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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.