By:  Goodman (Senate Sponsor - Harris)                            H.B. No. 821
	(In the Senate - Received from the House March 31, 2003; 
April 3, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on 
Jurisprudence; May 8, 2003, reported favorably by the following 
vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 8, 2003, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the methods of providing notice of an associate judge's report in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Sections 201.011(c) and (d), Family Code, are amended to read as follows: (c) Notice may be given to the parties: (1) in open court, by an oral statement or a copy of the associate judge's written report, including any proposed order; [or] (2) by certified mail, return receipt requested; or (3) by facsimile transmission. (d) The associate judge shall certify the date of mailing of notice by certified mail or the date of the facsimile transmission. There is a rebuttable presumption that notice is received on the date stated on: (1) the signed return receipt, if notice was provided by certified mail; or (2) the confirmation page produced by the facsimile machine, if notice was provided by facsimile transmission [Notice is considered given on the third day after the date of mailing]. SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
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