Texas Legislative Update
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5.6 The Nonsubstantive Estates Code Passed. Legislative Council chose the “Estates and Guardianship Code” as the new name for the recodified Probate Code. It was filed in the as H.B. 2502 by Rep. Hartnett and S.B. 2071 by Senator Duncan. However, Rep. Hartnett felt that the new name was a mouthful, so the name of the new Code was shortened to just the “Estates Code” when H.B. 2502 passed on the floor of the House. It passed the Senate without further amendment and will go into effect on January 1,2014.
5.7 The Substantive IndependentAdministration Recodification Bill Did Not Pass.The substantive recodification bill relating to independent administration did not pass in 2009, falling victim to the last-minute log jam of bills in the Senate that had a multitude of causes, an explanation of which would substantially lengthen this paper. However, they were included in REPTL’s 2011 Decedents’ Estates bill.
5.8 Recodification of the Guardianship and Power of Attorney Portions of the Probate Code. As noted above, the guardianship and power of attorney portions of the Probate Code underwent a nonsubstantive revision by the Legislative Council’s legal staff for introduction in the 2011 session. REPTL appointed Deborah Green of Austin and Linda Goehrs of Houston (the current and immediate past chairs ofREPTL’s Guardianship Committee) as the co-chairs of its Probate Code Codification Committee dealing with this aspect of the recodification process. This portion of the nonsubstantive recodification was introduced as H.B. 2759 (Hartnett) and S.B. 1299 (Duncan). The House version of this bill was signed by the Governor June 17th and is effective January 1, 2014.
5.9 Revisor’s Report for the Estates Code. Legislative Council has prepared and posted online an 882-page Revisor’s Report indicating the derivation of each section of the portion of the new Estates Code passed in 2009. The last 20 pages consist of a handy disposition table. You can find a link to the full Revisor’s Report on the Legislative Council website at:www.tlc.state.tx.us/code_current_estates.htm.In early 2012, an updated Revisor’s Report including information on the portions of the Estates Code passed in 2011 should be available at the same location.
5.10 Professor Beyer’s Estates Code. Prof. Gerry Beyer of the Texas Tech University School of Law has prepared and posted online a compilation of the entire Estates Code through the 2011 session,including substantive revisions, and both derivation and disposition tables. This version of the Estates Code can be found at:http://professorbeyer.com/Estates_Code/Texas_Estates_Code.htm
5.11 Continuing Codification. Since the portion of the Estates Code that was enacted last session doesn’t go into effect until 2014, and it is intended to be a nonsubstantive codification of the Probate Code as it exists immediately prior to 2014,there is a continuing need to make additional nonsubstantive revisions to incorporate changes to the Probate Code made prior to that time that were not incorporated into the Estates Code. In addition, one reason for the delayed effective date of the Estates Code is to provide time for “errors” to be discovered and corrected prior to that effective date. These same issues apply not just to the Estates Code, but to other codes enacted as part of the nonsubstantive codification process. S.B. 1303 (West) is a very lengthy bill that makes “nonsubstantive” revisions to a number of Statutory Changes Affecting Probate, Guardianships, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Etc.
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