Texas HB 3707 extends the existing 60-day post-filing waiting period to one year in non-consensual no-fault divorces where there are minor children. The added wording is:
(a-1) Except as provided by Subsection (c), the court may not grant a divorce before the first anniversary of the date the suit was filed if:
(1) the divorce is sought on the grounds of insupportability;
(2) the household of one of the spouses is the primary residence for a child under the age of 18 born of the marriage; and
(3) the respondent does not agree to the divorce.
Subsection C is the existing list of exceptions for the current 60-day wait. The exceptions are where there is a restraining order or criminal conviction for family violence. This is language that is already on the books. It reads:
(c) A waiting period is not required under Subsection (a) or (a-1) before a court may grant a divorce in a suit in which the court finds that:
(1) the respondent has been finally convicted of or received deferred adjudication for an offense involving family violence as defined by Section 71.004 against the petitioner or a member of the petitioner's household; or
(2) the petitioner has an active protective order under Title 4 or an active magistrate's order for emergency protection under Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure, based on a finding of family violence, against the respondent because of family violence committed during the marriage.
This is exactly what we have been advocating as the only exceptions to bills restricting divorce, and it is a pleasant surprise to see that Texas already does it. It gives the same level of protection for domestic violence that modern protective-order laws and procedures already give, instead of using archaic "intolerable cruelty" fault divorce grounds or trying to make up new ones from scratch. It also means the judge and the divorcing couple do not have to spend time fighting about violence allegations in the divorce case; the work on that will already have been done in the restraining order case or criminal case.
The only faults of this bill are that (1) the waiting period only happens after filing for divorce, which doesn't seem like a great way to allow time for a marriage to recover; and (2) the exception seems to include very short-term temporary protective orders, which can be granted without a two-sided hearing or any notice; but in practice, there is probably never a divorce hearing during the short time that such orders remain in effect.
Texas Legislature, Session 82(R). HB 3707
