78R7406 KLA-D
By: Telford H.B. No. 2552
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the transfer of or assignment of a statutory probate
court judge to hear certain probate matters.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 5(b) and (c), Texas Probate Code, are
amended 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 probate and administrations shall be filed and
heard in the county court, except that in contested probate
matters, the judge of the county court may on the judge's own motion
only if the judge is not licensed to practice law in this state,
[(]or shall on the motion of any party to the proceeding, according
to the motion,[)] 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, or transfer the
contested portion of the proceeding to the district court, which
may then hear the contested matter as if originally filed in
district court. If the judge of the county court has not
transferred a contested probate 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 district court unless the party withdraws
the motion. A statutory probate court judge assigned to a contested
probate matter as provided by this subsection has for that matter
the jurisdiction and authority granted to a statutory probate court
by Sections 5A and 5B of this code. The county court shall continue
to exercise jurisdiction over the management of the estate with the
exception of the contested matter until final disposition of the
contested matter is made by the assigned judge or the district
court. In contested matters transferred to the district court in
those counties, the district court, concurrently with the county
court, shall have the general jurisdiction of a probate court. Upon
resolution of all pending contested matters, the contested portion
of the probate proceeding shall be transferred by the district
court to the county court for further proceedings not inconsistent
with the orders of the district court. If a contested portion of
the proceeding is transferred to a district court under this
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 probate and
administrations 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 regarding probate or administrations
sitting for the judge of any other county court. In contested
probate matters, the judge of the constitutional county court may
on the judge's own motion only if the judge is not licensed to
practice law in this state, 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.
SECTION 2. Section 5, Texas Probate Code, as amended by this
Act, applies 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.