By Naishtat H.B. No. 1317
75R3184 BEM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to guardianships of missing persons.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 601(17), Texas Probate Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 (17) "Missing person" means:
1-7 (A) a person reported by an executive department
1-8 of the United States to be a prisoner of war or missing in the
1-9 course of public service to the United States; or
1-10 (B) a person reported missing and there is good
1-11 cause, as shown by a police or other law enforcement agency report
1-12 or a peace officer's testimony in court, to believe that the person
1-13 is a victim of violence [missing].
1-14 SECTION 2. Subpart A, Part 3, Chapter XIII, Texas Probate
1-15 Code, is amended by adding Section 676A to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 676A. GUARDIANS OF MISSING PERSONS. The court shall
1-17 appoint a guardian of the estate for a missing person if the court:
1-18 (1) finds a guardianship of the estate will be
1-19 beneficial to the missing person or the estate of the missing
1-20 person; and
1-21 (2) makes any other finding required for the
1-22 appointment of a guardian under this chapter.
1-23 SECTION 3. Section 684(b), Texas Probate Code, is amended to
1-24 read as follows:
2-1 (b) Before appointing a guardian, the court must find by a
2-2 preponderance of the evidence that:
2-3 (1) the court has venue of the case;
2-4 (2) the person to be appointed guardian is eligible to
2-5 act as guardian and is entitled to appointment, or, if no eligible
2-6 person entitled to appointment applies, the person appointed is a
2-7 proper person to act as guardian;
2-8 (3) if a guardian is appointed for a minor, the
2-9 guardianship is not created for the primary purpose of enabling the
2-10 minor to establish residency for enrollment in a school or school
2-11 district for which the minor is not otherwise eligible for
2-12 enrollment;
2-13 (4) if a [the] guardian of the estate is appointed for
2-14 a missing person as defined by Section 601(17)(A), the person was
2-15 reported missing by an executive department of the United States at
2-16 least six months earlier than the date of the filing of the
2-17 application and currently is missing; [and]
2-18 (5) if a guardian of the estate is appointed for a
2-19 missing person as defined by Section 601(17)(B), the person to be
2-20 appointed guardian has not been and is not presently under
2-21 investigation by the police department of a municipality or other
2-22 law enforcement agency in connection with the disappearance of the
2-23 missing person; and
2-24 (6) the proposed ward is totally without capacity as
2-25 provided by this code to care for himself or herself and to manage
2-26 the individual's property, or the proposed ward lacks the capacity
2-27 to do some, but not all, of the tasks necessary to care for himself
3-1 or herself or to manage the individual's property.
3-2 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
3-3 applies only to a guardianship proceeding that is instituted on or
3-4 after that date. A guardianship proceeding that is instituted
3-5 before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
3-6 effect on the date on which the proceeding was instituted, and the
3-7 former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
3-8 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.