By Uher                                         H.B. No. 1948

      75R6657 MWV-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the transfer of a case to a statutory probate court.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 5B, Texas Probate Code, is amended to

 1-5     read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 5B.  TRANSFER OF PROCEEDING.  (a)  Subject to Subsection

 1-7     (b) of this section, a [A] judge of a statutory probate court on

 1-8     the motion of a  party to the action or on the motion of a person

 1-9     interested in an estate, may transfer to his court from a district,

1-10     county, or statutory court a cause of action appertaining to or

1-11     incident to an estate pending in the statutory probate court and

1-12     may consolidate the transferred cause of action with the other

1-13     proceedings in the statutory probate court relating to that estate,

1-14     if the judge of the statutory probate court:

1-15                 (1)  gives notice to all parties to the cause of action

1-16     and to the court from which the cause of action is to be

1-17     transferred;

1-18                 (2)  holds a hearing regarding the motion to transfer

1-19     the cause of action; and

1-20                 (3)  determines that the transfer of the cause of

1-21     action is in the interest of justice.

1-22           (b)  If the motion to transfer a cause to a statutory probate

1-23     court under Subsection (a) of this section is made by a party who

1-24     originally  brought the cause of action in the district, county, or

 2-1     statutory court or is filed by another person later than the 30th

 2-2     day after the date of the opening of the estate in the statutory

 2-3     probate court, the transfer may be made only if, after the

 2-4     statutory probate court judge grants the motion to transfer the

 2-5     cause of action, the court from which the cause of action is to be

 2-6     transferred:

 2-7                 (1)  gives notice to all parties to the cause of action

 2-8     of the motion to transfer the cause of action;

 2-9                 (2)  holds a hearing regarding the motion to transfer

2-10     the cause of action; and

2-11                 (3)  determines that the transfer of the cause of

2-12     action is in the interest of justice.

2-13           (c)  The judge of the transferring court shall order  the

2-14     clerk of the transferring court to make and deliver to the clerk of

2-15     the statutory probate court a copy of the file for a cause of

2-16     action transferred as provided by this section.

2-17           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-18     applies to a motion to transfer a cause of action filed on or after

2-19     that date. A motion  to transfer a cause of action filed before the

2-20     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the

2-21     time the motion was filed and that law is continued in effect for

2-22     that purpose.

2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-27     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.