HB1734

HB1734 changes which documents a court clerk must send when continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over a parent-child case is transferred to another court. Instead of the broad requirement to send the original papers filed in the transferring court, the relevant item now calls for copies of the pleadings in the pending proceeding and any other document specifically requested by a party. Final law, Section 1.

The other required transfer materials remain: a transfer certificate and document index, each final order, the transfer order, certificates and indexes from earlier transfers, and a bill of accrued court costs. The clerk must still send the package through the established electronic filing system by the 10th working day after the transfer order is signed. The bill changes the document scope; it does not newly create electronic transfer or extend that deadline. Final law; Family Code 155.207.

“Continuing, exclusive jurisdiction” refers to the court’s ongoing authority over matters involving the child under this part of the Family Code. Existing law makes the receiving court the court with that authority and continues proceedings and enforcement there. HB1734 is a records-transfer measure, not a change to custody rights or the grounds for transferring a case. It does not authorize destroying the underlying case file. Family Code 155.001, 155.206 and 155.207.

The change applies when the order transferring that jurisdiction is rendered on or after September 1, 2025. Orders rendered before that date remain governed by prior law. That transition trigger is separate from the clerk’s deadline, which runs from the order’s signing. Final law, Sections 2–3.