1-1 By: Naishtat (Senate Sponsor - Ellis) H.B. No. 1660
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 19, 1999;
1-3 April 20, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; May 11, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 11, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to closing the administration of a decedent's estate.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 404, Texas Probate Code, as amended by
1-11 Chapters 712 and 957, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular
1-12 Session, 1993, is amended and reenacted to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 404. CLOSING ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES OF DECEDENTS
1-14 [AND GUARDIANSHIP OF WARDS OR THEIR ESTATES]. [(a)]
1-15 Administration of the estates of decedents [and guardianship of the
1-16 persons and estates of wards] shall be settled and closed[:]
1-17 [(1)] when all the debts known to exist against the
1-18 estate of a deceased person have been paid, or when they have been
1-19 paid so far as the assets in the hands of an administrator or
1-20 executor of such estate will permit, and when there is no further
1-21 need for administration[;]
1-22 [(2) when a minor ward dies, or becomes an adult by
1-23 becoming eighteen years of age, or by removal of disabilities of
1-24 minority according to the law of this state, or by marriage, or
1-25 when the necessity for guardianship no longer exists for other
1-26 reasons;]
1-27 [(3) when an incompetent ward dies, or is decreed as
1-28 provided by law to have been restored to sound mind or sober
1-29 habits, or, being married, when his or her spouse has qualified as
1-30 survivor in community;]
1-31 [(4) when a ward entitled to funds from a governmental
1-32 source dies, or when the court finds that the necessity for the
1-33 guardianship of that person has ended;]
1-34 [(5) when the estate of a ward becomes exhausted;]
1-35 [(6) when the foreseeable income accruing to a ward or
1-36 to his estate is so negligible that maintaining the guardianship in
1-37 force would be burdensome; or]
1-38 [(7) when:]
1-39 [(A) a guardianship of the estate does not
1-40 exist;]
1-41 [(B) a natural parent of the ward requests the
1-42 settlement and closing of the guardianship; and]
1-43 [(C) the court finds it is in the best interest
1-44 of the ward to settle and close the guardianship.]
1-45 [(b) In a case arising under Subsection (a)(6) of this
1-46 section, the court may authorize the income to be paid to a parent,
1-47 or some other person who has acted as guardian, to assist as far as
1-48 possible in the maintenance of the ward, and without liability to
1-49 account to the court for the income.]
1-50 [(c) When the estate of a minor ward consists only of cash
1-51 or cash equivalents in an amount of not more than $25,000, the
1-52 guardianship of the estate may be terminated and the assets paid
1-53 to the county clerk of the county in which the guardianship
1-54 proceeding is pending, and the clerk shall manage the funds as
1-55 provided by Section 144(a) of this code].
1-56 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-57 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-58 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-59 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-60 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-61 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-62 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-63 * * * * *