By Flores                                              H.B. No. 381
         76R1763 DWS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 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
1-11     persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and wife] jointly by
1-12     those persons  with the interest of either person [spouse] who dies
1-13     to survive  to the surviving person [spouse]; and
1-14                 (2)  provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-15     [husband and wife].
1-16           (b)  If the vehicle is registered in the name of either
1-17     person who signed  the agreement [the husband, the wife,] or both,
1-18     and if the  rights of survivorship agreement is signed by both
1-19     persons [the husband  and the wife]:
1-20                 (1)  ownership of the vehicle may be transferred only
1-21     by both persons [spouses] acting jointly, if both persons [spouses]
1-22     are  alive; and
1-23                 (2)  on the death of one of the persons [spouses]:
1-24                       (A)  ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
 2-1     by the surviving person [spouse] by transferring the certificate of
 2-2     title, in the  manner otherwise required by law for transfer of
 2-3     ownership of the vehicle, with a copy of the death certificate  of
 2-4     the deceased person [spouse] attached to the certificate of  title;
 2-5     and
 2-6                       (B)  the department shall issue a new certificate
 2-7     of title in the name of the surviving person [spouse] or the
 2-8     surviving person's  [spouse's] transferee on presentation of a copy
 2-9     of the certificate of  title with the death certificate of the
2-10     deceased person [spouse]  attached without requiring additional
2-11     evidence of the person's   [spouse's] death.
2-12           (c)  A rights of survivorship agreement under this section
2-13     may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of title to the
2-14     department and joint application by the persons who signed the
2-15     agreement [husband and wife]  for a new title in the name of the
2-16     person or persons designated in the application.
2-17           SECTION 2.  Section 19(a)(2), Texas Manufactured Housing
2-18     Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
2-19     amended to read as follows:
2-20                 (2)  "Document of title" means a written instrument
2-21     issued solely by and  under the authority of the director that sets
2-22     forth:
2-23                       (A)  the name and address of the purchaser and
2-24     seller at the first retail sale, or the transferee and transferor
2-25     at any subsequent sale or transfer;
2-26                       (B)  the manufacturer's name and address and, if
2-27     any, the model designation;
 3-1                       (C)  in accordance with applicable rules of the
 3-2     director, the outside dimensions of the manufactured home when
 3-3     installed for occupancy exclusive of the tongue or other towing
 3-4     device as measured to the nearest one-half of one foot at the base
 3-5     of the home, and the approximate square footage of the home when
 3-6     installed for occupancy;
 3-7                       (D)  the identification number or numbers for
 3-8     each section or module of the manufactured home;
 3-9                       (E)  the county of this state in which the
3-10     manufactured home is installed for occupancy;
3-11                       (F)  the dates of any liens, and the names and
3-12     addresses of the lienholders, in chronological order of
3-13     recordation, and if no liens are registered or recorded on the
3-14     manufactured home, a statement of that fact;
3-15                       (G)  the signature of the owner signed with pen
3-16     and ink on receipt of the certificate;
3-17                       (H)  that if two persons [a husband and wife]
3-18     file, with the application for document of title, an agreement
3-19     signed by both providing that the manufactured home is to be held
3-20     jointly with rights of survivorship, the director shall issue the
3-21     document of title in both names; and
3-22                       (I)  any other data the director requires.
3-23           SECTION 3.  Section 19(h), Texas Manufactured Housing
3-24     Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-25     amended to read as follows:
3-26           (h)  When the ownership of a manufactured home in this state
3-27     is transferred by operation of law, as in an inheritance, a devise,
 4-1     or a bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
 4-2     involuntary divestiture of ownership, the department shall issue a
 4-3     new document of title when the department is provided with a
 4-4     certified copy of the order or bill of sale from an officer making
 4-5     a judicial sale, or the order appointing a temporary administrator,
 4-6     the probate proceedings, the letters testamentary, the letters of
 4-7     administration, or an affidavit by all of the heirs at law showing
 4-8     that no administration is necessary and showing in whose name the
 4-9     certificate should be issued.  If a security interest or other lien
4-10     is foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means and the
4-11     secured party or other mortgagee files an affidavit with the
4-12     department showing the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with
4-13     law, the department may issue a new document of title in the name
4-14     of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale.  If the foreclosure is of
4-15     a constitutional or statutory lien and the person entitled to the
4-16     lien files an affidavit showing the creation of the lien and of the
4-17     divestiture of title because of the lien in accordance with law,
4-18     the department may issue a new document of title in the name of the
4-19     purchaser.  If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is
4-20     signed by two persons [the husband and wife] and if on the death of
4-21     either person [spouse] the department is provided with a copy of
4-22     the death certificate of the deceased person [spouse], the
4-23     department shall issue a new document of title to the surviving
4-24     person [spouse].
4-25           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-26           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
4-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 5-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 5-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 5-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.