1-1     By:  Brown                                            S.B. No. 1530

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1997; March 20, 1997, read

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

 1-4     April 9, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 9, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the forced sale of a co-owner's interest in certain

 1-9     real property.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 29.002, Property Code, is amended to read

1-12     as follows:

1-13           (a)  A person who owns an undivided interest in real property

1-14     to which this chapter applies may file in the district court in a

1-15     county in which the property is located a petition for a court

1-16     order to require another owner of an undivided interest in that

1-17     property to sell the other owner's interest in the property to the

1-18     person if:

1-19                 (1)  the person has paid the other owner's share of ad

1-20     valorem taxes imposed on the property for any three years in a

1-21     five-year period; [and]

1-22                 (2)  the other owner has not reimbursed the person for

1-23     more than half of the total amount paid by the person for the taxes

1-24     on the owner's behalf; and

1-25                 (3)  at least 30 days before the petition is filed the

1-26     petitioner made a written demand:

1-27                       (A)  that the defendant reimburse the petitioner

1-28     for the amount of the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed

1-29     on the property paid by the petitioner;

1-30                       (B)  that states that the demand is being brought

1-31     under Chapter 29 of the Property Code; and

1-32                       (C)  that states that the property is subject to

1-33     forced sale if the defendant does not reimburse the petitioner for

1-34     the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed on the property

1-35     paid by the petitioner.

1-36           SECTION 2.  Section 29.003, Property Code, is amended to read

1-37     as follows:

1-38           Sec. 29.003.  HEARING ON PETITION FOR FORCED SALE.  At a

1-39     hearing on a petition filed under Section 29.002, the petitioner

1-40     must prove by clear and convincing evidence that:

1-41                 (1)  the petitioner has paid the defendant's share of

1-42     ad valorem taxes imposed on the property that is the subject of the

1-43     petition for any three years in a five-year period;

1-44                 (2)  at least 30 days before [the date on which] the

1-45     petition was filed the petitioner made a written demand:

1-46                       (A)  that the defendant reimburse the petitioner

1-47     for the amount of the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed

1-48     on the property paid by the petitioner;

1-49                       (B)  that states that the demand is being brought

1-50     under Chapter 29 of the Property Code; and

1-51                       (C)  that states that the property is subject to

1-52     forced sale if the defendant does not reimburse the petitioner for

1-53     the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes imposed on the property

1-54     paid by the petitioner; and

1-55                 (3)  the defendant has not reimbursed the petitioner

1-56     more than half of the amount of money the petitioner paid on the

1-57     defendant's behalf for the defendant's share of ad valorem taxes

1-58     imposed on the property.

1-59           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-60     applies to a petition for forced sale filed on or after that date.

1-61     A petition for forced sale filed before the effective date of this

1-62     Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the petition was

1-63     filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-64           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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