Family Code, is amended to
1-16     read as follows:
1-17           (b)  While a suit for modification is pending, the court may
1-18     not render a temporary order that has the effect of changing the
1-19     designation of a sole or joint managing conservator appointed in a
1-20     final order unless:
1-21                 (1)  the order is necessary because the child's present
1-22     living environment may endanger the child's physical health or
1-23     significantly impair the child's emotional development;
1-24                 (2)  the child's managing conservator has voluntarily
 2-1     relinquished the actual care, control, and possession of the child
 2-2     for more than six months and the temporary order is in the best
 2-3     interest of the child; or
 2-4                 (3)  the child is 10 [12] years of age or older and has
 2-5     filed with the court in writing the name of the person who is the
 2-6     child's choice for managing conservator and the temporary order
 2-7     naming that person as managing conservator is in the best interest
 2-8     of the child.
 2-9           SECTION 4.  Section 156.101(b), Family Code, is amended to
2-10     read as follows:
2-11           (b)  The court may modify an order that designates a sole
2-12     managing conservator of a child 10 [12] years of age or older if:
2-13                 (1)  the child has filed with the court in writing the
2-14     name of the person who is the child's choice for managing
2-15     conservator; and
2-16                 (2)  the court finds that the appointment of the named
2-17     person is in the best interest of the child.
2-18           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-19     applies only to a petition for a change of name of a child or a
2-20     suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed on or after that
2-21     date. A petition or a suit filed before the effective date of this
2-22     Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the petition or
2-23     the suit was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
2-24     that purpose.
2-25           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.