FAMILY CODE
SUBTITLE B. SUITS AFFECTING THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP
CHAPTER 151. RIGHTS AND DUTIES IN PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP
§ 151.001. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF PARENT. (a) A parent
of a child has the following rights and duties:
(1) the right to have physical possession, to direct
the moral and religious training, and to designate the residence of
the child;
(2) the duty of care, control, protection, and
reasonable discipline of the child;
(3) the duty to support the child, including providing
the child with clothing, food, shelter, medical and dental care,
and education;
(4) the duty, except when a guardian of the child's
estate has been appointed, to manage the estate of the child,
including the right as an agent of the child to act in relation to
the child's estate if the child's action is required by a state, the
United States, or a foreign government;
(5) except as provided by Section 264.0111, the right
to the services and earnings of the child;
(6) the right to consent to the child's marriage,
enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, medical and
dental care, and psychiatric, psychological, and surgical
treatment;
(7) the right to represent the child in legal action
and to make other decisions of substantial legal significance
concerning the child;
(8) the right to receive and give receipt for payments
for the support of the child and to hold or disburse funds for the
benefit of the child;
(9) the right to inherit from and through the child;
(10) the right to make decisions concerning the
child's education; and
(11) any other right or duty existing between a parent
and child by virtue of law.
(b) The duty of a parent to support his or her child exists
while the child is an unemancipated minor and continues as long as
the child is fully enrolled in an accredited secondary school in a
program leading toward a high school diploma until the end of the
school year in which the child graduates.
(c) A parent who fails to discharge the duty of support is
liable to a person who provides necessaries to those to whom support
is owed.
(d) The rights and duties of a parent are subject to:
(1) a court order affecting the rights and duties;
(2) an affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights;
and
(3) an affidavit by the parent designating another
person or agency to act as managing conservator.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, § 1, eff. April 20, 1995.
Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 751, § 23, eff. Sept. 1,
1995. Renumbered from § 151.003 by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch.
821, § 2.13, eff. June 14, 2001. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th
Leg., ch. 964, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch.
1036, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 151.002. RIGHTS OF A LIVING CHILD AFTER AN ABORTION OR
PREMATURE BIRTH. (a) A living human child born alive after an
abortion or premature birth is entitled to the same rights, powers,
and privileges as are granted by the laws of this state to any other
child born alive after the normal gestation period.
(b) In this code, "born alive" means the complete expulsion
or extraction from its mother of a product of conception,
irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such
separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as
beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite
movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord
has been cut or the placenta is attached. Each product of the birth
is considered born alive.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, § 1, eff. April 20, 1995.
Renumbered from § 151.004 by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 821, §
2.13, eff. June 14, 2001.
§ 151.003. LIMITATION ON STATE AGENCY ACTION. A state
agency may not adopt rules or policies or take any other action that
violates the fundamental right and duty of a parent to direct the
upbringing of the parent's child.
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, § 6.18(a), eff. Sept. 1,
1999. Renumbered from § 151.005 by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch.
821, § 2.13, eff. June 14, 2001.
