1-1     By:  Wentworth                                        S.B. No. 1004
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 1999; March 10, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     March 23, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 23, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the jurisdiction of a statutory probate court in
 1-9     certain guardianship matters.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 607, Texas Probate Code,
1-12     is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (b)  In a proceeding in a statutory probate court or district
1-14     court, the phrases "appertaining to estates" and "incident to an
1-15     estate" in this chapter include the appointment of guardians, the
1-16     issuance of letters of guardianship, all claims by or against a
1-17     guardianship estate, all actions for trial of title to land and for
1-18     the enforcement of liens on the land, all actions for trial of the
1-19     right of property, and generally all matters relating to the
1-20     settlement, partition, and distribution of a guardianship estate.
1-21     A statutory probate court, in the exercise of its jurisdiction and
1-22     notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, may hear all
1-23     suits, actions, and applications filed against or on behalf of any
1-24     guardianship; all such suits, actions, and applications are
1-25     appertaining to and incident to an estate.  In a situation in which
1-26     the jurisdiction of a statutory probate court is concurrent with
1-27     that of a district court, a cause of action appertaining to or
1-28     incident to a guardianship estate shall be brought in a statutory
1-29     probate court rather than in the district court.
1-30           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
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