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.