Amend CSSB 228 (House Committee Printing) by adding the
following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and
renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill appropriately:
SECTION ____. Subtitle D, Title 5, Family Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 237 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 237. ADMINISTRATIVE DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDER
Sec. 237.001. RENDITION OF ADMINISTRATIVE DOMESTIC
RELATIONS ORDER. (a) The director of the Title IV-D agency or an
assistant attorney general designated by the director may render an
administrative domestic relations order to be delivered to a
retirement plan subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. Section 1001 et seq.) or the law of
this state to enforce a child support obligation against an obligor
who has or will have vested retirement benefits under the plan.
(b) The Title IV-D agency may render an administrative
domestic relations order under this chapter until all current child
support and arrearages owed by the obligor, including money due for
medical support, have been paid.
(c) A domestic relations order under this chapter must:
(1) be signed by the director of the Title IV-D agency
or the director's designee; and
(2) include a statement that the assignment of
benefits under the order is effective on the date the order is
received by the retirement plan but that the retirement plan shall
delay any distribution to the alternate payee until the first
regularly scheduled distribution that occurs at least 30 days after
that date in order to permit the obligor an opportunity to contest
the order under Section 237.006.
Sec. 237.002. EFFECT OF DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDER BY COURT.
(a) The Title IV-D agency may not render a domestic relations
order under this chapter for a suit affecting the parent-child
relationship in which:
(1) a judge or an associate judge of a court of
continuing jurisdiction renders a domestic relations order in the
suit with respect to a retirement plan in which a child support
obligor has or will have vested retirement benefits; and
(2) the court's order provides for the enforcement of
the obligor's child support obligation.
(b) A domestic relations order rendered by the Title IV-D
agency before the court's order remains in effect to the extent that
the provisions of the order under this chapter are not superseded by
the court's order.
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the Title IV-D agency
may render a domestic relations order reflecting that child support
arrearages have been paid in full.
Sec. 237.003. PLAN DISTRIBUTIONS AS TAXABLE INCOME. (a) A
domestic relations order rendered under this chapter must provide
that all plan distributions from tax-deferred benefits for the
payment of child support shall be reported by the plan as income of
the plan participant for federal income tax purposes.
(b) If a plan administrator refuses to accept the domestic
relations order as qualified because of the provision required by
Subsection (a), the Title IV-D agency may file a motion in the court
of continuing jurisdiction to have the payment credit for plan
distributions for which the obligee incurs a tax liability reduced
by the amount of the obligee's marginal tax rate. After notice and
hearing under Chapter 157, the court shall grant the agency's
motion on sufficient proof of the obligee's marginal tax rate.
Sec. 237.004. FILING ADMINISTRATIVE DOMESTIC RELATIONS
ORDER. The Title IV-D agency shall file a copy of an administrative
domestic relations order with the court of continuing jurisdiction
not later than the third business day after the date the order is
sent to the retirement plan.
Sec. 237.005. NOTICE OF ORDER. (a) Not later than the 12th
business day after the date the administrative domestic relations
order is sent to the retirement plan, the Title IV-D agency shall
send to the obligor, the obligee, and any other party:
(1) notice that a domestic relations order has been
rendered by the agency and transmitted to the retirement plan
together with a statement of the procedures by which a party may
contest the order with regard to the identity of the obligor or the
existence or amount of a current child support obligation or
arrearages; and
(2) a copy of the order.
(b) The notice required under this section may be delivered
to a party by:
(1) personal delivery by a person designated by the
Title IV-D agency;
(2) first-class mail to the party's address on file
with the state case registry and to the party's last known address,
if different; or
(3) service of citation as in civil cases generally.
Sec. 237.006. CONTEST OF ADMINISTRATIVE DOMESTIC RELATIONS
ORDER. (a) A party who receives a notice under Section 237.005 may
request a review by the Title IV-D agency to resolve any issue in
dispute regarding the identity of the obligor or the existence or
amount of a current child support obligation or arrearages.
(b) The Title IV-D agency shall promptly provide an
opportunity for a review either by a telephone conference or in
person as appropriate to the circumstances. If the agency receives
a request for review under this section not later than the 15th day
after the date the agency sent notice under Section 237.005 to the
party requesting the review, and the agency is not able to complete
the review within 24 days after the date the agency sent the order
to the retirement plan, the agency shall render a temporary order
directing the plan to delay distribution to the alternate payee
until receiving further order from the agency.
(c) After a review under this section, the Title IV-D agency
may render a new administrative domestic relations order that
modifies or terminates the previous order.
(d) If a review under this section fails to resolve any
issue in dispute, the party may file with the court a motion under
Chapter 157 to withdraw or modify the administrative domestic
relations order or to replace the order with an alternative payment
arrangement. In determining whether to withdraw, modify, or
replace the agency's order, the court may consider the subsistence
needs of the obligor and the obligor's family against the right of
the obligee to have child support arrearages paid as quickly as
possible.
SECTION ____. Subsection (a), Section 9.101, Family Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,
the court that rendered a final decree of divorce or annulment or
another final order dividing property under this title retains
continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to render an enforceable
qualified domestic relations order or similar order permitting
payment of pension, retirement plan, or other employee benefits
divisible under the law of this state or of the United States to an
alternate payee or other lawful payee, except that a court with
jurisdiction under Title 5 may render an enforceable qualified
domestic relations order to enforce support for a child.
SECTION ____. Subsection (e), Section 201.104, Family Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(e) Notwithstanding Subsection (d) and subject to Section
201.1042(g), an associate judge may hear and render an order on:
(1) a suit to modify or clarify an existing child
support order;
(2) a motion to enforce a child support order,
including a motion for the rendition of a qualified domestic
relations order for child support, or revoke a respondent's
community supervision and suspension of commitment; or
(3) a respondent's compliance with the conditions
provided in the associate judge's report for suspension of the
respondent's commitment.
SECTION ____. Subsection (e), Section 231.002, Family Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(e) The Title IV-D agency may take the following
administrative actions with respect to the location of a parent,
the determination of parentage, and the establishment,
modification, and enforcement of child support and medical support
orders required by 42 U.S.C. Section 666(c), without obtaining an
order from any other judicial or administrative tribunal:
(1) issue an administrative subpoena, as provided by
Section 231.303, to obtain financial or other information;
(2) order genetic testing for parentage
determination, as provided by Chapter 233;
(3) order income withholding, as provided by Chapter
233, and issue an administrative writ of withholding, as provided
by Chapter 158; [and]
(4) take any action with respect to execution,
collection, and release of a judgment or lien for child support
necessary to satisfy the judgment or lien, as provided by Chapter
157; and
(5) render an administrative domestic relations order
under Chapter 237.
SECTION ____. Subsection (b), Section 804.003, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided in Subsection (d), the
administrative head of a public retirement system to which this
chapter applies and to which a domestic relations order is
submitted or his designee has exclusive authority to determine
whether a domestic relations order, or an administrative domestic
relations order rendered by the Title IV-D agency under Chapter
237, Family Code, is a qualified domestic relations order. A
determination by the administrative head or his designee under this
section may be appealed only to the board of trustees of the public
retirement system. An appeal to the board of trustees of a
statewide retirement system is a contested case under Chapter 2001.
However, the board of a statewide retirement system by rule may
waive the requirement of an appeal to the board. On appeal of a
decision made by the board of trustees or by the administrative head
if there is no appeal to the board under this section, the standard
of review is by substantial evidence.