pjc-family-2024-lib

M ODIFICATION OF C ONSERVATORSHIP AND S UPPORT

PJC 217.1

Conviction or deferred adjudication of conservator for abuse of a child or dis abled individual or offense involving family violence. If a conservator has been convicted of an offense involving continuous sexual abuse of a young child under sec tion 21.02 of the Texas Penal Code or has been convicted of or received an order of deferred adjudication for an offense involving the abuse of a child or a disabled indi vidual under section 21.11, 22.011, or 22.021 of the Penal Code, or has been convicted or received an order of deferred adjudication of an offense involving family violence as defined in Tex. Fam. Code §74.001, the instruction in PJC 217.1A should be worded as follows: For the order that designates PARTY A sole managing conservator of CHILD to be modified to appoint a new sole managing conserva tor, it must be proved that the appointment of PARTY B as sole man aging conservator in place of PARTY A would be in the best interest of CHILD . In such a case, the conviction or deferred adjudication order is a material and sub stantial change of circumstances sufficient to justify a modification of the existing order. Tex. Fam. Code §§ 156.104, 156.1045. The existence of an order of conviction or deferred adjudication is a question of law for court determination. Death of conservator. If the conservator has died, the instruction in PJC 217.1A should be worded as follows: For the order that designates NAME sole managing conservator of CHILD to be modified to appoint a new sole managing conservator, it must be proved that the appointment of PARTY A to serve as sole managing conservator would be in the best interest of CHILD . In such a case, the death of a person who is a conservator of a child is a material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to justify a modification of the existing order. Tex. Fam. Code §156.106. The death of a person who is a conservator of a child is a question of law for court determination. Section 156.106 does not limit the modification of the order to the appointment of a new conservator to replace the deceased conservator, nor does it specify that only per sons named as conservators in the original order have standing to bring an action for modification or contest the appointment of a particular person as conservator. For situ ations where the original order names a surviving parent as a managing conservator, see the comment above entitled “Nonparent seeking appointment as conservator.” Refer to PJC 216.1 (sole or joint managing conservatorship), PJC 216.2 (sole manag ing conservatorship), and PJC 216.3 (possessory conservatorship contested) for instructions and questions for the appointment of a replacement conservator. Include these additional instructions. PJC 215.6 (rights of parent appointed conservator), PJC 215.11 (sole managing conservator—parent), PJC 215.12 (manag-

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