By:  Brown                                            S.B. No. 1530

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the forced sale of a co-owner's interest in certain

 1-2     real property.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 29.002, Property Code, is amended to read

 1-5     as follows:

 1-6           (a)  A person who owns an undivided interest in real property

 1-7     to which this chapter applies may file in the district court in a

 1-8     county in which the property is located a petition for a court

 1-9     order to require another owner of an undivided interest in that

1-10     property to sell the other owner's interest in the property to the

1-11     person if:

1-12                 (1)  the person has paid the other owner's share of ad

1-13     valorem taxes imposed on the property for any three years in a

1-14     five-year period; [and]

1-15                 (2)  the other owner has not reimbursed the person for

1-16     more than half of the total amount paid by the person for the taxes

1-17     on the owner's behalf; and

1-18                 (3)  at least 30 days before the petition is filed the

1-19     petitioner made a written demand:

1-20                       (A)  that the defendant reimburse the petitioner

1-21     for the amount of the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed

1-22     on the property paid by the petitioner;

1-23                       (B)  that states that the demand is being brought

 2-1     under Chapter 29 of the Property Code; and

 2-2                       (C)  that states that the property is subject to

 2-3     forced sale if the defendant does not reimburse the petitioner for

 2-4     the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed on the property

 2-5     paid by the petitioner.

 2-6           SECTION 2.  Section 29.003, Property Code, is amended to read

 2-7     as follows:

 2-8           Sec. 29.003.  HEARING ON PETITION FOR FORCED SALE.  At a

 2-9     hearing on a petition filed under Section 29.002, the petitioner

2-10     must prove by clear and convincing evidence that:

2-11                 (1)  the petitioner has paid the defendant's share of

2-12     ad valorem taxes imposed on the property that is the subject of the

2-13     petition for any three years in a five-year period;

2-14                 (2)  at least 30 days before [the date on which] the

2-15     petition was filed the petitioner made a written demand:

2-16                       (A)  that the defendant reimburse the petitioner

2-17     for the amount of the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed

2-18     on the property paid by the petitioner;

2-19                       (B)  that states that the demand is being brought

2-20     under Chapter 29 of the Property Code; and

2-21                       (C)  that states that the property is subject to

2-22     forced sale if the defendant does not reimburse the petitioner for

2-23     the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed on the property

2-24     paid by the petitioner; and

2-25                 (3)  the defendant has not reimbursed the petitioner

 3-1     more than half of the amount of money the petitioner paid on the

 3-2     defendant's behalf for the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes

 3-3     imposed on the property.

 3-4           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 3-5     applies to a petition for forced sale filed on or after that date.

 3-6     A petition for forced sale filed before the effective date of this

 3-7     Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the petition was

 3-8     filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

 3-9           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.