1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the priority of payment of claims against a decedent's
1-3 estate.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 320(a), Texas Probate Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) Priority of Payments. Personal representatives, when
1-8 they have funds in their hands belonging to the estate, shall pay
1-9 in the following order:
1-10 (1) Funeral expenses and expenses of last sickness, in
1-11 an amount not to exceed Fifteen [Five] Thousand Dollars.
1-12 (2) Allowances made to the surviving spouse and
1-13 children, or to either.
1-14 (3) Expenses of administration and the expenses
1-15 incurred in the preservation, safekeeping, and management of the
1-16 estate.
1-17 (4) Other claims against the estate in the order of
1-18 their classification.
1-19 SECTION 2. Section 322, Texas Probate Code, is amended to
1-20 read as follows:
1-21 Sec. 322. CLASSIFICATION OF CLAIMS AGAINST ESTATES OF
1-22 DECEDENT. Claims against an estate of a decedent shall be
1-23 classified and have priority of payment, as follows:
1-24 Class 1. Funeral expenses and expenses of last sickness for
2-1 a reasonable amount to be approved by the court, not to exceed a
2-2 total of Fifteen Thousand Dollars [Five Thousand Dollars], with any
2-3 excess to be classified and paid as other unsecured claims.
2-4 Class 2. Expenses of administration and expenses incurred in
2-5 the preservation, safekeeping, and management of the estate.
2-6 Class 3. Secured claims for money under Section 306(a)(1),
2-7 including tax liens, so far as the same can be paid out of the
2-8 proceeds of the property subject to such mortgage or other lien,
2-9 and when more than one mortgage, lien, or security interest shall
2-10 exist upon the same property, they shall be paid in order of their
2-11 priority.
2-12 Class 4. Claims for taxes, penalties, and interest due under
2-13 Title 2, Tax Code; Chapter 8, Title 132, Revised Statutes; Section
2-14 81.111, Natural Resources Code; the Municipal Sales and Use Tax
2-15 Act (Chapter 321, Tax Code); Section 451.404, Transportation Code
2-16 [Section 11B, Chapter 141, Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular
2-17 Session, 1973 (Article 1118x, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)]; or
2-18 Subchapter I, Chapter 452, Transportation Code [Section 16, Chapter
2-19 683, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article
2-20 1118y, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)].
2-21 Class 5. Claims for the cost of confinement established by
2-22 the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal
2-23 Justice under Section 501.017, Government Code.
2-24 Class 6. Claims for repayment of medical assistance payments
2-25 made by the state under Chapter 32, Human Resources Code, to or for
2-26 the benefit of the decedent.
2-27 Class 7. All other claims.
3-1 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
3-2 applies only to the estate of a person who dies on or after that
3-3 date. The estate of a person who dies before the effective date of
3-4 this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time of the
3-5 person's death and that law is continued in effect for that
3-6 purpose.
3-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 881 was passed by the House on May
10, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 881 was passed by the Senate on May
26, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor