Marriage Commission to Hear Equal-Custody Testimony Weeks Before It Expires

The Texas Commission on Marriage and Family will meet Nov. 10 in Austin to take invited testimony on whether Texas courts should start from a presumption that children split their time evenly between parents — and to discuss its own abolition, which the law that created it sets for Dec. 31. Anyone wanting to speak had to register by 5 p.m. Nov. 6.

Texas law does not presume equal time now, and the distinction trips people up. Under Family Code Chapter 153, courts start from a rebuttable presumption that both parents be named joint managing conservators — sharing the legal rights and duties of raising a child — and a finding of a history of family violence removes it. But the same chapter says plainly that joint conservatorship “does not require the award of equal or nearly equal periods of physical possession.” How much time each parent actually gets runs off a separate presumption: that the standard possession order is a reasonable minimum and is in the child’s best interest.

A bill to change that died last session. Senate Bill 849 by Sen. Mayes Middleton would have directed courts to order equal or nearly equal possession between joint managing conservators unless they found on the record that it was unworkable or against the child’s best interest. It was referred to Senate State Affairs in February 2025 and never heard. An earlier bill by the same author did draw a House hearing, in April 2019: shared-parenting and fathers’ rights organizations turned out for it, the Texas Family Law Foundation, which represents family lawyers, testified against, and the Texas Council on Family Violence registered on the bill without taking a side. That committee took up delay and inconsistency in custody cases at an interim hearing Sept. 14.

The commission arrives at this with a deadline already behind it. House Bill 3284 by Rep. James Frank, which created the seven-member body in 2025, required a written report of findings and legislative recommendations to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker and every legislator by Nov. 1 — and abolishes the commission Dec. 31. Its Oct. 13 agenda carried a vote on that report. No report appears on the agency’s page for the commission, though, and the Dispatch could not establish whether one was filed; item three on the Nov. 10 agenda is an update on publishing it.

Four of the seven members — Carl Caton, Michael Hiller, Cosette Bowles and Andrew Brown — testified in favor of the bill that created the commission, according to the Senate health committee’s witness list. What to watch Nov. 10 is whether the equal-custody discussion ends up in the report, seven weeks before the commission ceases to exist.

Meeting at a glance

Commission members

• Carl Caton — chair; New Braunfels; founder, San Antonio Marriage Initiative.
• Michael Hiller — Lakeway; attorney and mediator, board certified in family law.
• Robert Pearle — Aledo; senior pastor, Birchman Baptist Church.
• Cosette Bowles — founder and chief executive, Anthem Strong Families.
• Andrew Brown — vice president of policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation.
• Matthew Waller — director of community impact, One Accord for Kids.
• Cynthia Graham — attorney; no further detail published.

Names and titles come from the commission’s page at Health and Human Services, checked November 3. Governor Greg Abbott named Caton chair and appointed Caton, Hiller and Pearle on November 4, 2025, all to terms expiring December 31, 2026; that release supplies their cities. The Dispatch found no announcement from the lieutenant governor’s or speaker’s offices naming the other four, so which of them holds which appointment, and their cities, are not printed here. Members serve without pay and are reimbursed for expenses. Meeting contact: Adrianna Acosta, marriage.commission@hhs.texas.gov.