Bill Text: TX HB958 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the child support obligation of an obligor during the obligor's confinement in jail or prison.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-02 - Referred to Juvenile Justice & Family Issues [HB958 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB958-Introduced.html
88R3028 MLH-D | ||
By: Dutton | H.B. No. 958 |
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relating to the child support obligation of an obligor during the | ||
obligor's confinement in jail or prison. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 157.162, Family Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows: | ||
(d) The court may not find a respondent in contempt of court | ||
for failure to pay child support if the respondent, or the | ||
respondent's attorney if the respondent is confined in jail or | ||
prison at the time of the hearing, appears at the hearing and | ||
presents credible evidence showing that: | ||
(1) the unpaid child support accrued during the | ||
obligor's confinement in a local, state, or federal jail or prison | ||
for a period of at least 90 consecutive days, other than | ||
confinement: | ||
(A) for an offense constituting an act of family | ||
violence, as defined by Section 71.004, committed against the | ||
obligee or a child covered by the child support order; or | ||
(B) resulting from the obligor's failure to | ||
comply with a child support order; and | ||
(2) the obligor did not have sufficient resources | ||
available to comply with the child support order during the period | ||
of the obligor's confinement. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 157.162(d), Family Code, as added by | ||
this Act, applies to a hearing to enforce an order in a suit | ||
affecting the parent-child relationship that commences on or after | ||
the effective date of this Act. A hearing that commences before the | ||
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the | ||
date the hearing commenced, and the former law is continued in | ||
effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |