By Montford                                            S.B. No. 610
       74R372 MWV-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the probate of certain wills without the requirement of
    1-3  a court hearing.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Part 1, Chapter V, Texas Probate Code, is amended
    1-6  by adding Section 88A to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 88A.  PROBATE OF SELF-PROVED WILL WITHOUT COURT HEARING.
    1-8  (a)  To obtain without a hearing probate of a will that is a
    1-9  self-proved will under Section 59 of this code, an applicant for a
   1-10  court order admitting the will to probate may submit by mail or in
   1-11  person to the county clerk a written request to the court for the
   1-12  probate of the will under this section.  The request must include
   1-13  for court review and approval under Section 89 of this code:
   1-14              (1)  the will or a copy of the will if the will is in
   1-15  the custody of the county clerk under Section 81(a) of this code;
   1-16  and
   1-17              (2)  a sworn affidavit of a witness that contains the
   1-18  proof of facts required to probate a self-proved will under
   1-19  Sections 88(a) and (b)(3) of this code.
   1-20        (b)  The court may not order the probate of a will under this
   1-21  section if another application for the probate of the same will has
   1-22  been filed with the court under Section 81 of this code and the
   1-23  court has not taken action on that application.
   1-24        SECTION 2.  Section 89, Texas Probate Code, is amended to
    2-1  read as follows:
    2-2        Sec. 89.  Action of Court on Probated Will.  Upon the
    2-3  completion of hearing of an application for the probate of a will
    2-4  or after review of a self-proved will and a sworn affidavit that is
    2-5  submitted under Section 88A of this code, if the Court be satisfied
    2-6  that such will should be admitted to probate, an order to that
    2-7  effect shall be entered.  Certified copies of such will and the
    2-8  order, or of the record thereof, and the record of testimony or a
    2-9  sworn affidavit reviewed by the Court under Section 88A of this
   2-10  code, may be recorded in other counties, and may be used in
   2-11  evidence, as the original might be, on the trial or review of the
   2-12  same matter in any other court, when taken there by appeal or
   2-13  otherwise.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-15  applies only to the estate of a person who dies on or after that
   2-16  date.  The estate of a person who dies before the effective date of
   2-17  this Act is covered by the law in effect on the date of the
   2-18  person's death, and the former law is continued in effect for that
   2-19  purpose.
   2-20        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.