Commentary on HB 1348

1999 Legislation:

Commentary on HB 1348 -- Giving Claims for
Unpaid Child Support Priority Over Other
Unsecured Claims Against Decedents' Estates

HB 1348, authored by Rep. Toby Goodman, would amend Section 322 of the Texas Probate Code to make the principal and interest owing on child support by the Decedent a Class 5 claim -- behind funeral and last illness expenses, administrative expenses and taxes but ahead of Medicaid reimbursement claims and general unsecured claims. Under the bill, general unsecured claims will be called "Class 8" claims.

My experience with child care claims against decedents' estates is that it often is a situation where the former spouse is trying to enforce his or her claim at the expense of his or her own children. In intestate cases, the children are going to be significant heirs -- if not the only heirs -- of the decedent, and taking money from the estate to pay child support claims just takes money from their pockets.

Of course, that's the way the law is now, what with Tex. Fam. Code Sec. 154.006 and the way it has been used by the family courts. Section 154.006 provides that, "unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the order," a child support order terminates with the death of the parent ordered to pay child support. While I practice zero family law, it appears to me that the courts routinely "expressly provide in the order" for the child support obligation to survive the parent.

The real effect of Rep. Goodman's bill will be to place other creditors at a disadvantage. While child support payments from an estate work to the disadvantage of the child for whom the support was ordered where there's a solvent estate, in an insolvent estate (the only kind that matters when classification of claims is an issue) the folks who will be adversely affected are the credit card companies, banks, etc., and there may actually be a tangential benefit to the children, since from their perspective it is probably better for mom to get dad's money that Master Card.

Rep. Goodman also is author of the "Family Harmony Bill" (HB 734 and HJR 36), which would permit spouses to create community property from separate property by agreement. Given the importance being placed on the Family Harmony Bill by the probate bar, it seems unlikely that there will be much opposition to HB 1348 from that direction. [02/11/99]