§ 154.002.Policy

A policy statement, and it does more work than policy statements usually do.

The policy is to encourage the peaceable resolution of disputes. That is the premise of the entire chapter.

Disputes involving the parent-child relationship get special consideration, and the section names what it means: mediation of issues involving conservatorship, possession, and support of children.

The reason is plain enough. Parents who litigate must go on raising the same child, and a settlement they built is easier to live with than an order imposed on them.

The policy also favors early settlement of pending litigation through voluntary settlement procedures.

The word "voluntary" is doing something. Courts may order parties into a procedure, and Section 154.053 forbids the third party from coercing an agreement, so the process is compulsory while the outcome stays voluntary.

Section 154.003 turns the policy into a duty. The policy is not aspirational language; the next section assigns it to every court and court administrator in the state.

The policy is the interpretive backdrop for the whole chapter. A court weighing whether to refer a dispute under Section 154.021 is applying a statute that starts from a stated preference.

Early settlement is named alongside peaceable resolution. The chapter values the timing as well as the outcome, because most of what litigation costs is spent before trial.