1-1     By:  Naishtat (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)                H.B. No. 1661
 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 the final accounting of a decedent's or ward's estate.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 406, Texas Probate Code, as amended by
1-11     Chapters 898 and 957, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, 1993, is
1-12     amended and reenacted to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 406.  PROCEDURE IN CASE OF NEGLECT OR FAILURE TO FILE
1-14     FINAL ACCOUNT;  PAYMENTS DUE MEANTIME.  (a)  If a personal
1-15     representative charged with the duty of filing a final account
1-16     fails or neglects so to do at the proper time, the court shall
1-17     [may], upon its own motion, or [shall,]  upon the written complaint
1-18     of any one interested in the decedent's [or ward's] estate which
1-19     has been administered, cause such representative to be cited to
1-20     appear and present such account within the time specified in the
1-21     citation.
1-22           (b)  [If a written complaint has not been filed by anyone
1-23     interested in the guardianship of a person or estate of a minor or
1-24     deceased ward, the  court may, on or after the third anniversary
1-25     after the date of the death of the ward or after the date the minor
1-26     reaches the age of majority, remove the estate from the court's
1-27     active docket without a final accounting and without appointing a
1-28     successor personal representative.]
1-29           [(c)  If a complaint has not been filed by anyone interested
1-30     in the estate of a ward whose whereabouts are unknown to the court,
1-31     the court  may, on or after the fourth anniversary after the ward's
1-32     whereabouts became unknown to the court, remove the estate from the
1-33     court's active docket without a final accounting and without
1-34     appointing a  successor personal representative.][]
1-35           [(d)]  If the whereabouts of the personal representative and
1-36     heirs of a decedent are unknown and a complaint has not been filed
1-37     by anyone  interested in the decedent's estate, the court may, on
1-38     or after the fourth anniversary after the last date on which
1-39     letters testamentary or of administration are issued by the court
1-40     clerk, close the estate without a final accounting and without
1-41     appointing a successor personal representative.
1-42           [(e)  Rentals or other payments becoming due to the ward, his
1-43     estate, or his guardian, between the date the ward's disability
1-44     terminates or the  date of the ward's death and the effective date
1-45     of the guardian's discharge may be paid or tendered to the
1-46     emancipated ward, his guardian, or the personal representative of
1-47     the ward's estate, at obligor's option, and such payment or tender
1-48     shall constitute and be an absolute discharge of such matured
1-49     obligation for all purposes to the extent of the amount thus paid
1-50     or tendered.]
1-51           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-52     to the estates of persons who die on or after the effective date of
1-53     this Act.  The estate of a person who dies before the effective
1-54     date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date of
1-55     the person's death, and the former law is continued in effect for
1-56     that purpose.
1-57           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-58           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-59     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-60     emergency and an imperative public  necessity that the
1-61     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-62     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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