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  S.B. No. 432
 
AN ACT
relating to the consent to and annulment of certain marriages.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Subsections (b), (g), and (h), Section 2.102,
Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
       (b)  Parental consent must be evidenced by a written
declaration on a form supplied by the county clerk in which the
person consents to the marriage and swears that the person is a
parent (if there is no person who has the court-ordered right to
consent to marriage for the applicant [judicially designated
managing conservator or guardian of the applicant's person]) or a
person who has the court-ordered right to consent to marriage for
the applicant [judicially designated managing conservator or
guardian] (whether an individual, authorized agency, or court) [of
the applicant's person].
       (g)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly
provides parental consent for an underage applicant under this
section and the person is not a parent or a person who has the
court-ordered right to consent to marriage for [judicially
designated managing conservator or guardian of] the applicant. An
offense under this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor.
       (h)  A parent or a person who has the court-ordered right to
consent to marriage for the [judicially designated managing
conservator or guardian of an] applicant commits an offense if the
parent or other person[, managing conservator, or guardian]
knowingly provides parental consent under this section for an
applicant who is younger than 16 years of age or who is presently
married to a person other than the person the applicant desires to
marry. An offense under this subsection is a felony of the third
degree.
       SECTION 2.  Subsections (b), (c), and (d), Section 2.103,
Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
       (b)  The petition must be filed in the county where a parent
resides if a court has not awarded another person the right to
consent to marriage for the minor [a managing conservator or a
guardian of the person has not been appointed]. If a court has
awarded another person the right to consent to marriage for the
minor [a managing conservator or a guardian of the person has been
appointed], the petition must be filed in the county where that [the
managing conservator or the guardian of the] person resides. If no
parent or person who has the court-ordered right [authorized] to
consent to marriage for the minor resides in this state, the
petition must be filed in the county where the minor lives.
       (c)  The petition must include:
             (1)  a statement of the reasons the minor desires to
marry;
             (2)  a statement of whether each parent is living or is
dead;
             (3)  the name and residence address of each living
parent; and
             (4)  a statement of whether a court has awarded to a
person other than a parent of the minor the right to consent to
marriage [managing conservator or a guardian of the person has been
appointed] for the minor.
       (d)  Process shall be served as in other civil cases on each
living parent of the minor or on a person who has the court-ordered
right to consent to marriage for the minor, as applicable[, if a
managing conservator or a guardian of the person has been
appointed, on the managing conservator or guardian of the person].
Citation may be given by publication as in other civil cases, except
that notice shall be published one time only.
       SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 6.102, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
       (a)  The court may grant an annulment of a [licensed or
informal] marriage of a person 16 years of age or older but under 18
years of age that occurred without parental consent or without a
court order as provided by Subchapters B and E, Chapter 2.
       SECTION 4.  Section 6.103, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
       Sec. 6.103.  UNDERAGE ANNULMENT BARRED BY ADULTHOOD.  A suit
to annul a marriage may not be filed under Section [6.101 or] 6.102
by a parent, managing conservator, or guardian of a person after the
18th birthday of the person.
       SECTION 5.  Subsection (a), Section 6.104, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
       (a)  An annulment under Section [6.101 or] 6.102 of a
marriage may be granted at the discretion of the court sitting
without a jury.
       SECTION 6.  Section 6.205, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
       Sec. 6.205.  MARRIAGE TO MINOR.  A marriage is void if either
party to the marriage is younger than 16 years of age, unless a
court order has been obtained under Section 2.103.
       SECTION 7.  Section 6.703, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
       Sec. 6.703.  JURY.  In a suit for dissolution of a marriage,
either party may demand a jury trial unless the action is a suit to
annul an underage marriage under Section [6.101 or] 6.102.
       SECTION 8.  Section 6.101, Family Code, is repealed.
       SECTION 9.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act to
Section 2.102, Family Code, applies only to an application for a
marriage license filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An application filed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the application was filed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
       (b)  The change in law made by this Act to Section 2.103,
Family Code, applies only to a suit under that section filed on or
after the effective date of this Act. A suit filed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the suit was filed, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
       (c)  The change in law made by this Act to Section 6.205,
Family Code, applies to a marriage regardless of whether the
marriage was entered into before, on, or after the effective date of
this Act.
       SECTION 10.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
____________________________________________________________
President of the Senate             Speaker of the House
       I hereby certify that S.B. No. 432 passed the Senate on
March 28, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
______________________________ 
   Secretary of the Senate
       I hereby certify that S.B. No. 432 passed the House on
April 30, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 146, Nays 0, one
present not voting.
______________________________ 
   Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________ 
______________________________ 
            Date
______________________________ 
______________________________ 
          Governor