By Van de Putte                                        S.B. No. 668
         77R4798 KSD-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the service of citation by publication in a suit
 1-3     affecting the parent-child relationship.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 102.010(a), Family Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  In a suit, citation [Citation] may be served by
 1-8     publication as in other civil cases to persons entitled to service
 1-9     of citation who cannot be notified by personal service or
1-10     registered or certified mail and to persons whose names are
1-11     unknown.  Citation by publication may be completed in a suit,
1-12     including a suit for dissolution of marriage that is consolidated
1-13     with the suit under this title, by posting the citation at the
1-14     courthouse door for seven days in the county in which the suit is
1-15     filed without satisfying any additional requirements or
1-16     restrictions that apply to citation by publication in a suit for
1-17     dissolution of marriage.
1-18           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
1-19     applies only to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship
1-20     filed on or after that date.  A suit affecting the parent-child
1-21     relationship filed before the effective date of this Act is
1-22     governed by the law in effect on the date that the suit was filed,
1-23     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.