Family court reform
Texas
Where Texas stands on each reform BMD tracks. General information, not legal advice.
Equal parenting time presumption
No bill yet
Makes an equal, or approximately equal, parenting-time schedule the legal starting point in a custody case. The presumption is rebuttable, and a court that orders something else has to say why.
No bill of this kind is cited for Texas at the last review.
Reviewed 2026-10-06.
Deployed-parent custody protection
No bill yet
Enacts the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act: a military deployment by itself is not a reason to change custody, orders made for the deployment are temporary and end with it, and a deploying parent may delegate parenting time.
No bill of this kind is cited for Texas at the last review.
Reviewed 2026-10-06.
Parenting time interference remedies
Passed
Gives a parent denied court-ordered parenting time a real remedy - make-up or compensatory time, costs, or a penalty - rather than leaving contempt as the only route.
Bill: SB 718 (88th Regular Session, 2023); companion HB 1966
Statute: Tex. Fam. Code - additional periods of possession or access
Author Sen. Paxton, House sponsor Rep. Cook. "Relating to additional periods of possession of or access to a child" to compensate for denied court-ordered possession or access - the make-up-time remedy. Senate State Affairs reported it 9-0, House committee 8-0, passed both chambers, signed by the Governor 2023-06-18, effective 2023-09-01. This is the bill advocates call "Time Taken, Time Back".
Source: official bill or statute page
Reviewed 2026-10-13.