|
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to determination of the amount of certain child support |
|
obligations. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Section 154.062(b), Family Code, is amended to |
|
read as follows: |
|
(b) Resources include: |
|
(1) 100 percent of all wage and salary income and other |
|
compensation for personal services (including commissions, |
|
overtime pay, tips, and bonuses); |
|
(2) interest, dividends, and royalty income; |
|
(3) self-employment income; |
|
(4) net rental income (defined as rent after deducting |
|
operating expenses and mortgage payments, but not including noncash |
|
items such as depreciation); and |
|
(5) all other income actually being received, |
|
including severance pay, retirement benefits, pensions, trust |
|
income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits other |
|
than supplemental security income, United States Department of |
|
Veterans Affairs disability benefits other than |
|
non-service-connected disability pension benefits, as defined by |
|
38 U.S.C. Section 101(17), unemployment benefits, disability and |
|
workers' compensation benefits, interest income from notes |
|
regardless of the source, gifts and prizes, spousal maintenance, |
|
and alimony. |
|
SECTION 2. Section 154.066, Family Code, is amended to read |
|
as follows: |
|
Sec. 154.066. INTENTIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT OR UNDEREMPLOYMENT. |
|
(a) If the actual income of the obligor is significantly less than |
|
what the obligor could earn because of intentional unemployment or |
|
underemployment, the court may apply the support guidelines to the |
|
earning potential of the obligor. |
|
(b) In determining whether an obligor is intentionally |
|
unemployed or underemployed, the court may consider evidence that |
|
the obligor is a veteran, as defined by 38 U.S.C. Section 101(2), |
|
who is seeking or has been awarded: |
|
(1) United States Department of Veterans Affairs |
|
disability benefits, as defined by 38 U.S.C. Section 101(16); or |
|
(2) non-service-connected disability pension |
|
benefits, as defined by 38 U.S.C. Section 101(17). |
|
SECTION 3. Section 154.068, Family Code, is amended to read |
|
as follows: |
|
Sec. 154.068. WAGE AND SALARY PRESUMPTION. In the absence |
|
of evidence of a party's resources, as defined by Section |
|
154.062(b) [the wage and salary income of a party], the court shall |
|
presume that the party has income [wages or salary] equal to the |
|
federal minimum wage for a 40-hour week to which the support |
|
guidelines may be applied. |
|
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act to Sections |
|
154.062, 154.066, and 154.068, Family Code, apply only to a |
|
proceeding to establish or modify a child support obligation that |
|
is pending in a trial court on or filed on or after the effective |
|
date of this Act. |
|
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
______________________________ |
|
President of the Senate |
Speaker of the House |
|
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 3017 was passed by the House on May 8, |
|
2013, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, 2 present, not |
|
voting. |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
|
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 3017 was passed by the Senate on May |
|
20, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
APPROVED: _____________________ |
|
Date |
|
|
|
_____________________ |
|
Governor |