1-1 By: Lindsay S.B. No. 869
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 22, 2001; February 26, 2001,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 April 19, 2001, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 19, 2001,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 869 By: Wentworth
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to incapacitated persons, wards, and proposed wards.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Subsections (c), (d), and (f), Section 633, Texas
1-13 Probate Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-14 (c) The sheriff or other officer shall personally serve
1-15 citation to appear and answer the application for guardianship on:
1-16 (1) a proposed ward who is 12 years of age or older;
1-17 (2) the parents of a proposed ward if the whereabouts
1-18 of the parents are known or can be reasonably ascertained;
1-19 (3) any court-appointed conservator or person having
1-20 control of the care and welfare of the proposed ward; [and]
1-21 (4) a proposed ward's spouse if the whereabouts of the
1-22 spouse are known or can be reasonably ascertained; and
1-23 (5) [(6)] the person named in the application to be
1-24 appointed guardian, if that person is not the applicant.
1-25 (d) The court clerk, at the applicant's request, or the
1-26 applicant shall mail a copy of the notice by registered or
1-27 certified mail, return receipt requested, to the following persons
1-28 if their whereabouts are known or can be reasonably ascertained:
1-29 (1) [all adult siblings and] all adult children of a
1-30 proposed ward;
1-31 (2) all adult siblings of a proposed ward;
1-32 (3) the administrator of a nursing home facility or
1-33 similar facility in which the proposed ward resides;
1-34 (4) [(3)] the operator of a residential facility in
1-35 which the proposed ward resides;
1-36 (5) [(4)] a person whom the applicant knows to hold a
1-37 power of attorney signed by the proposed ward;
1-38 (6) [(5)] a person designated to serve as guardian of
1-39 the proposed ward by a written declaration under Section 679 of
1-40 this code, if the applicant knows of the existence of the
1-41 declaration;
1-42 (7) [(6)] a person designated to serve as guardian of
1-43 the proposed ward in the probated will of the last surviving parent
1-44 of the ward; and
1-45 (8) [(7)] a person designated to serve as guardian of
1-46 the proposed ward by a written declaration of the proposed ward's
1-47 last surviving parent, if the declarant is deceased and the
1-48 applicant knows of the existence of the declaration.
1-49 (f) The court may not act on an application for the creation
1-50 of a guardianship until the Monday following the expiration of the
1-51 10-day period beginning the date service of notice and citation has
1-52 been made as provided by Subsections (b), (c), and (d)(1) of this
1-53 section. The validity of a guardianship created under this chapter
1-54 is not affected by the failure of the clerk or applicant to comply
1-55 with the requirements of Subsections (d)(2)-(8) [(d)(2)-(7)] of
1-56 this section.
1-57 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act to Subsection
1-58 (c), Section 633, Texas Probate Code, applies only to an
1-59 application for the appointment of a guardian filed on or after the
1-60 effective date of this Act. An application for the appointment of
1-61 a guardian that is filed before the effective date of this Act is
1-62 governed by the law in effect on the date on which the application
1-63 was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
1-64 purpose.
2-1 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
2-2 * * * * *