2011 Bills
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2011 Legislation


The 82nd Texas Legislature ended its regular session May 30, 2011. All probate, guardianship and trust bills passed during the session have been signed by the Governor, and most become effective September 1, 2011. One bill in the first called session (SB 1) contains guardianship changes and, as of July 8, 2011, was awaiting the Governor's signature. Each bill affecting probate, guardianship and trust law is listed below. Click here to search for a particular bill, or use the list of topics and key words to the right to find legislation.

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All bills are labeled "Awaiting Governor's Signature," "Enacted," or "Did Not Pass."
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Entries in HB 2046 (1)

Wednesday
Mar022011

x-Did Not Pass: HB 2046 -- REPTL decedents' estates bill

Caption: Relating to decedents' estates.
Author: Hartnett
Bill History
Bill Text

Relevance:  This omnibus bill is supported by the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. It makes multiple changes to the Texas Probate Code affecting the estates of decedents. It also makes parallel changes to the new Estates Code. Changes include:

  •  An option requiring only one signature of the testator and the witnesses on the will and self-proving affidavit (the old two-signature method still would be permitted). (Section 59)
  • Changes to the independent administration provisions of the Probate Code in anticipation of enactment of the new Estates Code, including addressing technical issues like the power of sale and creditor claims. (Sections 145 -- 151)
  • In independent administrations where there are no unpaid creditors, permitting the independent executor to deliver the inventory to the beneficiaries while filing an affidavit, not the inventory, with the court. (Section 250)
  • Changing the 5% of amounts collected/5% of certain payments method of determining the compensation of personal representatives to a "reasonable compensation" standard. (Section 241)
  • Confirming that a right of survivorship will not be presumed from joint ownership or joint tenancy of multi-party accounts and community property, legislatively overruling part of Holmes v. Beatty, saying "a survivorship agreement will not be inferred from the mere fact that the account is a joint account or that the account is designated JT TEN, Joint Tenancy, joint or other similar abbreviation." (Sections 439 and 452)

See "REPTL decedents' estates bill is worth a closer look" on texasprobate.com.

See "REPTL bill tweaks independent administration" on texasprobate.com.