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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