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.