1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to rights of survivorship transfer of a motor vehicle or
1-3 manufactured home.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 501.031, Transportation Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 501.031. RIGHTS OF SURVIVORSHIP AGREEMENT. (a) The
1-8 department shall include on each certificate of title a rights of
1-9 survivorship agreement form. The form must:
1-10 (1) provide that if the agreement is signed by two or
1-11 more eligible persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and
1-12 wife] jointly by those persons with the interest of a person
1-13 [either spouse] who dies to survive to the surviving person or
1-14 persons [spouse]; and
1-15 (2) provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-16 [husband and wife].
1-17 (b) If the vehicle is registered in the name of one or more
1-18 of the persons who signed the agreement, the certificate of title
1-19 may contain a:
1-20 (1) [the husband, the wife, or both, and if the]
1-21 rights of survivorship agreement [is] signed by all the persons; or
1-22 (2) remark if a rights of survivorship agreement is
1-23 surrendered with the application for certificate of title or
1-24 otherwise on file with the department.
2-1 (c) Except as provided in Subsection (g), [both the husband
2-2 and the wife:]
2-3 [(1)] ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
2-4 only:
2-5 (1) by all the persons [both spouses] acting jointly,
2-6 if all the persons [both spouses] are alive; and
2-7 (2) on the death of one of the persons [spouses:]
2-8 [(A) ownership of the vehicle may be
2-9 transferred] by the surviving person or persons [spouse] by
2-10 transferring the certificate of title, in the manner otherwise
2-11 required by law for transfer of ownership of the vehicle, with a
2-12 copy of the death certificate of the deceased person [spouse]
2-13 attached to the certificate of title application[; and]
2-14 [(B) the department shall issue a new
2-15 certificate of title in the name of the surviving spouse or the
2-16 surviving spouse's transferee on presentation of a copy of the
2-17 certificate of title with the death certificate of the deceased
2-18 spouse attached without requiring additional evidence of the
2-19 spouse's death].
2-20 (d) [(c)] A rights of survivorship agreement under this
2-21 section may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of
2-22 title to the department and joint application by the persons who
2-23 signed the agreement [husband and wife] for a new title in the name
2-24 of the person or persons designated in the application.
2-25 (e) A person is eligible to sign a rights of survivorship
2-26 agreement under this section if the person:
2-27 (1) is married and the spouse of the signing person is
3-1 the only other party to the agreement;
3-2 (2) is unmarried and attests to that unmarried status
3-3 by affidavit; or
3-4 (3) is married and provides the department with an
3-5 affidavit from the signing person's spouse that attests that the
3-6 signing person's interest in the vehicle is the signing person's
3-7 separate property.
3-8 (f) If the title is being issued in connection with the sale
3-9 of the vehicle, the seller is not eligible to sign a rights of
3-10 survivorship agreement under this section unless the seller is the
3-11 child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister of each
3-12 other person signing the agreement. A family relationship required
3-13 by this subsection may be a relationship established by adoption.
3-14 (g) If an agreement, other than the agreement provided for
3-15 in Subsection (a), providing for right of survivorship is signed by
3-16 two or more persons, the department shall issue a new certificate
3-17 of title to the surviving person or persons upon application
3-18 accompanied by a copy of the death certificate of the deceased
3-19 person. The department may develop for public use under this
3-20 subsection an optional rights of survivorship agreement form.
3-21 SECTION 2. Section 19(a)(2), Texas Manufactured Housing
3-22 Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-23 amended to read as follows:
3-24 (2) "Document of title" means a written instrument
3-25 issued solely by and under the authority of the director that sets
3-26 forth:
3-27 (A) the name and address of the purchaser and
4-1 seller at the first retail sale, or the transferee and transferor
4-2 at any subsequent sale or transfer;
4-3 (B) the manufacturer's name and address and, if
4-4 any, the model designation;
4-5 (C) in accordance with applicable rules of the
4-6 director, the outside dimensions of the manufactured home when
4-7 installed for occupancy exclusive of the tongue or other towing
4-8 device as measured to the nearest one-half of one foot at the base
4-9 of the home, and the approximate square footage of the home when
4-10 installed for occupancy;
4-11 (D) the identification number or numbers for
4-12 each section or module of the manufactured home;
4-13 (E) the county of this state in which the
4-14 manufactured home is installed for occupancy;
4-15 (F) the dates of any liens, and the names and
4-16 addresses of the lienholders, in chronological order of
4-17 recordation, and if no liens are registered or recorded on the
4-18 manufactured home, a statement of that fact;
4-19 (G) the signature of the owner signed with pen
4-20 and ink on receipt of the certificate;
4-21 (H) that if two or more eligible persons, as
4-22 determined by Subsections (x) and (y) of this section, [a husband
4-23 and wife] file[,] with the application for document of title[,] an
4-24 agreement signed by all the persons [both] providing that the
4-25 manufactured home is to be held jointly with rights of
4-26 survivorship, the director shall issue the document of title in all
4-27 the [both] names; and
5-1 (I) any other data the director requires.
5-2 SECTION 3. Section 19, Texas Manufactured Housing Standards
5-3 Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
5-4 amending Subsection (h) and adding Subsections (x) and (y) to read
5-5 as follows:
5-6 (h) When the ownership of a manufactured home in this state
5-7 is transferred by operation of law, as in an inheritance, a devise,
5-8 or a bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
5-9 involuntary divestiture of ownership, the department shall issue a
5-10 new document of title when the department is provided with a
5-11 certified copy of the order or bill of sale from an officer making
5-12 a judicial sale, or the order appointing a temporary administrator,
5-13 the probate proceedings, the letters testamentary, the letters of
5-14 administration, or an affidavit by all of the heirs at law showing
5-15 that no administration is necessary and showing in whose name the
5-16 certificate should be issued. If a security interest or other lien
5-17 is foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means and the
5-18 secured party or other mortgagee files an affidavit with the
5-19 department showing the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with
5-20 law, the department may issue a new document of title in the name
5-21 of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale. If the foreclosure is of
5-22 a constitutional or statutory lien and the person entitled to the
5-23 lien files an affidavit showing the creation of the lien and of the
5-24 divestiture of title because of the lien in accordance with law,
5-25 the department may issue a new document of title in the name of the
5-26 purchaser. If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is
5-27 signed by two or more eligible persons, as determined by
6-1 Subsections (x) and (y) of this section, [the husband and wife] and
6-2 if on the death of one of the persons [either spouse] the
6-3 department is provided with a copy of the death certificate of the
6-4 deceased person [spouse], the department shall issue a new document
6-5 of title to the surviving person or persons [spouse].
6-6 (x) A person is eligible to sign a rights of survivorship
6-7 agreement under this section if the person:
6-8 (1) is married and the spouse of the signing person is
6-9 the only other party to the agreement;
6-10 (2) is unmarried and attests to that unmarried status
6-11 by affidavit; or
6-12 (3) is married and provides the department with an
6-13 affidavit from the signing person's spouse that attests that the
6-14 signing person's interest in the manufactured home is the signing
6-15 person's separate property.
6-16 (y) If the title is being issued in connection with the sale
6-17 of the manufactured home, the seller is not eligible to sign a
6-18 rights of survivorship agreement under this section unless the
6-19 seller is the child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, brother, or
6-20 sister of each other person signing the agreement. A family
6-21 relationship required by this subsection may be a relationship
6-22 established by adoption.
6-23 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-24 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 381 was passed by the House on April
7, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 381 on May 13, 1999, by a non-record
vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 381 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 10, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor