1-1 By: Sibley S.B. No. 1435
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1995; March 20, 1995, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; May 3, 1995,
1-4 reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 3, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1435 By: Harris
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to joint ownership of a motor vehicle by spouses with
1-10 rights of survivorship.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. The Certificate of Title Act (Article 6687-1,
1-13 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by adding Section 35A to
1-14 read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 35A. (a) The department shall include on each
1-16 certificate of title a rights of survivorship agreement form. The
1-17 form must:
1-18 (1) provide that if the agreement is signed by a
1-19 husband and wife the motor vehicle is held by the husband and wife
1-20 jointly with the interest of either spouse who dies to survive to
1-21 the surviving spouse; and
1-22 (2) provide blanks for the signatures of the husband
1-23 and wife.
1-24 (b) If the vehicle is registered in the name of the husband,
1-25 the wife, or both, and if the rights of survivorship agreement is
1-26 signed by both the husband and the wife:
1-27 (1) ownership of the vehicle may be transferred only
1-28 by both spouses acting jointly, if both spouses are alive; and
1-29 (2) on the death of one of the spouses:
1-30 (A) ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
1-31 by the surviving spouse by transferring the certificate of title,
1-32 in the manner otherwise required by law for transfer of ownership
1-33 of the vehicle, with a copy of the death certificate of the
1-34 deceased spouse attached to the certificate of title; and
1-35 (B) the department shall issue a new certificate
1-36 of title in the name of the surviving spouse or the surviving
1-37 spouse's transferee on presentation of a copy of the certificate of
1-38 title with the death certificate of the deceased spouse attached
1-39 without requiring additional evidence of the spouse's death.
1-40 (c) A rights of survivorship agreement under this section
1-41 may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of title to the
1-42 department and joint application by the husband and wife for a new
1-43 title in the name of the person or persons designated in the
1-44 application.
1-45 SECTION 2. Sections 24 and 35, Certificate of Title Act
1-46 (Article 6687-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to
1-47 read as follows:
1-48 Sec. 24. The term "Certificate of Title" means a written
1-49 instrument which may be issued solely by and under the authority of
1-50 the department, and which must give the following data together
1-51 with such other data as the department may require from time to
1-52 time:
1-53 (a) The name and address of the purchaser and seller
1-54 at first sale or transferee and transferor at any subsequent sale.
1-55 (b) The make.
1-56 (c) The body type.
1-57 (d) The motor number.
1-58 At such time as the stamping of permanent identification
1-59 numbers on motor vehicles in a manner and place easily accessible
1-60 for physical examination is universally adopted by motor vehicle
1-61 manufacturers as the permanent vehicle identification, the
1-62 department is authorized to use such permanent identification
1-63 number as the major identification of motor vehicles subsequently
1-64 manufactured. The motor number will continue to be the major
1-65 identification of vehicles manufactured before such change is
1-66 adopted.
1-67 (e) The serial number.
1-68 (f) The license number of the current Texas plates.
2-1 (g) The names and addresses and dates of any liens on
2-2 the motor vehicle, in chronological order of recordation.
2-3 (h) If no liens are registered on the motor vehicle, a
2-4 statement of such fact.
2-5 (i) A space for the signature of the owner and the
2-6 owner shall write his name with pen and ink in such space upon
2-7 receipt of the certificate.
2-8 (j) <A statement indicating "rights of survivorship"
2-9 when an agreement providing that the motor vehicle is to be held
2-10 between a husband and his wife jointly with the interest of either
2-11 spouse who dies to survive to the surviving spouse is surrendered
2-12 with the application for certificate of title. This agreement is
2-13 valid only if signed by both husband and wife and, if signed, the
2-14 certificate shall be issued in the name of both.>
2-15 <(k)> If the motor vehicle is equipped with an
2-16 odometer, the number of miles the motor vehicle has travelled as
2-17 reflected by the application.
2-18 Sec. 35. TRANSFER BY OPERATION OF LAW; NEW CERTIFICATE.
2-19 When the ownership of a motor vehicle registered or licensed within
2-20 this State is transferred by operation of law, as upon inheritance,
2-21 devise or bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
2-22 other involuntary divestiture of ownership, the Department shall
2-23 issue a new certificate of title upon being provided with a
2-24 certified copy of the order appointing a temporary administrator or
2-25 of the probate proceedings, or letters testamentary or of
2-26 administration, if any (if no administration is necessary, then
2-27 upon affidavit showing such fact and all of the heirs at law and
2-28 specification by the heirs as to in whose name the certificate
2-29 shall issue), or order, or bill of sale from the officer making the
2-30 judicial sale. If the security interest or other lien is
2-31 foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means, the
2-32 affidavit of the secured party or other mortgagee of the fact of
2-33 the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with law is sufficient to
2-34 authorize the Department to issue a new certificate of title in the
2-35 name of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale. If the foreclosure
2-36 is of a constitutional or statutory lien, the affidavit of the
2-37 mortgagee of the fact of the creation of the lien and of the
2-38 divestiture of title by reason thereof in accordance with law and
2-39 proof of notice as required by Article 5504a, Revised Civil
2-40 Statutes of Texas, 1925, are sufficient to authorize the Department
2-41 to issue a new certificate of title in the name of the purchaser.
2-42 <If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is signed by
2-43 the husband and wife, upon the death of either spouse the
2-44 Department shall issue a new certificate of title to the surviving
2-45 spouse upon being provided with a copy of the death certificate of
2-46 the deceased spouse.>
2-47 SECTION 3. This Act does not affect the validity of a rights
2-48 of survivorship indication included by the Texas Department of
2-49 Transportation on a certificate of title before the effective date
2-50 of this Act. That rights of survivorship indication is governed by
2-51 the law in effect when the indication was included on the
2-52 certificate of title, and that law is continued in effect for that
2-53 purpose.
2-54 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-55 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-56 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-57 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-58 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-59 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-60 * * * * *