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.