OF TEXAS
AUSTIN. T-s WSVll
JOHN L. EILL
Aa-roulvElr
0-m
August 1, 1974
The Honorable Raymond W. Vowell Opinion No. H- 362
Department of Public Welfare
John H. Reagan Building Re: Authority of court
Austin, Texas 78701 to assess a8 costs
the fees for social
study. Sets. 11.12,
Dear Commissioner Vowell: Family Code, Title II
You have asked our opinion as to the authority of a court, haying
ordered a social study in an adoption case, to impose the cost of the
study in court costs. Similar questions arise in divorce cases where
custody is in dispute.
Both Section 2 of Article 46(a), V. T. C. S., .the former adoption
statute, and Section 11.12 (its corresponding section) in the Family
Code, authorize the court, upon the filing of a petition for adoption
of a minor to order an investigation or , as it is called in the Family
Code, a social study. Neither makes any provision for its cost.
Section 11.12 perhaps is broader than Sec. 2 of Article 46(a) in
that it applies to all suits affecting the parent-child relationship. :
In Attorney General Opinion WW-1372 (1962) this office was asked
whether a district judge can assess an investigator’s fees as court
costs under the older statute. The Opinion concluded:
Therefore it is our opinion, . . . that a district
judge who entertains an adoption petition, has the
discretion to fix the amount of the compensation
to be taxed as cost, to be paid to the investigator
and, since there is no statute expressly authorizing
an investigator’s fee in this instance, the.allowance
of such fee arises by implication, and consequently,
only reasonable fees should be allowed.
p. 1699
,
The Honorable Raymond W. Vowell, page 2 (H-362)
We are of the opinion that that conclusion is equally applicable to
the social study called for by Section 11.12 of the Family Code.
SUMMARY
A district judge may assess as court costs
reasonable investigator’s fee for the social
study’called for by Section 11.12 of the Texas
Family Code.
Very truly yours.
DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman
Opinion Committee
p. 1700