1-1     By:  Wentworth                                        S.B. No. 1005
 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 matters relating to decedents' estates.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 5A, Texas Probate Code,
1-12     is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (b)  In proceedings in the statutory probate courts and
1-14     districts courts, the phrases "appertaining to estates" and
1-15     "incident to an estate" in this Code include the probate of wills,
1-16     the issuance of letters testamentary and of administration, and the
1-17     determination of heirship, and also include, but are not limited
1-18     to, all claims by or against an estate, all actions for trial of
1-19     title to land and for the enforcement of liens thereon, all actions
1-20     for trial of the right of property, all actions to construe wills,
1-21     the interpretation and administration of testamentary trusts and
1-22     the applying of constructive trusts, and generally all matters
1-23     relating to the settlement, partition, and distribution of estates
1-24     of deceased persons.  All statutory probate courts may, in the
1-25     exercise of their jurisdiction, notwithstanding any other
1-26     provisions of this Code, hear all suits, actions, and applications
1-27     filed against or on behalf of any heirship proceeding or decedent's
1-28     estate, including estates administered by an independent executor;
1-29     all such suits, actions, and applications are appertaining to and
1-30     incident to an estate [for the purposes of this section].  This
1-31     subsection shall be construed in conjunction with and in harmony
1-32     with Section 145 and all other sections of this Code dealing with
1-33     independent executors, but shall not be construed so as to increase
1-34     permissible judicial control over independent executors.  All
1-35     statutory probate courts shall have the same powers over
1-36     independent executors that are exercisable by the district courts.
1-37     In situations where the jurisdiction of a statutory probate court
1-38     is concurrent with that of a district court, any cause of action
1-39     appertaining to estates or incident to an estate shall be brought
1-40     in a statutory probate court rather than in the district court.
1-41           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-42                                  * * * * *