Bill Text: TX HB980 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the privilege against disclosure of certain collaborative family law communications.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-10 - Referred to State Affairs [HB980 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB980-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to the privilege against disclosure of certain collaborative family law communications.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-10 - Referred to State Affairs [HB980 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB980-Introduced.html
88R1832 MLH-F | ||
By: Cook | H.B. No. 980 |
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relating to the privilege against disclosure of certain | ||
collaborative family law communications. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 15.115(a), Family Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(a) The privilege prescribed by Section 15.114 does not | ||
apply to a collaborative family law communication that is: | ||
(1) in an agreement resulting from the collaborative | ||
family law process, evidenced in a record signed by all parties to | ||
the agreement; | ||
(2) subject to an express waiver of the privilege in a | ||
record or orally during a proceeding if the waiver is made by all | ||
parties and nonparty participants; | ||
(3) available to the public under Chapter 552, | ||
Government Code, or made during a session of a collaborative family | ||
law process that is open, or is required by law to be open, to the | ||
public; | ||
(4) a threat or statement of a plan to inflict bodily | ||
injury or commit a crime of violence; | ||
(5) a disclosure of a plan to commit or attempt to | ||
commit a crime, or conceal an ongoing crime or ongoing criminal | ||
activity; | ||
(6) a disclosure in a report of: | ||
(A) suspected abuse or neglect of a child to an | ||
appropriate agency under Subchapter B, Chapter 261, or in a | ||
proceeding regarding the abuse or neglect of a child, except that | ||
evidence may be excluded in the case of communications between an | ||
attorney and client under Subchapter C, Chapter 261; or | ||
(B) abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an elderly | ||
or disabled person to an appropriate agency under Subchapter B, | ||
Chapter 48, Human Resources Code; or | ||
(7) sought or offered to prove or disprove: | ||
(A) a claim or complaint of professional | ||
misconduct or malpractice arising from or related to a | ||
collaborative family law process; | ||
(B) an allegation that the settlement agreement | ||
was procured by fraud, duress, coercion, or other dishonest means | ||
or that terms of the settlement agreement are illegal; or | ||
(C) the necessity and reasonableness of | ||
attorney's fees and related expenses incurred during a | ||
collaborative family law process or to challenge or defend the | ||
enforceability of the collaborative family law settlement | ||
agreement[ |
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SECTION 2. Section 15.115, Family Code, as amended by this | ||
Act, applies to a disclosure made on or after the effective date of | ||
this Act, regardless of whether the communication that is the | ||
subject of the disclosure was made before, on, or after that date. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |