Bill Text: TX HB901 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to spousal maintenance.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-6)

Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [HB901 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB901-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 901

AN ACT
relating to spousal maintenance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 8.051 and 8.052, Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 8.051. ELIGIBILITY FOR MAINTENANCE; COURT ORDER. In a
suit for dissolution of a marriage or in a proceeding for
maintenance in a court with personal jurisdiction over both former
spouses following the dissolution of their marriage by a court that
lacked personal jurisdiction over an absent spouse, the court may
order maintenance for either spouse only if the spouse seeking
maintenance will lack sufficient property, including the spouse's
separate property, on dissolution of the marriage to provide for
the spouse's minimum reasonable needs and:
(1) the spouse from whom maintenance is requested was
convicted of or received deferred adjudication for a criminal
offense that also constitutes an act of family violence, as defined
by Section 71.004, committed during the marriage against the other
spouse or the other spouse's child and the offense occurred:
(A) within two years before the date on which a
suit for dissolution of the marriage is filed; or
(B) while the suit is pending; or
(2) the spouse seeking maintenance:
(A) is unable to earn sufficient income to
provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable needs because of an
incapacitating physical or mental disability;
(B) has been married to the other spouse for 10
years or longer and lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to
provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable needs; or
(C) [:
[(1) the spouse from whom maintenance is requested was
convicted of or received deferred adjudication for a criminal
offense that also constitutes an act of family violence under Title
4 and the offense occurred:
[(A) within two years before the date on which a
suit for dissolution of the marriage is filed; or
[(B) while the suit is pending; or
[(2) the duration of the marriage was 10 years or
longer, the spouse seeking maintenance lacks sufficient property,
including property distributed to the spouse under this code, to
provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable needs, as limited by
Section 8.054, and the spouse seeking maintenance:
[(A) is unable to support himself or herself
through appropriate employment because of an incapacitating
physical or mental disability;
[(B)] is the custodian of a child of the marriage
of any age who requires substantial care and personal supervision
because of a physical or mental disability that prevents the spouse
from earning sufficient income to provide for the spouse's minimum
reasonable needs [makes it necessary, taking into consideration the
needs of the child, that the spouse not be employed outside the
home; or
[(C) clearly lacks earning ability in the labor
market adequate to provide support for the spouse's minimum
reasonable needs, as limited by Section 8.054].
Sec. 8.052. FACTORS IN DETERMINING MAINTENANCE. A court
that determines that a spouse is eligible to receive maintenance
under this chapter shall determine the nature, amount, duration,
and manner of periodic payments by considering all relevant
factors, including:
(1) each [the financial resources of the spouse
seeking maintenance, including the community and separate property
and liabilities apportioned to that spouse in the dissolution
proceeding, and that] spouse's ability to provide for that [meet
the] spouse's minimum reasonable needs independently, considering
that spouse's financial resources on dissolution of the marriage;
(2) the education and employment skills of the
spouses, the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or
training to enable the spouse seeking maintenance to earn
sufficient income, and [find appropriate employment,] the
availability and feasibility of that education or training[, and
the feasibility of that education or training];
(3) the duration of the marriage;
(4) the age, employment history, earning ability, and
physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance;
(5) the effect on each spouse's ability to provide for
that spouse's minimum reasonable needs while providing [of the
spouse from whom maintenance is requested to meet that spouse's
personal needs and to provide] periodic child support payments or
maintenance, if applicable[, while meeting the personal needs of
the spouse seeking maintenance];
(6) acts by either spouse resulting in excessive or
abnormal expenditures or destruction, concealment, or fraudulent
disposition of community property, joint tenancy, or other property
held in common;
(7) [the comparative financial resources of the
spouses, including medical, retirement, insurance, or other
benefits, and the separate property of each spouse;
[(8)] the contribution by one spouse to the education,
training, or increased earning power of the other spouse;
(8) [(9)] the property brought to the marriage by
either spouse;
(9) [(10)] the contribution of a spouse as homemaker;
(10) [(11)] marital misconduct, including adultery
and cruel treatment, by either spouse during the marriage [of the
spouse seeking maintenance]; and
(11) any history or pattern of family violence, as
defined by Section 71.004 [(12) the efforts of the spouse seeking
maintenance to pursue available employment counseling as provided
by Chapter 304, Labor Code].
SECTION 2. Section 8.053(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) It [Except as provided by Subsection (b), it] is a
rebuttable presumption [presumed] that maintenance under Section
8.051(2)(B) [8.051(2)] is not warranted unless the spouse seeking
maintenance has exercised diligence in:
(1) earning sufficient income to provide for the
spouse's minimum reasonable needs [seeking suitable employment];
or
(2) developing the necessary skills to provide for the
spouse's minimum reasonable needs [become self-supporting] during
a period of separation and during the time the suit for dissolution
of the marriage is pending.
SECTION 3. Section 8.054, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 8.054. DURATION OF MAINTENANCE ORDER. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (b), a court:
(1) may not order maintenance that remains in effect
for more than:
(A) five [three] years after the date of the
order, if:
(i) the spouses were married to each other
for less than 10 years and the eligibility of the spouse for whom
maintenance is ordered is established under Section 8.051(1); or
(ii) the spouses were married to each other
for at least 10 years but not more than 20 years;
(B) seven years after the date of the order, if
the spouses were married to each other for at least 20 years but not
more than 30 years; or
(C) 10 years after the date of the order, if the
spouses were married to each other for 30 years or more; and
(2) shall limit the duration of a maintenance order to
the shortest reasonable period that allows the spouse seeking
maintenance to earn sufficient income to provide for [meet] the
spouse's minimum reasonable needs [by obtaining appropriate
employment or developing an appropriate skill], unless the ability
of the spouse to provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable needs
[through employment] is substantially or totally diminished
because of:
(A) physical or mental disability of the spouse
seeking maintenance;
(B) duties as the custodian of an infant or young
child of the marriage; or
(C) another compelling impediment to earning
sufficient income to provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable
needs [gainful employment].
(b) The [If a spouse seeking maintenance is unable to
support himself or herself through appropriate employment because
the spouse has an incapacitating physical or mental disability or
because the spouse is the custodian of a child of the marriage of
any age who has a physical or mental disability, the] court may
order maintenance for a spouse to whom Section 8.051(2)(A) or (C)
applies for as long as the spouse continues to satisfy the
eligibility criteria prescribed by the applicable provision [the
disability continues. The court may order periodic review of its
order, on the request of either party or on its own motion, to
determine whether the disability continues to render the spouse
unable to support himself or herself through appropriate
employment. The continuation of spousal maintenance under these
circumstances is subject to a motion to modify as provided by
Section 8.057].
(c) On the request of either party or on the court's own
motion, the court may order the periodic review of its order for
maintenance under Subsection (b).
(d) The continuation of maintenance ordered under
Subsection (b) is subject to a motion to modify as provided by
Section 8.057.
SECTION 4. Section 8.055, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to read as
follows:
(a) A court may not order maintenance that requires an
obligor to pay monthly more than the lesser of:
(1) $5,000 [$2,500]; or
(2) 20 percent of the spouse's average monthly gross
income.
(a-1) For purposes of this chapter, gross income:
(1) includes:
(A) 100 percent of all wage and salary income and
other compensation for personal services (including commissions,
overtime pay, tips, and bonuses);
(B) interest, dividends, and royalty income;
(C) self-employment income;
(D) net rental income (defined as rent after
deducting operating expenses and mortgage payments, but not
including noncash items such as depreciation); and
(E) all other income actually being received,
including severance pay, retirement benefits, pensions, trust
income, annuities, capital gains, unemployment benefits, interest
income from notes regardless of the source, gifts and prizes,
maintenance, and alimony; and
(2) does not include:
(A) return of principal or capital;
(B) accounts receivable;
(C) benefits paid in accordance with federal
public assistance programs;
(D) benefits paid in accordance with the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program;
(E) payments for foster care of a child;
(F) Department of Veterans Affairs
service-connected disability compensation;
(G) supplemental security income (SSI), social
security benefits, and disability benefits; or
(H) workers' compensation benefits.
