78R7954 CLG-F
By: Hartnett H.B. No. 2431
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to jurisdiction of courts with respect to guardianship
proceedings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading of Section 606, Texas Probate Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 606. [DISTRICT COURT AND OTHER COURT OF RECORD]
JURISDICTION WITH RESPECT TO GUARDIANSHIP PROCEEDINGS.
SECTION 2. Section 606, Texas Probate Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), and (d) and adding Subsections
(b-1), (b-2), (b-3), (b-4), (b-5), (h), and (i) to read as follows:
(b) In those counties in which there is no statutory probate
court, county court at law, or other statutory court exercising the
jurisdiction of a probate court, all applications, petitions, and
motions regarding guardianships, mental health matters, and other
matters covered by this chapter shall be filed and heard in the
county court. In [, except that in] contested guardianship
matters, the judge of the county court may on the judge's own
motion[,] or shall on the motion of any party to the proceeding,
according to the motion:
(1) [,] request [as provided by Section 25.0022,
Government Code,] the assignment of a statutory probate court judge
to hear the contested portion of the proceeding, as provided by
Section 25.0022, Government Code; or
(2) transfer the contested portion of the proceeding
to the district court, which may hear the transferred contested
matter [matters] as if originally filed in the district court.
(b-1) If the judge of the county court has not transferred a
contested guardianship matter to the district court at the time a
party files a motion for assignment of a statutory probate court
judge, the county judge shall grant the motion and may not transfer
the matter to the district court unless the party withdraws the
motion.
(b-2) A statutory probate court judge assigned to a
contested guardianship [probate] matter as provided by Subsection
(b) of this section [subsection] has for that matter the
jurisdiction and authority granted to a statutory probate court by
Sections 607 and 608 of this code. On resolution of a contested
matter to which a statutory probate court judge has been assigned,
the statutory probate court judge shall transfer the resolved
portion of the case to the county court for further proceedings not
inconsistent with the orders of the statutory probate court judge
[The county court continues to exercise jurisdiction over the
management of the guardianship with the exception of the contested
matter until final disposition of the contested matter is made by
the assigned judge or the district court].
(b-3) In contested matters transferred to the district
court [as provided by this subsection], the district court[,
concurrently with the county court,] has the general jurisdiction
of a probate court. On resolution of any [all] pending contested
matter [matters], the district court shall transfer the resolved
[contested] portion of the guardianship proceeding to the county
court for further proceedings not inconsistent with the orders of
the district court.
(b-4) The county court shall continue to exercise
jurisdiction over the management of the guardianship with the
exception of the contested matter until final disposition of the
contested matter is made by the assigned judge or the district
court.
(b-5) If a contested portion of the proceeding is
transferred to a district court under Subsection (b-3) of this
section [subsection], the clerk of the district court may perform
in relation to the transferred portion of the proceeding any
function a county clerk may perform in that type of contested
proceeding.
(c) In those counties in which there is no statutory probate
court, but in which there is a county court at law or other
statutory court exercising the jurisdiction of a probate court, all
applications, petitions, and motions regarding guardianships,
mental health matters, or other matters addressed by this chapter
shall be filed and heard in those courts and the constitutional
county court, [rather than in the district courts,] unless
otherwise provided by law. The judge of a county court may hear any
of those matters sitting for the judge of any other county court.
Except as provided by Section 608 of this code, in contested
guardianship matters, the judge of the constitutional county court
may on the judge's own motion, and shall on the motion of a party to
the proceeding, transfer the proceeding to the county court at law
or a statutory court exercising the jurisdiction of a probate court
other than a statutory probate court. The court to which the
proceeding is transferred may hear the proceeding as if originally
filed in the court.
(d) In those counties in which there is a statutory probate
court, all applications, petitions, and motions regarding
guardianships, mental illness matters, or other matters addressed
by this chapter shall be filed and heard in the statutory probate
court[, unless otherwise provided by law].
(h) A statutory probate court has jurisdiction over any
matter appertaining to an estate or incident to an estate and has
jurisdiction over any cause of action in which a guardian in a
guardianship proceeding pending in the statutory probate court is a
party.
(i) A statutory probate court may exercise the pendent and
ancillary jurisdiction necessary to promote judicial efficiency
and economy.
SECTION 3. Section 607(b), Texas Probate Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) In a proceeding in a statutory probate court or district
court, the phrases "appertaining to estates" and "incident to an
estate" in this chapter include the appointment of guardians, the
issuance of letters of guardianship, all claims by or against a
guardianship estate, all actions for trial of title to land and for
the enforcement of liens on the land, all actions for trial of the
right of property, and generally all matters relating to the
settlement, partition, and distribution of a guardianship estate.
A statutory probate court, in the exercise of its jurisdiction and
notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, may hear all
suits, actions, and applications filed against or on behalf of any
guardianship; all such suits, actions, and applications are
appertaining to and incident to an estate. Except for situations
[In a situation] in which the jurisdiction of a statutory probate
court is concurrent with that of a district court or any other
court, any[, a] cause of action appertaining to or incident to a
guardianship estate shall be brought in a statutory probate court
[rather than in the district court].
SECTION 4. Sections 606(a) and 607(c), (d), and (e), Texas
Probate Code, are repealed.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a proceeding that is instituted on or after the effective date of
this Act. A proceeding that is instituted before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
proceeding was instituted, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.