1-1 By: Flores, Hawley (Senate Sponsor - Truan) H.B. No. 381
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 8, 1999;
1-3 April 9, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; May 5, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0;
1-6 May 5, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 381 By: Harris
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to rights of survivorship transfer of a motor vehicle or
1-11 manufactured home.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Section 501.031, Transportation Code, is amended
1-14 to read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 501.031. RIGHTS OF SURVIVORSHIP AGREEMENT. (a) The
1-16 department shall include on each certificate of title a rights of
1-17 survivorship agreement form. The form must:
1-18 (1) provide that if the agreement is signed by two or
1-19 more eligible persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and
1-20 wife] jointly by those persons with the interest of a person
1-21 [either spouse] who dies to survive to the surviving person or
1-22 persons [spouse]; and
1-23 (2) provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-24 [husband and wife].
1-25 (b) If the vehicle is registered in the name of one or more
1-26 of the persons who signed the agreement, the certificate of title
1-27 may contain a:
1-28 (1) [the husband, the wife, or both, and if the]
1-29 rights of survivorship agreement [is] signed by all the persons; or
1-30 (2) remark if a rights of survivorship agreement is
1-31 surrendered with the application for certificate of title or
1-32 otherwise on file with the department.
1-33 (c) Except as provided in Subsection (g), [both the husband
1-34 and the wife:]
1-35 [(1)] ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
1-36 only:
1-37 (1) by all the persons [both spouses] acting jointly,
1-38 if all the persons [both spouses] are alive; and
1-39 (2) on the death of one of the persons [spouses:]
1-40 [(A) ownership of the vehicle may be
1-41 transferred] by the surviving person or persons [spouse] by
1-42 transferring the certificate of title, in the manner otherwise
1-43 required by law for transfer of ownership of the vehicle, with a
1-44 copy of the death certificate of the deceased person [spouse]
1-45 attached to the certificate of title application[; and]
1-46 [(B) the department shall issue a new
1-47 certificate of title in the name of the surviving spouse or the
1-48 surviving spouse's transferee on presentation of a copy of the
1-49 certificate of title with the death certificate of the deceased
1-50 spouse attached without requiring additional evidence of the
1-51 spouse's death].
1-52 (d) [(c)] A rights of survivorship agreement under this
1-53 section may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of
1-54 title to the department and joint application by the persons who
1-55 signed the agreement [husband and wife] for a new title in the name
1-56 of the person or persons designated in the application.
1-57 (e) A person is eligible to sign a rights of survivorship
1-58 agreement under this section if the person:
1-59 (1) is married and the spouse of the signing person is
1-60 the only other party to the agreement;
1-61 (2) is unmarried and attests to that unmarried status
1-62 by affidavit; or
1-63 (3) is married and provides the department with an
1-64 affidavit from the signing person's spouse that attests that the
2-1 signing person's interest in the vehicle is the signing person's
2-2 separate property.
2-3 (f) If the title is being issued in connection with the sale
2-4 of the vehicle, the seller is not eligible to sign a rights of
2-5 survivorship agreement under this section unless the seller is the
2-6 child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister of each
2-7 other person signing the agreement. A family relationship required
2-8 by this subsection may be a relationship established by adoption.
2-9 (g) If an agreement, other than the agreement provided for
2-10 in Subsection (a), providing for right of survivorship is signed by
2-11 two or more persons, the department shall issue a new certificate
2-12 of title to the surviving person or persons upon application
2-13 accompanied by a copy of the death certificate of the deceased
2-14 person. The department may develop for public use under this
2-15 subsection an optional rights of survivorship agreement form.
