By Hartnett, Naishtat                           H.B. No. 1157

      75R2487 BEM-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the transfer of certain proceedings to a statutory

 1-3     probate court.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 5B, Texas Probate Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 5B.  TRANSFER OF PROCEEDING.  A judge of a statutory

 1-8     probate court, on the motion of a party to the action or on the

 1-9     motion of a person interested in an estate, may transfer to his

1-10     court from a district, county, or statutory court a cause of action

1-11     appertaining to or incident to an estate pending in the statutory

1-12     probate court or a cause of action in which a personal

1-13     representative, acting in the capacity of a personal

1-14     representative, of an estate pending in a statutory probate court

1-15     is a party and may consolidate the transferred cause of action with

1-16     the other proceedings in the statutory probate court relating to

1-17     that estate.

1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 608, Texas Probate Code, is amended to

1-19     read as follows:

1-20           Sec. 608. TRANSFER OF GUARDIANSHIP PROCEEDING.  A judge of a

1-21     statutory probate court, on the motion of a party to the action or

1-22     of a person interested in a guardianship, may transfer to the

1-23     judge's court from a district, county, or statutory court a cause

1-24     of action appertaining to or incident to a guardianship estate that

 2-1     is pending in the statutory probate court or a cause of action in

 2-2     which a  personal representative, acting in the capacity of a

 2-3     personal representative, of an estate pending in a statutory

 2-4     probate court is a party and may consolidate the transferred cause

 2-5     of action with the other proceedings in the statutory probate court

 2-6     relating to the guardianship estate.

 2-7           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 2-8     applies only to a motion to transfer a cause of action filed on or

 2-9     after that date.  A motion to transfer a cause of action filed

2-10     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in

2-11     effect on the date the motion was filed, and the former law is

2-12     continued in effect for that purpose.

2-13           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.