Tex. Fam. Code § 54.08 · Chapter 54. JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT HEARINGS.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) Except as provided by this section, the court shall open hearings under this title to the public unless the court, for good cause shown, determines that the public should be excluded.
(b) The court may not prohibit a person who is a victim of the conduct of a child, or the person's family, from personally attending a hearing under this title relating to the conduct by the child unless the victim or member of the victim's family is to testify in the hearing or any subsequent hearing relating to the conduct and the court determines that the victim's or family member's testimony would be materially affected if the victim or member of the victim's family hears other testimony at trial.
(c) If a child is under the age of 14 at the time of the hearing, the court shall close the hearing to the public unless the court finds that the interests of the child or the interests of the public would be better served by opening the hearing to the public.
(d) In this section, "family" has the meaning assigned by Section 71.003.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 1460, ch. 544, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1973. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 385, Sec. 11, eff. Sept. 1, 1987; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 262, Sec. 45, eff. Jan. 1, 1996; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1086, Sec. 12, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.54.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 b29df7d931f0dd0d87c930e792a7291a9ebbc1693c43fdabb74ce071355a8ed9
- Composed by
- compose_tx.py 2026-10-05: the Legislative Council's chapter files read in document order; verify_tx.py's independent reading (lxml DOM walk) agrees character for character
BenchPath cards that rely on this text
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Tex. Fam. Code § 54.08. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.