By Uher                                               H.B. No. 2435
         76R7936 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the requirement that child support in excess of certain
 1-3     amounts under the child support guidelines be placed in a trust for
 1-4     the child.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 154, Family Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Section 154.013 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 154.013.  PLACEMENT OF CERTAIN CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS IN
 1-9     TRUST.  (a)  This section applies only to an obligor who is
1-10     required to pay a monthly child support obligation under Section
1-11     154.126 that includes an amount in excess of the presumptive amount
1-12     established for the first $6,000 of the obligor's net resources and
1-13     the obligee did not establish, at the time the amount was ordered,
1-14     that the amount in excess of that presumptive amount is necessary
1-15     to support the proven needs of the child.
1-16           (b)  An obligor subject to this section shall pay the amount
1-17     of child support that exceeds the presumptive amount established
1-18     for the first $6,000 of the obligor's net resources into a trust
1-19     established for the child.  A trust established as provided by this
1-20     subsection is for the payment of the child's education and other
1-21     expenses, and the child may receive the proceeds of the trust after
1-22     the child's 18th birthday in the manner provided by the terms of
1-23     the trust.
1-24           (c)  A court that enters a child support order under which an
 2-1     obligor is required to make a monthly child support payment for a
 2-2     child that exceeds the presumptive amount established for the first
 2-3     $6,000 of the obligor's net resources shall include in the order a
 2-4     statement establishing that amount, the requirement that a trust be
 2-5     established as provided by this section, and any other terms for
 2-6     the trust the court determines to be in the best interests of the
 2-7     child.
 2-8           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-9           (b)  The change in law made by this Act relating to the
2-10     establishment of a trust from certain child support payments
2-11     applies only to a payment made under a child support order that is
2-12     entered or modified on or after the effective date of this Act.
2-13           (c)  The change in law made by this Act is not sufficient by
2-14     itself to constitute a material and substantial change in the
2-15     circumstances of a child for whose benefit a child support order
2-16     has been entered to warrant modification of the order under Chapter
2-17     156, Family Code.
2-18           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.