2-16 SECTION 2. Section 19(a)(2), Texas Manufactured Housing
2-17 Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
2-18 amended to read as follows:
2-19 (2) "Document of title" means a written instrument
2-20 issued solely by and under the authority of the director that sets
2-21 forth:
2-22 (A) the name and address of the purchaser and
2-23 seller at the first retail sale, or the transferee and transferor
2-24 at any subsequent sale or transfer;
2-25 (B) the manufacturer's name and address and, if
2-26 any, the model designation;
2-27 (C) in accordance with applicable rules of the
2-28 director, the outside dimensions of the manufactured home when
2-29 installed for occupancy exclusive of the tongue or other towing
2-30 device as measured to the nearest one-half of one foot at the base
2-31 of the home, and the approximate square footage of the home when
2-32 installed for occupancy;
2-33 (D) the identification number or numbers for
2-34 each section or module of the manufactured home;
2-35 (E) the county of this state in which the
2-36 manufactured home is installed for occupancy;
2-37 (F) the dates of any liens, and the names and
2-38 addresses of the lienholders, in chronological order of
2-39 recordation, and if no liens are registered or recorded on the
2-40 manufactured home, a statement of that fact;
2-41 (G) the signature of the owner signed with pen
2-42 and ink on receipt of the certificate;
2-43 (H) that if two or more eligible persons, as
2-44 determined by Subsections (x) and (y) of this section, [a husband
2-45 and wife] file[,] with the application for document of title[,] an
2-46 agreement signed by all the persons [both] providing that the
2-47 manufactured home is to be held jointly with rights of
2-48 survivorship, the director shall issue the document of title in all
2-49 the [both] names; and
2-50 (I) any other data the director requires.
2-51 SECTION 3. Section 19, Texas Manufactured Housing Standards
2-52 Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
2-53 amending Subsection (h) and adding Subsections (x) and (y) to read
2-54 as follows:
2-55 (h) When the ownership of a manufactured home in this state
2-56 is transferred by operation of law, as in an inheritance, a devise,
2-57 or a bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
2-58 involuntary divestiture of ownership, the department shall issue a
2-59 new document of title when the department is provided with a
2-60 certified copy of the order or bill of sale from an officer making
2-61 a judicial sale, or the order appointing a temporary administrator,
2-62 the probate proceedings, the letters testamentary, the letters of
2-63 administration, or an affidavit by all of the heirs at law showing
2-64 that no administration is necessary and showing in whose name the
2-65 certificate should be issued. If a security interest or other lien
2-66 is foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means and the
2-67 secured party or other mortgagee files an affidavit with the
2-68 department showing the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with
2-69 law, the department may issue a new document of title in the name
3-1 of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale. If the foreclosure is of
3-2 a constitutional or statutory lien and the person entitled to the
3-3 lien files an affidavit showing the creation of the lien and of the
3-4 divestiture of title because of the lien in accordance with law,
3-5 the department may issue a new document of title in the name of the
3-6 purchaser. If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is
3-7 signed by two or more eligible persons, as determined by
3-8 Subsections (x) and (y) of this section, [the husband and wife] and
3-9 if on the death of one of the persons [either spouse] the
3-10 department is provided with a copy of the death certificate of the
3-11 deceased person [spouse], the department shall issue a new document
3-12 of title to the surviving person or persons [spouse].
3-13 (x) A person is eligible to sign a rights of survivorship
3-14 agreement under this section if the person:
3-15 (1) is married and the spouse of the signing person is
3-16 the only other party to the agreement;
3-17 (2) is unmarried and attests to that unmarried status
3-18 by affidavit; or
3-19 (3) is married and provides the department with an
3-20 affidavit from the signing person's spouse that attests that the
3-21 signing person's interest in the manufactured home is the signing
3-22 person's separate property.
3-23 (y) If the title is being issued in connection with the sale
3-24 of the manufactured home, the seller is not eligible to sign a
3-25 rights of survivorship agreement under this section unless the
3-26 seller is the child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, brother, or
3-27 sister of each other person signing the agreement. A family
3-28 relationship required by this subsection may be a relationship
3-29 established by adoption.
3-30 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-31 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-32 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-33 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-34 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-35 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-36 * * * * *