Bill Text: TX HB549 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the disposition of a decedent's remains.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective immediately [HB549 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB549-Enrolled.html
| H.B. No. 549 | ||
|
|
||
| relating to the disposition of a decedent's remains. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 711.002, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
| amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (l) to | ||
| read as follows: | ||
| (a) Except as provided by Subsection (l), unless [ |
||
| decedent has left directions in writing for the disposition of the | ||
| decedent's remains as provided in Subsection (g), the following | ||
| persons, in the priority listed, have the right to control the | ||
| disposition, including cremation, of the decedent's remains, shall | ||
| inter the remains, and are liable for the reasonable cost of | ||
| interment: | ||
| (1) the person designated in a written instrument | ||
| signed by the decedent; | ||
| (2) the decedent's surviving spouse; | ||
| (3) any one of the decedent's surviving adult | ||
| children; | ||
| (4) either one of the decedent's surviving parents; | ||
| (5) any one of the decedent's surviving adult | ||
| siblings; or | ||
| (6) any adult person in the next degree of kinship in | ||
| the order named by law to inherit the estate of the decedent. | ||
| (l) A person listed in Subsection (a) may not control the | ||
| disposition of the decedent's remains if, in connection with the | ||
| decedent's death, an indictment has been filed charging the person | ||
| with a crime under Chapter 19, Penal Code, that involves family | ||
| violence against the decedent. | ||
| SECTION 2. Section 115(c), Texas Probate Code, is amended | ||
| to read as follows: | ||
| (c) After notice and hearing, without regard to whether the | ||
| deceased died intestate or testate, and subject to the prohibition | ||
| described by Section 711.002(l), Health and Safety Code, a court | ||
| may limit the right of a surviving spouse, whether or not the spouse | ||
| has been designated by the deceased's will as the executor of a | ||
| deceased spouse's estate, to control the burial and interment or | ||
| cremation of the deceased spouse if the court finds that there is | ||
| good cause to believe that the surviving spouse is the principal or | ||
| an accomplice in a wilful act which resulted in the death of the | ||
| deceased spouse. | ||
| SECTION 3. Section 711.002(j), Health and Safety Code, is | ||
| repealed. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2011. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 549 was passed by the House on March | ||
| 30, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, 1 present, not | ||
| voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 549 was passed by the Senate on May | ||
| 19, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: _____________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| _____________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
