79R6619 MTB-D


By:  Hartnett                                                     H.B. No. 230

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 230:                                    

By:  Hughes                                                   C.S.H.B. No. 230



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to grounds for removal of a guardian.                                
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Sections 761(a) and (c), Texas Probate Code, are 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The court, on its own motion or on motion of any 
interested person, including the ward, and without notice, may 
remove any guardian, appointed under this chapter, who:
		(1)  neglects to qualify in the manner and time 
required by law;            
		(2)  fails to return within 90 days after 
qualification, unless the time is extended by order of the court, an 
inventory of the property of the guardianship estate and list of 
claims that have come to the guardian's knowledge;
		(3)  having been required to give a new bond, fails to 
do so within the time prescribed;
		(4)  absents himself from the state for a period of 
three months at one time without permission of the court, or removes 
from the state;
		(5)  cannot be served with notices or other processes 
because of the fact that:
			(A)  the guardian's whereabouts are unknown;                                 
			(B)  the guardian is eluding service; or                                     
			(C)  the guardian is a nonresident of this state 
who does not have a resident agent to accept service of process in 
any guardianship proceeding or other matter relating to the 
guardianship;
		(6)  has misapplied, embezzled, or removed from the 
state, or is about to misapply, embezzle, or remove from the state, 
all or any part of the property committed to the guardian's care; 
[or]
		(7)  has neglected or cruelly treated a ward; [,] or
		(8)  has neglected to educate or maintain the ward as 
liberally as the means of the ward and the condition of the ward's 
estate permit.
	(c)  The court may remove a guardian on its own motion, or on 
the complaint of an interested person, after the guardian has been 
cited by personal service to answer at a time and place set in the 
notice, when:
		(1)  sufficient grounds appear to support belief that 
the guardian has misapplied, embezzled, or removed from the state, 
or that the guardian is about to misapply, embezzle, or remove from 
the state, all or any part of the property committed to the care of 
the guardian;
		(2)  the guardian fails to return any account or report 
that is required by law to be made;
		(3)  the guardian fails to obey any proper order of the 
court having jurisdiction with respect to the performance of the 
guardian's duties;
		(4)  the guardian is proved to have been guilty of gross 
misconduct or mismanagement in the performance of the duties of the 
guardian;
		(5)  the guardian becomes incapacitated, or is 
sentenced to the penitentiary, or from any other cause becomes 
incapable of properly performing the duties of the guardian's 
trust;
		(6)  [as guardian of the person,] the guardian neglects 
or cruelly treats the ward; [, or]
		(6-a)  the guardian neglects to educate or maintain the 
ward as liberally as the means of the ward's estate and the ward's 
ability or condition permit;
		(7)  the guardian interferes with the ward's progress 
or participation in programs in the community;
		(8)  the guardian fails to comply with the requirements 
of Section 697 of this code; or
		(9)  the court determines that, because of the 
dissolution of the joint guardians' marriage, the termination of 
the guardians' joint appointment and the continuation of only one 
of the joint guardians as the sole guardian is in the best interest 
of the ward.
	SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act to Sections 
761(a) and (c), Texas Probate Code, apply only to a motion for the 
removal of a guardian made or filed on or after the effective date 
of this Act.  A motion for the removal of a guardian made or filed 
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in 
effect on the date the motion was made or filed, and the former law 
is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.