By: Perry  S.B. No. 156
         (In the Senate - Filed November 10, 2020; March 3, 2021,
  read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
  March 17, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; March 17, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the transfer of certain probate proceedings to the
  county in which the executor or administrator of a decedent's
  estate resides.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 33, Estates Code, is
  amended by adding Section 33.1011 to read as follows:
         Sec. 33.1011.  TRANSFER TO COUNTY IN WHICH EXECUTOR OR
  ADMINISTRATOR RESIDES. (a)  In this section, "immediate family
  member" means a person's parent, spouse, child, or sibling.
         (b)  After issuing letters testamentary or of administration
  to the executor or administrator of an estate in a probate
  proceeding, the court, on motion of the executor or administrator,
  may order that the proceeding be transferred to another county in
  this state in which the executor or administrator resides if no
  immediate family member of the decedent resides in the same county
  in which the decedent resided.
         (c)  The clerk of the court from which the probate proceeding
  described by Subsection (b) is transferred shall transmit to the
  court to which the proceeding is transferred:
               (1)  the original file in the proceeding; and
               (2)  a certified copy of the index.
         (d)  Notwithstanding the date of any transfer under this
  section, the executor or administrator shall provide the notice
  required by Section 308.051 in the county of the court that
  originally issued the letters testamentary or of administration.
         SECTION 2.  Section 33.1011, Estates Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to the estate of a decedent who dies on or after
  the effective date of this Act. The estate of a decedent who dies
  before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
  effect on the date of the decedent's death, and the former law is
  continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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