78(R) SB 1807 - Senate Committee Report version


                                                                                


By:  Harris                                                       S.B. No. 1807
	(In the Senate - Filed March 14, 2003; March 24, 2003, read 
first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; 
April 24, 2003, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6, 
Nays 0; April 24, 2003, sent to printer.)


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to the establishment and adjudication of certain 
parent-child relationships.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 160.204, Family Code, is amended to read 
as follows:     
	Sec. 160.204.  PRESUMPTION OF PATERNITY [IN CONTEXT OF 
MARRIAGE].  (a)  A man is presumed to be the father of a child if:
		(1)  he is married to the mother of the child and the 
child is born during the marriage;
		(2)  he is married to the mother of the child and the 
child is born before the 301st day after the date the marriage is 
terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or 
divorce;
		(3)  he married the mother of the child before the birth 
of the child in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted 
marriage is or could be declared invalid, and the child is born 
during the invalid marriage or before the 301st day after the date 
the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of 
invalidity, or divorce; [or]
		(4)  he married the mother of the child after the birth 
of the child in apparent compliance with law, regardless of whether 
the marriage is or could be declared invalid, he voluntarily 
asserted his paternity of the child, and:
			(A)  the assertion is in a record filed with the 
bureau of vital statistics;
			(B)  he is voluntarily named as the child's father 
on the child's birth certificate; or
			(C)  he promised in a record to support the child 
as his own; or    
		(5)  during the first two years of the child's life, he 
continuously resided in the household in which the child resided 
and he represented to others that the child was his own.
	(b)  A presumption of paternity established under this 
section may be rebutted only by an adjudication under Subchapter G.
	SECTION 2.  Section 160.301, Family Code, is amended to read 
as follows:     
	Sec. 160.301.  ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY.  The mother of a 
child and a man claiming to be the biological father of the child 
[conceived as the result of sexual intercourse with the mother] may 
sign an acknowledgment of paternity with the intent to establish 
the man's paternity.
	SECTION 3.  Section 160.602, Family Code, is amended to read 
as follows:     
	Sec. 160.602.  STANDING TO MAINTAIN PROCEEDING.  
(a)  Subject to Subchapter D and Sections 160.607 and 160.609 and 
except as provided by Subsection (b), a proceeding to adjudicate 
parentage may be maintained by:
		(1)  the child;                                                               
		(2)  the mother of the child;                                                 
		(3)  a man whose paternity of the child is to be 
adjudicated;               
		(4)  the support enforcement agency or another 
government agency authorized by other law;
		(5)  an authorized adoption agency or licensed 
child-placing agency;        
		(6)  a representative authorized by law to act for an 
individual who would otherwise be entitled to maintain a proceeding 
but who is deceased, is incapacitated, or is a minor; or
		(7)  a person related within the second degree by 
consanguinity to the mother of the child, if the mother is deceased.
	(b)  After the date a child having no presumed, acknowledged, 
or adjudicated father becomes an adult, a proceeding to adjudicate 
the parentage of the adult child may only be maintained by the adult 
child.
	SECTION 4.  Subsection (b), Section 160.607, Family Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(b)  A proceeding seeking to disprove the father-child 
relationship between a child and the child's presumed father may be 
maintained at any time if the court determines that:
		(1)  the presumed father and the mother of the child did 
not live together or engage in sexual intercourse with each other 
during the probable time of conception; and
		(2)  the presumed father never represented to others 
that [openly treated] the child was [as] his own.
	SECTION 5.  Section 160.608, Family Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (f) to read as 
follows:
	(a)  In a proceeding to adjudicate parentage [under 
circumstances described by Section 160.607], a court may deny a 
motion for an order for the genetic testing of the mother, the 
child, and the presumed father if the court determines that:
		(1)  the conduct of the mother or the presumed father 
estops that party from denying parentage; and
		(2)  it would be inequitable to disprove the 
father-child relationship between the child and the presumed 
father.
	(f)  This section applies to a proceeding to rescind or 
challenge an acknowledgment of paternity or a denial of paternity 
as provided by Section 160.309(d).
	SECTION 6.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to 
a suit affecting the parent-child relationship commenced on or 
after the effective date of this Act.  A suit affecting the 
parent-child relationship commenced before the effective date of 
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was 
commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for that 
purpose.
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                           



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