1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the name of a decedent on a grave marker.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 711.002, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended by amending Subsections (g) and (j) and adding Subsection
 1-6     (k) to read as follows:
 1-7           (g)  A person may provide written directions for the
 1-8     disposition, including cremation, of the person's remains in a
 1-9     will, a prepaid funeral contract, or a written instrument signed
1-10     and acknowledged by such person.  The directions may govern the
1-11     inscription to be placed on a grave marker attached to any plot in
1-12     which the decedent had the right of sepulture at the time of death
1-13     and in which plot the decedent is subsequently interred. The
1-14     directions may be modified or revoked only by a subsequent writing
1-15     signed and acknowledged by such person.  The person otherwise
1-16     entitled to control the disposition of a decedent's remains under
1-17     this section shall faithfully carry out the directions of the
1-18     decedent to the extent that the decedent's estate or the person
1-19     controlling the disposition are financially able to do so.
1-20           (j)  In the absence of evidence of a contrary intent, it is
1-21     presumed that a married woman directs that her name, as it appears
1-22     on the grave marker for the plot in which she is interred, include
1-23     the same last name she used at the time of her death.
1-24           (k)  Any dispute among any of the persons listed in
 2-1     Subsection (a)  concerning their right to control the disposition,
 2-2     including cremation, of a decedent's remains shall be resolved by a
 2-3     court of competent jurisdiction. A cemetery organization or funeral
 2-4     establishment shall not be liable for refusing to accept the
 2-5     decedent's remains, or to inter or otherwise dispose of the
 2-6     decedent's remains, until it receives a court order or other
 2-7     suitable confirmation that the dispute has been resolved or
 2-8     settled.
 2-9           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-10     to a grave marker attached to a plot with respect to which a
2-11     decedent interred in the plot died on or after January 1, 1998.
2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 1571 was passed by the House on May
         4, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, Nays 0, 2 present, not
         voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
         No. 1571 on May 26, 1999, by a non-record vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 1571 was passed by the Senate, with
         amendments, on May 24, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
         0.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  _____________________
                            Date
                    _____________________
                          Governor