Bill Text: TX SB869 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to authorizing a beneficiary designation that transfers a motor vehicle at the owner's death.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-09 - Effective on 9/1/17 [SB869 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB869-Enrolled.html
S.B. No. 869 |
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relating to authorizing a beneficiary designation that transfers a | ||
motor vehicle at the owner's death. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 2, Estates Code, is amended by | ||
adding Chapter 115 to read as follows: | ||
CHAPTER 115. BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION FOR MOTOR VEHICLES | ||
Sec. 115.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
(1) "Beneficiary designation" means the designation | ||
by an owner of a motor vehicle of a beneficiary of the vehicle as | ||
provided by Section 501.0315, Transportation Code. | ||
(2) "Designated beneficiary" means a person | ||
designated as a beneficiary of an owner's interest in a motor | ||
vehicle under Section 501.0315, Transportation Code. | ||
(3) "Joint owner with right of survivorship" or "joint | ||
owner" means a person who owns a motor vehicle concurrently with one | ||
or more other persons with a right of survivorship. The term does | ||
not include an owner of community property with or without a right | ||
of survivorship. | ||
(4) "Motor vehicle" has the meaning assigned by | ||
Section 501.002, Transportation Code. | ||
(5) "Person" has the meaning assigned by Section | ||
311.005, Government Code. | ||
Sec. 115.002. BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION AUTHORIZED. (a) An | ||
owner of a motor vehicle may transfer the owner's interest in the | ||
motor vehicle to a sole beneficiary effective on the owner's death | ||
by designating a beneficiary as provided by Section 501.0315, | ||
Transportation Code. | ||
(b) A beneficiary designation is: | ||
(1) subject to Section 115.003(b), revocable and may | ||
be changed at any time without the consent of the designated | ||
beneficiary as provided by Section 501.0315, Transportation Code; | ||
(2) a nontestamentary instrument; and | ||
(3) effective without: | ||
(A) notice or delivery to or acceptance by the | ||
designated beneficiary during the owner's life; or | ||
(B) consideration. | ||
(c) A will may not revoke or supersede a beneficiary | ||
designation, regardless of when the will is made. | ||
(d) A designated beneficiary may disclaim the designated | ||
beneficiary's interest in the motor vehicle as provided by Chapter | ||
240, Property Code. | ||
Sec. 115.003. JOINT OWNERSHIP. (a) If a motor vehicle | ||
that is the subject of a beneficiary designation is owned by joint | ||
owners with right of survivorship, the beneficiary designation must | ||
be made by all of the joint owners. | ||
(b) A beneficiary designation made by joint owners with | ||
right of survivorship: | ||
(1) may be revoked or changed as provided by Section | ||
501.0315, Transportation Code, only if it is revoked or changed by | ||
all of the joint owners; and | ||
(2) may be revoked or changed by the last surviving | ||
joint owner as provided by Section 501.0315, Transportation Code. | ||
Sec. 115.004. EFFECT OF BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION DURING | ||
OWNER'S LIFE. During a motor vehicle owner's life, a beneficiary | ||
designation does not: | ||
(1) affect an interest or right of the owner or owners | ||
making the designation, including the right to transfer or | ||
encumber the motor vehicle that is the subject of the designation; | ||
(2) create a legal or equitable interest in favor of | ||
the designated beneficiary in the motor vehicle that is the subject | ||
of the designation, even if the beneficiary has actual or | ||
constructive notice of the designation; | ||
(3) affect an interest or right of a secured or | ||
unsecured creditor or future creditor of the owner or owners making | ||
the designation, even if the creditor has actual or constructive | ||
notice of the designation; or | ||
(4) affect an owner's or the designated beneficiary's | ||
eligibility for any form of public assistance, subject to | ||
applicable federal law. | ||
Sec. 115.005. EFFECT OF BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION AT OWNER'S | ||
OR LAST SURVIVING OWNER'S DEATH. (a) On the death of the owner of | ||
a motor vehicle that is the subject of a beneficiary designation, | ||
the following rules apply to an interest in the motor vehicle: | ||
(1) if the designated beneficiary survives the owner | ||
making the designation by 120 hours, the interest in the motor | ||
vehicle is transferred to the designated beneficiary; and | ||
(2) if the designated beneficiary fails to survive the | ||
owner making the designation by 120 hours, the share of the | ||
