By Sibley                                             S.B. No. 1837
         76R7289 DWS-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to rights of survivorship transfer of a motor vehicle.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 501.031, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 501.031.  RIGHTS OF SURVIVORSHIP AGREEMENT.  (a)  The
 1-7     department shall include on each certificate of title a rights of
 1-8     survivorship agreement form.  The form must:
 1-9                 (1)  provide that if the agreement is signed by two
1-10     persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and wife] jointly by
1-11     those persons with the interest of either person [spouse] who dies
1-12     to survive to the surviving person [spouse]; and
1-13                 (2)  provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-14     [husband and wife].
1-15           (b)  Instead of the rights of survivorship agreement provided
1-16     for by Subsection (a), a separate rights of survivorship agreement
1-17     signed by both persons and applicable to a motor vehicle for which
1-18     a certificate of title is issued under this chapter may be
1-19     submitted to the department.  The department may develop an
1-20     optional rights of survivorship form that persons may use under
1-21     this subsection.  The department shall note on the certificate of
1-22     title of the  motor vehicle that a rights of survivorship agreement
1-23     is on file with the department in connection with the vehicle.
1-24           (c)  If the vehicle is registered in the name of either
 2-1     person who signed the agreement [the husband, the wife,] or both,
 2-2     and if the  rights of survivorship agreement is signed by both
 2-3     persons [the husband and the wife]:
 2-4                 (1)  ownership of the vehicle may be transferred only
 2-5     by both persons [spouses] acting jointly, if both persons [spouses]
 2-6     are alive; and
 2-7                 (2)  on the death of one of the persons [spouses]:
 2-8                       (A)  ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
 2-9     by the surviving person [spouse] by transferring the certificate of
2-10     title, in the manner otherwise required by law for transfer of
2-11     ownership of the vehicle, with a copy of the death certificate of
2-12     the deceased person [spouse] attached to the certificate of title;
2-13     and
2-14                       (B)  the department shall issue a new certificate
2-15     of title in the name of the surviving person [spouse] or the
2-16     surviving person's [spouse's] transferee on presentation of a copy
2-17     of the certificate of title with the death certificate of the
2-18     deceased person [spouse] attached without requiring additional
2-19     evidence of the person's [spouse's] death.
2-20           (d) [(c)]  A rights of survivorship agreement under
2-21     Subsection (a) [this section] may be revoked only by surrender of
2-22     the certificate of title to the department and joint application by
2-23     the persons who signed the agreement [husband and wife]  for a new
2-24     title in the name of the person or persons designated in the
2-25     application.
2-26           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-27           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.