Parent Facilitators

The TX Legislature has added a new position. It's called PARENT FACILITATOR. Facilitators are appointed ina nonconfidential capacity. Section 153. -- to read about when and why they may be appointed, their duties and responsibilities, qualifications needed to such, etc.

Rights of Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles

As I tell grandparents that call me, if you want to see your grandchildren be nice to the parent(s) where the child(ren) live! Under Section 153 now the grandparent seeking access MUST include in the Original Petition to the Court an affidavit alleging that denial of possession and access would SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIR THE CHILD'S PHYSICAL HEALTH OR EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING. The court shall DENY the petition if the facts stated int he affidavit are INSUFFICINET to support the relief requested. If the facts clear this hurdle, the Court is NOT mandated to grant access, but may order easonable access and possession. Example, the child is 1 year old. The grandparent NOT have access to the child is NOT going to significantly impair the chid's emotional well-being. If the Court agrees to allow the petitioner to see the kid, the order MUST specially state, among other things, that the petitioners have overcome the presumption that a parent acts in the child's best interest and that denial of the relief would SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIR the child's physical health or emotional well-being. This a hard burden to overcome. Grandparents are not going to like this change. The burden to overcome the presumption that a parent acts in the child's best interest is VERY HARD TO OVERCOME. Basically, you are asking the court to say that the parent is unfit or a harm to the child. If the parent is so bad, then why is CPS not involved?

Parents in the Military

Military parents (Chapter 153) rights have been rewritten. Now others can be designated to exercise the rights and possession of the deployed and non-deployed parent, temporary modification of boht child support and possession; make up periods for visitations when the deployed parent returns home; and expedited hearings in the event of deployment. Again, the courts are overwhelmed with family law cases. How are they going to handle expedited hearings quickly? I've been finding that in order to get a hearing, I have to be prepared to wait 2-3 weeks to get in front of a judge. This is going to put more pressure on the Judges. I am interested to see how the courts handle these "expedited" hearings.

Standard Possession Order

No major changes in this area. However, there has been some "cleaning up" of this section of the Family Code.

Primary residence of the child is changed

Wow! The TX Legislature has made some big changes this time! Now if the parties agree, there is no need for one of the parents to be designed as "the parent with the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence". Now the legal documents only need to include what the geographical area will be for the minor child. Again, as attorneys wrestle with this new change, it is going to be interesting. Many parents agree that the children will live within Harris County and any county contiguous to Harris County (such as Galveston, Brazoria, Montgomery, etc.) So there are several school districts involved. One possible solution will be to restrict the child's residence to certain school districts. In theory, this is a very positive solution. However, I'm curious to see how people that have not been getting along are going to "cooperate". What will school districts do? It's unknown. Can Dad sign the kid up in Ft. Bend School District and Mom sign up the kid to attend HISD?

Statement of 12 yr. old & older says where he/she wants to live is gone!

After making changes to this section (Look up Section 153) over the years, such as lowered the age to 10 then the next Legislative session raising it back to 12, now the statement that allowed a child 12 years or older to state which parent he/she would like to live with is GONE! Now the child can meet with the judge in chambers and talk to the judge. With the courts being overwhelmed by pending family law cases, this change is probably going to slow down the process even more. Now the judge must make time in his/her schedule to meet with children. And someone must bring the children to the courthouse. I doubt that any judge will be pleased if a child misses school for this private interview. The judges in Harris County do NOT want kids to miss school. Since schools end at 3pm, then the judge will have perhaps from 4-5 pm Monday - Friday to interview children privately in their chambers. Say you need to go the Harris County and you live close to the Woodlands, it can easily take an hour to drive from that part of town to Downtown Houston. Some Harris County judges have refused to interview minor children in the past. I am interested to see how the Harris County judges handle this change!

No waiting period for a divorce in certain cases where there was family violence

There is a traditional 60-day waiting period (cooling off period) on all divorces. However, for the first time, if a respondent has been convicted, received deferred adjudication or is under an amergency protective order as a result of a court finding family violence, the court may grant a divorce prior to the normal 60 day waiting period. People that want a quick divorce will now be encouraged to allege some sort of family violence occurred in order to eliminate the traditional 60 day waiting period.

Handgun Licenses Suspended if there is a Protective Order

Family Code Section 85.022 now MANDATES that a court must suspend a respondent's license to carry a concealed handgun, if a protective order is issued against that person. Respondents will certainly now be even more motivated to fight a pending protective order.

Non-Parent Relative Authorization Agreements

Chapter 34 of the TX Family Code authorizes a parent to allow a grandparent, adult sibling or adult aunt or uncle to make certain decisions. Some of the rights that can be delegated to the non-parent relative include consenting to medical care for the minor child, obtaining health insurance, enrolling the child in school, consenting to extra-cirricular activities and allowing the child to obtain a learner's driving permit. This statue became effective 6/19/09. It allows one parent to do this without consulting with the other parent. However, is there is a pending Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (aka SAPCR) or a previous SAPCR order in effect, the agreement must be authorized by the court. This change should keep attorneys busy. I predict that a parent will sign the document to a relative and when the other parent finds out, they will be running to an attorney's office to limit a non-parent making parental decisions.

TX 81st Legislative Session has made changes in our TX Family Law Code

As I've done in previous years, I will add to this blog many of the new changes to the TX Family Code. Most went into effect on 9/1/09. You can access the TX Family Code by going to any major search engine and "googling" TX Family Code. I believe one link is... http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Index.aspx