By Hartnett                                           H.B. No. 2373
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to expenses incurred in the collection of claims and the
    1-3  recovery of property of an estate.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 233, Probate Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 233.  Collection of Claims and Recovery of Property.
    1-8  Every personal representative of an estate shall use ordinary
    1-9  diligence to collect all claims and debts due the estate and to
   1-10  recover possession of all property of the estate to which its
   1-11  owners have claim or title, provided there is a reasonable prospect
   1-12  of collecting such claims or of recovering such property.  If he
   1-13  wilfully neglects to use such diligence, he and the sureties on his
   1-14  bond shall be liable, at the suit of any person interested in the
   1-15  estate, for the use of the estate, for the amount of such claims or
   1-16  the value of such property as has been lost by such neglect.  Such
   1-17  representatives may enter into a contract to convey, or may convey,
   1-18  a contingent interest in any property sought to be recovered, not
   1-19  exceeding one-third thereof<,> for services of attorneys <and
   1-20  incidental expenses>, subject only to approval of the court in
   1-21  which the estate is being administered.  Personal representatives
   1-22  of estates shall be entitled, on satisfactory proof to the court,
   1-23  to all necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by them in
    2-1  collecting or attempting to collect claims or debts, and in
    2-2  recovering or attempting to recover property to which the estate
    2-3  has a title or claim.
    2-4        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-5        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.