By: Sibley S.B. No. 1435
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to joint ownership of a motor vehicle by spouses with
1-2 rights of survivorship.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. The Certificate of Title Act (Article 6687-1,
1-5 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by adding Section 35A to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 35A. (a) The department shall include on each
1-8 certificate of title a rights of survivorship agreement form. The
1-9 form must:
1-10 (1) provide that if the agreement is signed by a
1-11 husband and wife the motor vehicle is held by the husband and wife
1-12 jointly with the interest of either spouse who dies to survive to
1-13 the surviving spouse; and
1-14 (2) provide blanks for the signatures of the husband
1-15 and wife.
1-16 (b) If the vehicle is registered in the name of the husband,
1-17 the wife, or both, and if the rights of survivorship agreement is
1-18 signed by both the husband and the wife:
1-19 (1) ownership of the vehicle may be transferred only
1-20 by both spouses acting jointly, if both spouses are alive; and
1-21 (2) on the death of one of the spouses:
1-22 (A) ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
1-23 by the surviving spouse by transferring the certificate of title,
1-24 in the manner otherwise required by law for transfer of ownership
2-1 of the vehicle, with a copy of the death certificate of the
2-2 deceased spouse attached to the certificate of title; and
2-3 (B) the department shall issue a new certificate
2-4 of title in the name of the surviving spouse or the surviving
2-5 spouse's transferee on presentation of a copy of the certificate of
2-6 title with the death certificate of the deceased spouse attached
2-7 without requiring additional evidence of the spouse's death.
2-8 (c) A rights of survivorship agreement under this section
2-9 may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of title to the
2-10 department and joint application by the husband and wife for a new
2-11 title in the name of the person or persons designated in the
2-12 application.
2-13 SECTION 2. Sections 24 and 35, Certificate of Title Act
2-14 (Article 6687-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to
2-15 read as follows:
2-16 Sec. 24. The term "Certificate of Title" means a written
2-17 instrument which may be issued solely by and under the authority of
2-18 the department, and which must give the following data together
2-19 with such other data as the department may require from time to
2-20 time:
2-21 (a) The name and address of the purchaser and seller
2-22 at first sale or transferee and transferor at any subsequent sale.
2-23 (b) The make.
2-24 (c) The body type.
2-25 (d) The motor number.
2-26 At such time as the stamping of permanent identification
2-27 numbers on motor vehicles in a manner and place easily accessible
3-1 for physical examination is universally adopted by motor vehicle
3-2 manufacturers as the permanent vehicle identification, the
3-3 department is authorized to use such permanent identification
3-4 number as the major identification of motor vehicles subsequently
3-5 manufactured. The motor number will continue to be the major
3-6 identification of vehicles manufactured before such change is
3-7 adopted.
3-8 (e) The serial number.
3-9 (f) The license number of the current Texas plates.
3-10 (g) The names and addresses and dates of any liens on
3-11 the motor vehicle, in chronological order of recordation.
3-12 (h) If no liens are registered on the motor vehicle, a
3-13 statement of such fact.
3-14 (i) A space for the signature of the owner and the
3-15 owner shall write his name with pen and ink in such space upon
3-16 receipt of the certificate.
3-17 (j) <A statement indicating "rights of survivorship"
3-18 when an agreement providing that the motor vehicle is to be held
3-19 between a husband and his wife jointly with the interest of either
3-20 spouse who dies to survive to the surviving spouse is surrendered
3-21 with the application for certificate of title. This agreement is
3-22 valid only if signed by both husband and wife and, if signed, the
3-23 certificate shall be issued in the name of both.>
3-24 <(k)> If the motor vehicle is equipped with an
3-25 odometer, the number of miles the motor vehicle has travelled as
3-26 reflected by the application.
3-27 Sec. 35. TRANSFER BY OPERATION OF LAW; NEW CERTIFICATE.
4-1 When the ownership of a motor vehicle registered or licensed within
4-2 this State is transferred by operation of law, as upon inheritance,
4-3 devise or bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
4-4 other involuntary divestiture of ownership, the Department shall
4-5 issue a new certificate of title upon being provided with a
4-6 certified copy of the order appointing a temporary administrator or
4-7 of the probate proceedings, or letters testamentary or of
4-8 administration, if any (if no administration is necessary, then
4-9 upon affidavit showing such fact and all of the heirs at law and
4-10 specification by the heirs as to in whose name the certificate
4-11 shall issue), or order, or bill of sale from the officer making the
4-12 judicial sale. If the security interest or other lien is
4-13 foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means, the
4-14 affidavit of the secured party or other mortgagee of the fact of
4-15 the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with law is sufficient to
4-16 authorize the Department to issue a new certificate of title in the
4-17 name of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale. If the foreclosure
4-18 is of a constitutional or statutory lien, the affidavit of the
4-19 mortgagee of the fact of the creation of the lien and of the
4-20 divestiture of title by reason thereof in accordance with law and
4-21 proof of notice as required by Article 5504a, Revised Civil
4-22 Statutes of Texas, 1925, are sufficient to authorize the Department
4-23 to issue a new certificate of title in the name of the purchaser.
4-24 <If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is signed by
4-25 the husband and wife, upon the death of either spouse the
4-26 Department shall issue a new certificate of title to the surviving
4-27 spouse upon being provided with a copy of the death certificate of
5-1 the deceased spouse.>
5-2 SECTION 3. This Act does not affect the validity of a rights
5-3 of survivorship indication included by the Texas Department of
5-4 Transportation on a certificate of title before the effective date
5-5 of this Act. That rights of survivorship indication is governed by
5-6 the law in effect when the indication was included on the
5-7 certificate of title, and that law is continued in effect for that
5-8 purpose.
5-9 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
5-10 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
5-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.