By Staples H.B. No. 1427
76R1630 CMR-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the limitations period for filing a suit for unpaid
1-3 court-ordered child support.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 157, Family Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 157.0055 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 157.0055. LIMITATIONS PERIOD FOR FILING MOTION TO
1-8 ENFORCE CHILD SUPPORT. A motion to enforce child support must be
1-9 filed not later than the fifth anniversary of the due date for the
1-10 last unpaid court-ordered child support obligation.
1-11 SECTION 2. Section 157.005(b), Family Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 (b) The court retains jurisdiction to confirm the total
1-14 amount of child support arrearages and render judgment for past-due
1-15 child support if a motion for enforcement requesting a money
1-16 judgment is filed not later than the fifth [fourth] anniversary
1-17 after the date:
1-18 (1) the child becomes an adult; or
1-19 (2) on which the child support obligation terminates
1-20 under the order or by operation of law.
1-21 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-22 applies only to a motion to enforce child support for an unpaid
1-23 child support obligation due on or after that date, without regard
1-24 to whether the order for child support was entered before, on, or
2-1 after that date.
2-2 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.