1-1     By:  Whitmire                                         S.B. No. 1176

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1997; March 17, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;

 1-4     April 3, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 3, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the validity of certain devises or bequests.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Chapter IV, Texas Probate Code, is amended by

1-11     adding Section 58b to read as follows:

1-12           Sec. 58b.  DEVISES AND BEQUESTS THAT ARE VOID.  (a)  A devise

1-13     or bequest of property in a will to an attorney who prepares or

1-14     supervises the preparation of the will or a devise or bequest of

1-15     property in a will to an heir or employee of the attorney who

1-16     prepares or supervises the preparation of the will is void.

1-17           (b)  This section does not apply to a bequest made to a

1-18     person who is related within the second degree by consanguinity or

1-19     affinity to the testator.

1-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-21     applies only to a will executed on or after that date.  A will

1-22     executed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the

1-23     law in effect on the date the will was executed, and that law is

1-24     continued in effect for that purpose.

1-25           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-28     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-29     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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