By Johnson                                            H.B. No. 2708
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the time for requiring a personal representative to
    1-3  close an estate.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Amend Section 406, Probate Code, to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 406.  PROCEDURE IN CASE OF NEGLECT OR FAILURE TO FILE
    1-8  FINAL ACCOUNT; PAYMENTS DUE MEANTIME
    1-9        SECTION 2.  If a personal representative charged with the
   1-10  duty of filing a final account fails or neglects so to do at the
   1-11  proper time, the court may <shall>, upon its own motion, or shall,
   1-12  upon the written complaint of any one interested in the decedent's
   1-13  or ward's estate which has been administered, cause such
   1-14  representative to be cited to appear and present such account
   1-15  within the time specified in the citation.  As to a guardianship of
   1-16  a person or estate of a minor or deceased ward, when no written
   1-17  complaint has been filed by anyone interested in the estate, the
   1-18  court may, after two years form the date of the death of an
   1-19  incompetent ward or from the date the ward reaches the age of
   1-20  majority, remove the estate from the court's active docket without
   1-21  the necessity of a final accounting and without appointing a
   1-22  successor personal representative.  As to a ward whose whereabouts
   1-23  becomes unknown to the court for a period of four years, when no
    2-1  complaint has been filed by anyone interested in the estate, the
    2-2  court may remove the estate from its active docket without a final
    2-3  accounting and without appointing a successor personal
    2-4  representative.  As to a decedent's estate, when the whereabouts of
    2-5  the personal representative and heirs are unknown and no complaint
    2-6  has been filed by anyone interested in the estate within four years
    2-7  after letters testamentary or of administration have been issued,
    2-8  the court may close the estate without a final accounting and
    2-9  without appointing a successor personal representative.  It shall
   2-10  not constitute gross negligence for the court to remove or close an
   2-11  estate pursuant to this Section.  <So far as applicable, this
   2-12  Section shall also govern with respect to guidelines of the person.
   2-13  Meantime, rentals> Rentals or other payments becoming due to the
   2-14  ward, his estate, or his guardian, between the date the ward's
   2-15  disability terminates or the date of the ward's death and the
   2-16  effective date of the guardian's discharge may be paid or tendered
   2-17  to the emancipated ward, his guardian, or the personal
   2-18  representative of the ward's estate, at obligor's option, and such
   2-19  payment or tender shall constitute and be an absolute discharge of
   2-20  such matured obligation for all purposes to the extent of the
   2-21  amount thus paid or tendered.
   2-22        SECTION 3.  This Act applies to those estates in which a
   2-23  final settlement and accounting has not been filed prior to the
   2-24  effective date of this Act.
   2-25        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.