By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 1660
         76R1427 KLA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to closing the administration of a decedent's estate.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 404, Texas Probate Code, as amended by
 1-5     Chapters 712 and 957, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular
 1-6     Session, 1993, is amended and reenacted to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 404.  CLOSING ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES OF DECEDENTS
 1-8     [AND GUARDIANSHIP OF WARDS OR THEIR ESTATES].  [(a)]
 1-9     Administration of the estates of decedents [and guardianship of the
1-10     persons and estates of wards] shall be settled and closed[:]
1-11                 [(1)]  when all the debts known to exist against the
1-12     estate of a deceased person have been paid, or when they have been
1-13     paid so far as  the assets in the hands of an administrator or
1-14     executor of such estate will permit, and when there is no further
1-15     need for administration[;]
1-16                 [(2)  when a minor ward dies, or becomes an adult by
1-17     becoming eighteen years of age, or by removal of disabilities of
1-18     minority according to the law of this state, or by marriage, or
1-19     when the necessity for guardianship no longer exists for other
1-20     reasons;]
1-21                 [(3)  when an incompetent ward dies, or is decreed as
1-22     provided by law to have been restored to sound mind or sober
1-23     habits, or, being married, when his or her spouse has qualified as
1-24     survivor in community;]
 2-1                 [(4)  when a ward entitled to funds from a governmental
 2-2     source dies, or when the court finds that the necessity for the
 2-3     guardianship of that person has ended;]
 2-4                 [(5)  when the estate of a ward becomes exhausted;]
 2-5                 [(6)  when the foreseeable income accruing to a ward or
 2-6     to his estate is so negligible that maintaining the guardianship in
 2-7     force would  be burdensome; or]
 2-8                 [(7)  when:]
 2-9                       [(A)  a guardianship of the estate does not
2-10     exist;]
2-11                       [(B)  a natural parent of the ward requests the
2-12     settlement and closing of the guardianship; and]
2-13                       [(C)  the court finds it is in the best interest
2-14     of the ward to settle and close the guardianship.]
2-15           [(b)  In a case arising under Subsection (a)(6) of this
2-16     section, the court may authorize the income to be paid to a parent,
2-17     or some other person who has acted as guardian, to assist as far as
2-18     possible in the maintenance of the ward, and without liability to
2-19     account to the court for the income.]
2-20           [(c)  When the estate of a minor ward consists only of cash
2-21     or cash equivalents in an amount of not more than $25,000, the
2-22     guardianship of the  estate may be terminated and the assets paid
2-23     to the county clerk of the county in which the guardianship
2-24     proceeding is pending, and the clerk shall manage the funds as
2-25     provided by Section 144(a) of this code].
2-26           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-4     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-5     passage, and it is so enacted.