By: Harris S.B. No. 432

(In the Senate - Filed February 2, 2007; February 21, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; March 15, 2007, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; March 15, 2007, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the consent to and annulment of certain marriages.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subsections (b), (g), and (h), Section 2.102, Family Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) Parental consent must be evidenced by a written declaration on a form supplied by the county clerk in which the person consents to the marriage and swears that the person is a parent (if there is no person who has the court-ordered right to consent to marriage for the applicant [judicially designated managing conservator or guardian of the applicant's person]) or a person who has the court-ordered right to consent to marriage for the applicant [judicially designated managing conservator or guardian] (whether an individual, authorized agency, or court) [of the applicant's person].

(g) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly provides parental consent for an underage applicant under this section and the person is not a parent or a person who has the court-ordered right to consent to marriage for [judicially designated managing conservator or guardian of] the applicant. An offense under this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor.

(h) A parent or a person who has the court-ordered right to consent to marriage for the [judicially designated managing conservator or guardian of an] applicant commits an offense if the parent or other person[, managing conservator, or guardian] knowingly provides parental consent under this section for an applicant who is younger than 16 years of age or who is presently married to a person other than the person the applicant desires to marry. An offense under this subsection is a felony of the third degree.

SECTION 2. Subsections (b), (c), and (d), Section 2.103, Family Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) The petition must be filed in the county where a parent resides if a court has not awarded another person the right to consent to marriage for the minor [a managing conservator or a guardian of the person has not been appointed]. If a court has awarded another person the right to consent to marriage for the minor [a managing conservator or a guardian of the person has been appointed], the petition must be filed in the county where that [the managing conservator or the guardian of the] person resides. If no parent or person who has the court-ordered right [authorized] to consent to marriage for the minor resides in this state, the petition must be filed in the county where the minor lives.

(c) The petition must include:

(1) a statement of the reasons the minor desires to marry;

(2) a statement of whether each parent is living or is dead;

(3) the name and residence address of each living parent; and

(4) a statement of whether a court has awarded to a person other than a parent of the minor the right to consent to marriage [managing conservator or a guardian of the person has been appointed] for the minor.

(d) Process shall be served as in other civil cases on each living parent of the minor or on a person who has the court-ordered right to consent to marriage for the minor, as applicable[, if a managing conservator or a guardian of the person has been appointed, on the managing conservator or guardian of the person]. Citation may be given by publication as in other civil cases, except that notice shall be published one time only.

SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 6.102, Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The court may grant an annulment of a [licensed or informal] marriage of a person 16 years of age or older but under 18 years of age that occurred without parental consent or without a court order as provided by Subchapters B and E, Chapter 2.

SECTION 4. Section 6.103, Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 6.103. UNDERAGE ANNULMENT BARRED BY ADULTHOOD. A suit to annul a marriage may not be filed under Section [6.101 or] 6.102 by a parent, managing conservator, or guardian of a person after the 18th birthday of the person.

SECTION 5. Subsection (a), Section 6.104, Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) An annulment under Section [6.101 or] 6.102 of a marriage may be granted at the discretion of the court sitting without a jury.

SECTION 6. Section 6.205, Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 6.205. MARRIAGE TO MINOR. A marriage is void if either party to the marriage is younger than 16 years of age, unless a court order has been obtained under Section 2.103.

SECTION 7. Section 6.703, Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 6.703. JURY. In a suit for dissolution of a marriage, either party may demand a jury trial unless the action is a suit to annul an underage marriage under Section [6.101 or] 6.102.

SECTION 8. Section 6.101, Family Code, is repealed.

SECTION 9. (a) The change in law made by this Act to Section 2.102, Family Code, applies only to an application for a marriage license filed on or after the effective date of this Act. An application filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

(b) The change in law made by this Act to Section 2.103, Family Code, applies only to a suit under that section filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A suit filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

(c) The change in law made by this Act to Section 6.205, Family Code, applies to a marriage regardless of whether the marriage was entered into before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.

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