Will Erin Hernandez Be Found in Violation of the Texas Family Code?

Erin H. Garcia, Justice of the
Peace, Place 2-2

While Ernie Hernandez, Jr. has been dealing with charges of political corruption, his daughter, Erin H. Garcia, the outgoing Justice of the Peace, Place 2-2, has faced legal challenges to handling of wedding ceremonies, particularly her issuance of a 72 hour waiver for a fee that she has claimed allows her to marry a couple immediately without the state-mandated three day wait.

The performance of wedding ceremonies has been extremely lucrative for Hernandez-Garcia, netting her tens of thousands of dollars annually in addition to her salary as Justice of the Peace.  Several locals objected to the issuance of a waiver of the 3-day waiting period, as it seemingly gives the JP issuing the waiver a strategic advantage in performing the ceremony, thus pocketing the fee. Also, a fee was charged for the waiver, also retained by the Justice of the Peace. 

While waiting for the Texas Attorney General to issue a ruling, some have noted that Section 2.204(C) of the Texas Family Code seems to indicate that a Justice of the Peace does NOT have the authority to issue a waver, let alone charge a fee for that waver and retain those funds.