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Tex. Fam. Code § 157.167

RESPONDENT TO PAY ATTORNEY'S FEES, COURT COSTS, AND EXPENSES

Applied in 33 court decisions — leading case In Re Moers (2003)

Most recently applied in in the Interest of T.F., J.F., L.F., and W.F., Children (May 2019)

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, Sec. 1, eff

How often courts cite this section

199620002010201950
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) If the court finds that the respondent has failed to make child support payments, the court shall order the respondent to pay the movant's reasonable and necessary attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses in addition to the arrearages. Fees, costs, and expenses ordered under this subsection may be enforced by any means available for the enforcement of child support, including contempt. The court may order the fees, costs, expenses, and any postjudgment interest to be paid directly to the attorney, who may enforce the order in the attorney's own name by any means available for the enforcement of a judgment for debt.

(a-1) In rendering a judgment for attorney's fees and court costs under Subsection (a), the court shall render the judgment separate from any judgment confirming the amount of arrearages under Section 157.263.

(b) If the court finds that the respondent has failed to comply with the terms of an order providing for the possession of or access to a child, the court shall order the respondent to pay the movant's reasonable and necessary attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses in addition to any other remedy. If the court finds that the enforcement of the order with which the respondent failed to comply was necessary to ensure the child's physical or emotional health or welfare, the fees, costs, and expenses ordered under this subsection may be enforced by any means available for the enforcement of child support, including contempt, but not including income withholding.

(c) Except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), for good cause shown, the court may waive the requirement that the respondent pay reasonable and necessary attorney's fees, costs, and expenses if the court states the reasons supporting that finding.

(d) If the court finds that the respondent is in contempt of court for failure or refusal to pay child support and that the respondent owes $20,000 or more in child support arrearages, the court may not waive the requirement that the respondent pay reasonable and necessary attorney's fees, costs, and expenses unless the court also finds that the respondent:

(1) is involuntarily unemployed or is disabled; and

(2) lacks the financial resources to pay the attorney's fees, costs, and expenses.

(e) The court may not waive the requirement that the respondent pay attorney's fees and costs if the court finds that the respondent has previously been found in contempt of court at least three times for the denial of court-ordered possession of or access to the child who is the subject of the proceeding.

Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.