1-1     By:  Gray (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen)                  H.B. No. 2731
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 2001;
 1-3     May 7, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to a proceeding to declare heirship.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1. Section 34A, Texas Probate Code, is amended to
1-11     read as follows:
1-12           Sec. 34A.  ATTORNEYS AD LITEM.      Except as provided by
1-13     Section 53(c) of this code, the [The] judge of a probate court may
1-14     appoint an attorney ad litem to represent the interests of a person
1-15     having a legal disability, a nonresident, an unborn or
1-16     unascertained person, or an unknown heir in any probate proceeding.
1-17     Each attorney ad litem appointed under this section is entitled to
1-18     reasonable compensation for services in the amount set by the court
1-19     and to be taxed as costs in the proceeding.
1-20           SECTION 2. Section 50, Texas Probate Code, is amended by
1-21     amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
1-22     follows:
1-23           (b)  If the address of a person or entity on whom citation is
1-24     required to be served cannot be ascertained, citation shall be
1-25     served on the person or entity by publication in the county in
1-26     which the proceedings are commenced, and if the decedent resided in
1-27     another county, then a citation shall also be published in the
1-28     county of the decedent's [his] last residence.  To determine
1-29     whether there are any other heirs, citation [Unknown heirs] shall
1-30     also be served on unknown heirs by publication in the manner
1-31     provided by this subsection.
1-32           (e)  A parent, managing conservator, guardian, attorney ad
1-33     litem, or guardian ad litem of a distributee who is at least 12
1-34     years of age but younger than 19 years of age may not waive
1-35     citation required to be served on the distributee under this
1-36     section.
1-37           SECTION 3. The heading of Section 53, Texas Probate Code, is
1-38     amended to read as follows:
1-39           Sec. 53.  EVIDENCE; UNKNOWN PARTIES AND INCAPACITATED PERSONS
1-40           SECTION 4. Section 53, Texas Probate Code, is amended by
1-41     adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-42           (c)  The court shall appoint an attorney ad litem to
1-43     represent the interests of unknown heirs.
1-44           SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act to Sections
1-45     34A and 50(b), Texas Probate Code, and by Sections 50(e) and 53(c),
1-46     as added by this Act, apply only to an application for
1-47     determination of heirship filed on or after the effective date of
1-48     this Act.  An application for determination of heirship filed
1-49     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
1-50     effect on the date on which the application was filed, and the
1-51     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-52           SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
1-53                                  * * * * *