Legislature Passes Important Changes to Texas Family Law
The 81st Texas Legislature passed two bills that could impact Texas family law in important ways.
September 05, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Legislature Passes Important Changes to Texas Family Law
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Senate Bill 866: Bringing Back Reimbursements and Offsets in Divorce
After much criticism by family practice and divorce attorneys, the Texas legislature finally took action to amend the state's laws on economic contribution and return to more traditional reimbursement and offset principles. Claims for economic contribution are made in divorce cases when one spouse requests the other spouse to repay money for certain types of expenditures made to benefit either the spouse's own separate property or the community property owned jointly by the spouses.
In legal terms, there are three separate estates that own property: the marital estate (the property owned jointly by the spouses); the husband's estate (the property owned solely by the husband); and the wife's estate (the property owned solely by the wife). One of the most complex issues in many divorces is determining which property belongs to which estate and how to divide that property between the spouses.
Under prior Texas law, spouses in a divorce action could make a claim for economic contribution or reimbursement, depending on a confusing statutory definition and formula. Senate Bill 866 helps simplify the law by returning to legal principles that are easier for courts and lawyers to understand and apply. Under the new law, economic contribution has been completely eliminated and replaced solely by claims for reimbursement.
To understand how reimbursement and offsets work, consider the following example. Prior to marriage, the wife owned a rental property in Corpus Christi. After the marriage, the husband then used his own money -- money from the husband's estate -- to improve the house. At the time of the divorce, the husband may request that the wife reimburse him for the money he spent on improving her property.
The wife then may claim that the husband received a benefit from the use and enjoyment of the property and that this benefit should be used to offset any reimbursement owed by her. The court may then decide to grant or deny the reimbursement and the offset.
Senate Bill 866 also clarifies the rules regarding when a spouse owns a separate interest in employer-owned restricted stock plans and authorizes the court to award attorney fees in certain property division enforcement actions. The changes in the law go into effect on September 1, 2009.
House Bill 1012: Changes to Child Custody Matters
House Bill 1012 makes important changes to state law on various child custody matters, including approval of parenting agreements, the terms of standard possession orders and access to the child by adult siblings and grandparents. "Standard possession orders" are default visitation orders entered by the court when parents cannot agree on a parenting schedule. Some effects of House Bill 1012 include:
- Joint managing conservators: the court is required to approve a written parenting plan and designate the parents as joint conservators of the child so long as the parents have agreed on the child's primary residence and meet all of the other conditions of the law.
- Standard possession orders: the new law alters the standard visitation schedule (possession time) to take into account long weekends caused by spring break, summer vacation, holidays and teacher in-service days. It also changes the possession time for parents who live 100 or more miles away from the child's residence. The law gives courts the authority to change the standard possession time with one of the alternate arrangements provided by statute upon written request from one parent.
- Adult sibling access: adult siblings only are permitted access to a child when the child has been taken into custody by the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS). The court is required to allow access if it finds it is in the best interests of the child to have contact with the adult sibling.
- Grandparent access: the bill amends the law to allow rather than require the court to grant grandparent visitation with a child. The bill also states specific conditions a court must find in order to grant a grandparent access to a child over the parent's objections. This includes that the grandparent has been able to prove that denying access to the child would harm the child's physical health and/or emotional well-being.
- Parenting facilitator: the bill also adds a new section to the Family Law Code on the appointment of parenting facilitators. The court is given the authority to appoint a parenting facilitator in "high-conflict" cases affecting the child-parent relationship or in cases where it is in the best interest of a minor child to do so. The court must hold hearing before appointing the facilitator and parents may file objections to the appointment.
Conclusion
For more information on the changes to the law on reimbursements and set-offs in a divorce or the changes to standard possession orders in child custody matters, contact an experienced family law attorney.
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