By: Hughes S.B. No. 1940
(In the Senate - Filed March 5, 2025; March 17, 2025, read
first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
April 14, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 14, 2025,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1940 By: Creighton
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to authorizing a beneficiary designation that transfers a
manufactured home classified as personal property 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 116 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 116. BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION FOR CERTAIN MANUFACTURED
HOMES
Sec. 116.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Beneficiary designation" means the designation
by an owner of a manufactured home of one or more beneficiaries of
the home as provided by Section 1201.2135, Occupations Code.
(2) "Designated beneficiary" means a person
designated as a beneficiary of an owner's interest in a
manufactured home under Section 1201.2135, Occupations Code.
(3) "Joint owner with right of survivorship" or "joint
owner" means a person who owns a manufactured home 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) "Manufactured home" has the meaning assigned by
Section 1201.003, Occupations Code.
(5) "Person" has the meaning assigned by Section
311.005, Government Code.
Sec. 116.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to
a manufactured home classified as personal property under Section
2.001, Property Code.
Sec. 116.003. BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION AUTHORIZED. (a) An
owner of a manufactured home may transfer the owner's interest in
the home to one or more beneficiaries effective on the owner's death
by designating each beneficiary as provided by Section 1201.2135,
Occupations Code.
(b) A beneficiary designation is:
(1) subject to Section 116.004(b), revocable and may
be changed at any time without the consent of the designated
beneficiaries as provided by Section 1201.2135, Occupations Code;
(2) a nontestamentary instrument; and
(3) effective without:
(A) notice or delivery to or acceptance by the
designated beneficiaries 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 manufactured home as provided by
Chapter 240, Property Code.
Sec. 116.004. JOINT OWNERSHIP. (a) If a manufactured home
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
1201.2135, Occupations 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 1201.2135, Occupations Code.
Sec. 116.005. EFFECT OF BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION DURING
OWNER'S LIFE. During a manufactured home 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 home that is the subject of the designation;
(2) create a legal or equitable interest in favor of a
designated beneficiary in the home 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 any designated beneficiary's
eligibility for any form of public assistance, subject to
applicable federal law.
Sec. 116.006. EFFECT OF BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION AT OWNER'S
OR LAST SURVIVING OWNER'S DEATH. (a) On the death of the owner of a
manufactured home that is the subject of a beneficiary designation,
the following rules apply to an interest in the home:
(1) if any designated beneficiary survives the owner
making the designation by 120 hours, the interest in the home is
transferred to each surviving designated beneficiary; and
(2) if each designated beneficiary fails to survive
the owner making the designation by 120 hours, the share of each
designated beneficiary lapses, notwithstanding Section 111.052,
and is subject to and passes in accordance with Subchapter D,
Chapter 255, as if each 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 manufactured
home that is the subject of a 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 manufactured home
subject to all encumbrances, assignments, contracts, liens, and
other interests to which the home is subject at the owner's or last
surviving owner's death, as applicable. The transfer to one or more
designated beneficiaries does not affect the ability of a
lienholder to pursue an existing means of debt collection permitted
under the laws of this state.
Sec. 116.007. 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
manufactured home 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;
(H) by a transfer on death deed; [or]
(I) by a beneficiary designation, as defined by
Section 115.001, made for a motor vehicle; or
(J) by a beneficiary designation, as defined by
Section 116.001, made for a manufactured home.
SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 1201, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 1201.2135 to read as follows:
Sec. 1201.2135. BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION. (a) The owner of
a manufactured home may designate one or more beneficiaries to whom
the owner's interest in the home transfers on the owner's death as
provided by Chapter 116, Estates Code, by submitting an application
for the issuance of a new statement of ownership under Section
1201.206 with the designation. To be effective, the designation
must state that the transfer of an interest in the home to one or
more designated beneficiaries is to occur at the transferor's
death.
(b) The legal name of each beneficiary designated under this
section must be included on the statement of ownership.
(c) The department shall transfer ownership of a
manufactured home to the beneficiary or beneficiaries, as
applicable, designated under this section for the home if the sole
beneficiary submits or all beneficiaries jointly submit, as
applicable:
(1) an application for the issuance of a statement of
ownership under Section 1201.206 not later than the 365th day after
the date of the owner's death or, if the home 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.
(c-1) A beneficiary designation made under this section for
a manufactured home is void if an application and proof described by
Subsection (c) are not submitted to the department before the 366th
day after the date of the owner's death, or if the home is owned by
joint owners, the last surviving owner's death.
(d) A beneficiary designation may be changed or revoked by
submitting a new application for the issuance of a statement of
ownership under Section 1201.206.
(e) A beneficiary designation or a change or revocation of a
beneficiary designation made on an application for the issuance of
a statement of ownership for a manufactured home that has not been
submitted to the department before the death of a home's owner or
owners who made, changed, or revoked the designation, as
applicable, is invalid.
(f) An application for issuance of a statement of ownership
designating a beneficiary in accordance with this section that is
mailed to the department must be mailed by certified or registered
mail, return receipt requested. The application is considered
submitted to the department on the date the certified or registered
mail is postmarked.
(g) The department may adopt rules to administer this
section.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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