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TX SB849
Bill
Status
Introduced
1/17/2025
Primary Sponsor
Mayes Middleton
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AI Summary
- Creates a rebuttable presumption that joint managing conservators (both parents) should receive equal or nearly equal physical possession time with their child, replacing the current system where equal time is not required
- Renames the "standard possession order" to "alternative possession order," which becomes a fallback option when equal parenting is found unworkable due to work schedules, special circumstances, or not in the child's best interest
- Requires courts to make written findings of fact specifying reasons if deviating from the equal parenting order, such as scheduling conflicts or the child's best interest
- Exempts children under three years old from the equal parenting presumption, though courts must issue a prospective equal parenting order to take effect on the child's third birthday
- Maintains that a finding of family violence removes the presumption favoring joint managing conservatorship with equal possession time
- Applies to pending and future custody cases but does not constitute grounds for modifying existing custody orders
Legislative Description
Relating to orders providing for the conservatorship of or possession of and access to a child by the child's parents in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship.
Family
Last Action
Referred to State Affairs
2/13/2025
Committee Referrals
State Affairs2/13/2025
Full Bill Text
No bill text available