By Hawley H.B. No. 3502
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to rights of survivorship transfer of a motor vehicle.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 501.031, Transportation Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 501.031. RIGHTS OF SURVIVORSHIP AGREEMENT. (a) The
1-7 department shall include on each certificate of title a rights of
1-8 survivorship agreement form. The form must:
1-9 (1) provide that if the agreement is signed by two
1-10 persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and wife] jointly by
1-11 those persons with the interest of either person [spouse] who dies
1-12 to survive to the surviving person [spouse]; and
1-13 (2) provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-14 [husband and wife].
1-15 (b) If the vehicle is registered in the name of either
1-16 person who signed the agreement [the husband, the wife,] or both,
1-17 the certificate of title may contain a:
1-18 (1) [and if the] rights of survivorship agreement [is]
1-19 signed by both persons [the husband and the wife]; or
1-20 (2) remark if a rights of survivorship agreement is
1-21 surrendered with the application for certificate of title or
2-1 otherwise on file with the department.[:]
2-2 (c) Except as provided in Subsection (e), [(1)] ownership of
2-3 the vehicle may be transferred only:
2-4 (1) by both persons [spouses] acting jointly, if both
2-5 persons [spouses] are alive; and
2-6 (2) on the death of one of the persons [spouses:]
2-7 [(A) ownership of the vehicle may be
2-8 transferred] by the surviving person [spouse] by transferring the
2-9 certificate of title, in the manner otherwise required by law for
2-10 transfer of ownership of the vehicle, with a copy of the death
2-11 certificate of the deceased person [spouse] attached to the
2-12 certificate of title application[; and]
2-13 [(B) the department shall issue a new
2-14 certificate of title in the name of the surviving spouse or the
2-15 surviving spouse's transferee on presentation of a copy of the
2-16 certificate of title with the death certificate of the deceased
2-17 spouse attached without requiring additional evidence of the
2-18 spouse's death].
2-19 (d) [(c)] A rights of survivorship agreement under this
2-20 section may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of
2-21 title to the department and joint application by the persons who
2-22 signed the agreement [husband and wife] for a new title in the name
2-23 of the person or persons designated in the application.
2-24 (e) If an agreement, other than the agreement provided for
2-25 in subsection (a), providing for right of survivorship is signed by
3-1 two persons, the department shall issue a new certificate of title
3-2 to the surviving person upon application accompanied by a copy of
3-3 the death certificate of the deceased person. The department may
3-4 develop for public use under this subsection an optional rights of
3-5 survivorship agreement form.
3-6 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.