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.