By Truan S.B. No. 108
76R1763 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to rights of survivorship transfer of a motor vehicle or
1-3 manufactured home.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 501.031, Transportation Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 501.031. RIGHTS OF SURVIVORSHIP AGREEMENT. (a) The
1-8 department shall include on each certificate of title a rights of
1-9 survivorship agreement form. The form must:
1-10 (1) provide that if the agreement is signed by two
1-11 persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and wife] jointly by
1-12 those persons with the interest of either person [spouse] who dies
1-13 to survive to the surviving person [spouse]; and
1-14 (2) provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-15 [husband and wife].
1-16 (b) If the vehicle is registered in the name of either
1-17 person who signed the agreement [the husband, the wife,] or both,
1-18 and if the rights of survivorship agreement is signed by both
1-19 persons [the husband and the wife]:
1-20 (1) ownership of the vehicle may be transferred only
1-21 by both persons [spouses] acting jointly, if both persons [spouses]
1-22 are alive; and
1-23 (2) on the death of one of the persons [spouses]:
1-24 (A) ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
2-1 by the surviving person [spouse] by transferring the certificate of
2-2 title, in the manner otherwise required by law for transfer of
2-3 ownership of the vehicle, with a copy of the death certificate of
2-4 the deceased person [spouse] attached to the certificate of title;
2-5 and
2-6 (B) the department shall issue a new certificate
2-7 of title in the name of the surviving person [spouse] or the
2-8 surviving person's [spouse's] transferee on presentation of a copy
2-9 of the certificate of title with the death certificate of the
2-10 deceased person [spouse] attached without requiring additional
2-11 evidence of the person's [spouse's] death.
2-12 (c) A rights of survivorship agreement under this section
2-13 may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of title to the
2-14 department and joint application by the persons who signed the
2-15 agreement [husband and wife] for a new title in the name of the
2-16 person or persons designated in the application.
2-17 SECTION 2. Section 19(a)(2), Texas Manufactured Housing
2-18 Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
2-19 amended to read as follows:
2-20 (2) "Document of title" means a written instrument
2-21 issued solely by and under the authority of the director that sets
2-22 forth:
2-23 (A) the name and address of the purchaser and
2-24 seller at the first retail sale, or the transferee and transferor
2-25 at any subsequent sale or transfer;
2-26 (B) the manufacturer's name and address and, if
2-27 any, the model designation;
3-1 (C) in accordance with applicable rules of the
3-2 director, the outside dimensions of the manufactured home when
3-3 installed for occupancy exclusive of the tongue or other towing
3-4 device as measured to the nearest one-half of one foot at the base
3-5 of the home, and the approximate square footage of the home when
3-6 installed for occupancy;
3-7 (D) the identification number or numbers for
3-8 each section or module of the manufactured home;
3-9 (E) the county of this state in which the
3-10 manufactured home is installed for occupancy;
3-11 (F) the dates of any liens, and the names and
3-12 addresses of the lienholders, in chronological order of
3-13 recordation, and if no liens are registered or recorded on the
3-14 manufactured home, a statement of that fact;
3-15 (G) the signature of the owner signed with pen
3-16 and ink on receipt of the certificate;
3-17 (H) that if two persons [a husband and wife]
3-18 file, with the application for document of title, an agreement
3-19 signed by both providing that the manufactured home is to be held
3-20 jointly with rights of survivorship, the director shall issue the
3-21 document of title in both names; and
3-22 (I) any other data the director requires.
3-23 SECTION 3. Section 19(h), Texas Manufactured Housing
3-24 Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-25 amended to read as follows:
3-26 (h) When the ownership of a manufactured home in this state
3-27 is transferred by operation of law, as in an inheritance, a devise,
4-1 or a bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
4-2 involuntary divestiture of ownership, the department shall issue a
4-3 new document of title when the department is provided with a
4-4 certified copy of the order or bill of sale from an officer making
4-5 a judicial sale, or the order appointing a temporary administrator,
4-6 the probate proceedings, the letters testamentary, the letters of
4-7 administration, or an affidavit by all of the heirs at law showing
4-8 that no administration is necessary and showing in whose name the
4-9 certificate should be issued. If a security interest or other lien
4-10 is foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means and the
4-11 secured party or other mortgagee files an affidavit with the
4-12 department showing the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with
4-13 law, the department may issue a new document of title in the name
4-14 of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale. If the foreclosure is of
4-15 a constitutional or statutory lien and the person entitled to the
4-16 lien files an affidavit showing the creation of the lien and of the
4-17 divestiture of title because of the lien in accordance with law,
4-18 the department may issue a new document of title in the name of the
4-19 purchaser. If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is
4-20 signed by two persons [the husband and wife] and if on the death of
4-21 either person [spouse] the department is provided with a copy of
4-22 the death certificate of the deceased person [spouse], the
4-23 department shall issue a new document of title to the surviving
4-24 person [spouse].
4-25 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-26 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.