1-1 By: Ellis S.B. No. 1552
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 March 23, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4,
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 removal of personal representatives of decedents'
1-9 estates.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 222, Texas Probate Code,
1-12 is amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) Without Notice. (1) The court, on its own motion or on
1-14 motion of any interested person, and without notice, may remove any
1-15 personal representative, appointed under provisions of this Code,
1-16 who:
1-17 (A) Neglects to qualify in the manner and time
1-18 required by law;
1-19 (B) Fails to return within ninety days after
1-20 qualification, unless such time is extended by order of the court,
1-21 an inventory of the property of the estate and list of claims that
1-22 have come to his knowledge;
1-23 (C) Having been required to give a new bond,
1-24 fails to do so within the time prescribed;
1-25 (D) Absents himself from the State for a period
1-26 of three months at one time without permission of the court, or
1-27 removes from the State;
1-28 (E) Cannot be served with notices or other
1-29 processes because of the fact that the:
1-30 (i) personal representative's [by reason
1-31 of the fact that his] whereabouts are unknown;
1-32 (ii) personal representative [, or by
1-33 reason of the fact that he] is eluding service; or
1-34 (iii) personal representative is a
1-35 nonresident of this state who does not have a resident agent to
1-36 accept service of process in any probate proceeding or other action
1-37 relating to the estate; or
1-38 (F) Has misapplied, embezzled, or removed from
1-39 the State, or is about to misapply, embezzle, or remove from the
1-40 State, all or any part of the property committed to the personal
1-41 representative's care.
1-42 (2) The court may remove a personal representative
1-43 under Paragraph (F), Subdivision (1), of this subsection only on
1-44 the presentation of clear and convincing evidence given under oath.
1-45 SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act to Subsection
1-46 (a), Section 222, Texas Probate Code, apply only to a motion for
1-47 the removal of a personal representative made or filed on or after
1-48 the effective date of this Act. A motion for the removal of a
1-49 personal representative made or filed before the effective date of
1-50 this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the motion
1-51 was made or filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
1-52 that purpose.
1-53 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-54 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-55 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-59 * * * * *