By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1552
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to removal of personal representatives of decedents'
 1-2     estates.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 222, Texas Probate Code,
 1-5     is amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  Without Notice.  (1)  The court, on its own motion or on
 1-7     motion of any interested person, and without notice, may remove any
 1-8     personal representative, appointed under provisions of this Code,
 1-9     who:
1-10                       (A)  Neglects to qualify in the manner and time
1-11     required by law;
1-12                       (B)  Fails to return within ninety days after
1-13     qualification, unless such time is extended by order of the court,
1-14     an inventory of the property of the estate and list of claims that
1-15     have come to his knowledge;
1-16                       (C)  Having been required to give a new bond,
1-17     fails to do so within the time prescribed;
1-18                       (D)  Absents himself from the State for a period
1-19     of three months at one time without permission of the court, or
1-20     removes from the State;
1-21                       (E)  Cannot be served with notices or other
1-22     processes because of the fact that the:
1-23                             (i)  personal representative's [by reason
1-24     of the fact that his] whereabouts are unknown;
 2-1                             (ii)  personal representative [, or by
 2-2     reason of the fact that he] is eluding service; or
 2-3                             (iii)  personal representative is a
 2-4     nonresident of this state who does not have a resident agent to
 2-5     accept service of process in any probate proceeding or other action
 2-6     relating to the estate; or
 2-7                       (F)  Has misapplied, embezzled, or removed from
 2-8     the State, or is about to misapply, embezzle, or remove from the
 2-9     State, all or any part of the property committed to the personal
2-10     representative's care.
2-11                 (2)  The court may remove a personal representative
2-12     under Paragraph (F), Subdivision (1), of this subsection only on
2-13     the presentation of clear and convincing evidence given under oath.
2-14           SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act to Subsection
2-15     (a), Section 222, Texas Probate Code, apply only to a motion for
2-16     the removal of a personal representative made or filed on or after
2-17     the effective date of this Act.  A motion for the removal of a
2-18     personal representative made or filed before the effective date of
2-19     this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the motion
2-20     was made or filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
2-21     that purpose.
2-22           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-23           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.