Tex. Fin. Code § 396.251 · Subchapter F. PROHIBITED PRACTICES
THREATS OR COERCION.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) In enforcing a child support obligation, a private child support enforcement agency may not use threats, coercion, or attempts to coerce that employ any of the following practices:
(1) using or threatening to use violence or other criminal means to cause harm to an obligor or property of the obligor;
(2) accusing falsely or threatening to accuse falsely an obligor of a violation of state or federal child support laws;
(3) taking or threatening to take an enforcement action against an obligor that is not authorized by law; or
(4) intentionally representing to a person that the agency is a governmental agency authorized to enforce a child support obligation.
(b) Subsection (a) does not prevent a private child support enforcement agency from:
(1) informing an obligor that the obligor may be subject to penalties prescribed by law for failure to pay a child support obligation; or
(2) taking, or threatening to take, an action authorized by law for the enforcement of a child support obligation by the agency.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1023, Sec. 73, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
Amended by:
Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 20 (S.B. 614), Sec. 35, eff. September 1, 2019.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FI/htm/FI.396.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 0fb77d9b396ac8dbca728a7765c3ce49e70177f427456916b83063b525568272
- 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
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.