designated beneficiary lapses, notwithstanding Section 111.052, | ||
and is subject to and passes in accordance with Subchapter D, | ||
Chapter 255, as if the beneficiary designation were a devise made in | ||
a will. | ||
(b) If an owner is a joint owner with right of survivorship | ||
who is survived by one or more other joint owners, the motor vehicle | ||
that is the subject of the beneficiary designation belongs to the | ||
surviving joint owner or owners. If an owner is a joint owner with | ||
right of survivorship who is the last surviving joint owner, the | ||
beneficiary designation is effective. | ||
(c) A designated beneficiary takes the motor vehicle | ||
subject to all encumbrances, assignments, contracts, liens, and | ||
other interests to which the vehicle is subject at the owner's or | ||
last surviving owner's death, as applicable. The transfer to the | ||
designated beneficiary does not affect the ability of a lienholder | ||
to pursue an existing means of debt collection permitted under the | ||
laws of this state. | ||
Sec. 115.006. CREDITOR CLAIMS; ALLOWANCES IN LIEU OF EXEMPT | ||
PROPERTY AND FAMILY ALLOWANCES. Sections 114.104(b), (c), and (d) | ||
and Section 114.106 apply to a transfer of an owner's interest in a | ||
motor vehicle by a beneficiary designation in the same manner and to | ||
the same extent as a transfer of real property under a transfer on | ||
death deed under Chapter 114. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 122.001(1), Estates Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(1) "Beneficiary" includes a person who would have | ||
been entitled, if the person had not made a disclaimer, to receive | ||
property as a result of the death of another person: | ||
(A) by inheritance; | ||
(B) under a will; | ||
(C) by an agreement between spouses for community | ||
property with a right of survivorship; | ||
(D) by a joint tenancy with a right of | ||
survivorship; | ||
(E) by a survivorship agreement, account, or | ||
interest in which the interest of the decedent passes to a surviving | ||
beneficiary; | ||
(F) by an insurance, annuity, endowment, | ||
employment, deferred compensation, or other contract or | ||
arrangement; | ||
(G) under a pension, profit sharing, thrift, | ||
stock bonus, life insurance, survivor income, incentive, or other | ||
plan or program providing retirement, welfare, or fringe benefits | ||
with respect to an employee or a self-employed individual; [ |
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(H) by a transfer on death deed; or | ||
(I) by a beneficiary designation as defined by | ||
Section 115.001. | ||
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 501, Transportation Code, | ||
is amended by adding Section 501.0315 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 501.0315. BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION. (a) The owner of | ||
a motor vehicle may designate a sole beneficiary to whom the owner's | ||
interest in the vehicle transfers on the owner's death as provided | ||
by Chapter 115, Estates Code, by submitting an application for | ||
title under Section 501.023 with the designation. To be effective, | ||
the designation must state that the transfer of an interest in the | ||
vehicle to the designated beneficiary is to occur at the | ||
transferor's death. | ||
(b) The legal name of a beneficiary designated under this | ||
section must be included on the title. | ||
(c) The department shall transfer title of a motor vehicle | ||
to a beneficiary designated under this section for the vehicle if | ||
the beneficiary submits: | ||
(1) an application for title under Section 501.023 not | ||
later than the 180th day after the date of the owner's death or, if | ||
the vehicle is owned by joint owners, the last surviving owner's | ||
death, as applicable; and | ||
(2) satisfactory proof of the death of the owner or | ||
owners, as applicable. | ||
(d) A beneficiary designation may be changed or revoked by | ||
submitting a new application for title under Section 501.023. | ||
(e) A beneficiary designation or a change or revocation of a | ||
beneficiary designation made on an application for title of a motor | ||
vehicle that has not been submitted to the department before the | ||
death of a vehicle's owner or owners who made, changed, or revoked | ||
the designation, as applicable, is invalid. | ||
(f) The department may adopt rules to administer this | ||
section. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 869 passed the Senate on | ||
April 19, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 869 passed the House on | ||
May 23, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, two | ||
present not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
Approved: | ||
______________________________ | ||
Date | ||
______________________________ | ||
Governor |