SECTION 5. Section 8.056, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b) After a hearing, the court shall order the termination
of [terminate] the maintenance obligation [order] if the court
finds that the obligee cohabits with another person with whom the
obligee has a dating or romantic relationship in a permanent place
of abode on a continuing[, conjugal] basis.
(c) Termination of the maintenance obligation does not
terminate the obligation to pay any maintenance that accrued before
the date of termination, whether as a result of death or remarriage
under Subsection (a) or a court order under Subsection (b).
SECTION 6. Sections 8.057(c) and (d), Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) After a hearing, the court may modify an original or
modified order or portion of a decree providing for maintenance on a
proper showing of a material and substantial change in
circumstances, including circumstances reflected in the factors
specified in Section 8.052, relating to [of] either party or to a
child of the marriage described by Section 8.051(2)(C), if
applicable. The court shall apply the modification only to payment
accruing after the filing of the motion to modify.
(d) A loss of employment or circumstances that render a
former spouse unable to provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable
needs [support himself or herself through appropriate employment]
by reason of incapacitating physical or mental disability that
occur after the divorce or annulment are not grounds for the
institution of spousal maintenance for the benefit of the former
spouse.
SECTION 7. Sections 8.059(a), (b), and (d), Family Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The court may enforce by contempt against the obligor
the court's maintenance order or an agreement for the payment of
maintenance under the terms of this chapter voluntarily entered
into between the parties and approved by the court. The court may
not enforce by contempt any provision of an agreed order for
maintenance for any period of maintenance beyond the period of
maintenance the court could have ordered under this chapter.
(b) On the suit to enforce by an obligee, the court may
render judgment against a defaulting party for the amount of
arrearages after notice by service of citation, answer, if any, and
a hearing finding that the defaulting party has failed or refused to
comply with [carry out] the terms of the order. The judgment may be
enforced by any means available for the enforcement of judgment for
debts.
(d) The issue of the existence of an affirmative defense
does not arise until pleaded. An [unless evidence is admitted
supporting the defense. If the issue of the existence of an
affirmative defense arises, an] obligor must prove the affirmative
defense by a preponderance of the evidence.
SECTION 8. Subchapter B, Chapter 8, Family Code, is amended
by adding Section 8.0591 to read as follows:
Sec. 8.0591. OVERPAYMENT. (a) If an obligor is not in
arrears on the obligor's maintenance obligation and the obligor's
maintenance obligation has terminated, the obligee must return to
the obligor any maintenance payment made by the obligor that
exceeds the amount of maintenance ordered or approved by the court,
regardless of whether the payment was made before, on, or after the
date the maintenance obligation terminated.
(b) An obligor may file a suit to recover overpaid
maintenance under Subsection (a). If the court finds that the
obligee failed to return overpaid maintenance under Subsection (a),
the court shall order the obligee to pay the obligor's attorney's
fees and all court costs in addition to the amount of the overpaid
maintenance. For good cause shown, the court may waive the
requirement that the obligee pay attorney's fees and court costs if
the court states in its order the reasons supporting that finding.
SECTION 9. The following provisions of the Family Code are
repealed:
(1) Section 8.053(b);
(2) Sections 8.055(b), (c), and (d); and
(3) Section 8.059(e).
SECTION 10. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of
this section, the changes in law made by this Act to Subchapter B,
Chapter 8, Family Code, apply only to a suit for dissolution of a
marriage or proceeding for maintenance that was commenced on or
after the effective date of this Act. A suit for dissolution of a
marriage or proceeding for maintenance commenced before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the suit or proceeding was commenced, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) Section 8.0591, Family Code, as added by this Act,
applies to an order for maintenance under Subchapter B, Chapter 8,
Family Code, regardless of whether the order was rendered before,
on, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 901 was passed by the House on April
26, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 7, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 901 was passed by the Senate on May
18, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor