Commentary on HB 1282 and SB 294

1999 Legislation:

Commentary on HB 1282 and SB 294 -- Probate Masters

The Senate Jurisprudence Committee today (2/11/99) reported favorably a committee substitute for SB 294 -- the Probate Masters bill -- and recommended it for the local and uncontested calendar in the Senate. It appears that the committee substitute answers the question (posed in my earlier posts) as to whether all statutory probate courts in Dallas County are excepted out of the statute or just Judge DeShazo's "Probate Court of Dallas County." The committee substitute excepts "the statutory probate courts of Dallas County," so all Dallas County courts will be affected. [02/11/99]

Today Rep. Senfronia Thompson introduced HB 1282, which appears to be identical, or virtually identical, SB 294, which would allow statutory probate courts to use masters. The Senate Jurisprudence Committee held a hearing on SB 294 on February 8, 1999. Deborah Green, an attorney from Austin, Judge Guy Herman, Presiding Statutory Probate Judge of Texas, and Hartely Hampton of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association registered with respect to the bill but apparently did not testify. [02/09/99]

SB 294, which would allow all counties with statutory probate courts other than Dallas County to hire masters to hear probate cases, appears to be on the fast track. The bill, authored by Senator Chris Harris, is scheduled for a public hearing (a prerequisite for committee approval) at 3:30 p.m. TODAY (February 8, 1999) in Room E1.012 of the Capitol.

Senator Harris is a member of the Jurisprudence Committee, so it is perhaps not surprising that he was able to get SB 294 scheduled for hearing so quickly.

As noted in my prior post (see below), this is at least the third time around for the probate masters bill. It will be interesting to see if the bill draws opposition this afternoon. [02/08/99]

SB 294, being carried by Sen. Chris Harris, would permit statutory probate courts to employ masters to hear probate cases if the county commissioners court approved (in other words, if the commissioners court is willing to pay for it). The bill would add Subchapter G to Chapter 54 of the Government Code (Sections 54.601 -- 54.620). The bill provides that it does not apply to "the statutory probate court of Dallas County." I don't know if that means just Judge DeShazo's court (which is officially known as "Probate Court of Dallas County" -- see Tex. Govt. Code Sec. 25.0591(d)) or to all three statutory probate courts in Dallas County.

Some, if not all, of the statutory probate judges have been pushing for a master's bill since at least 1995. Advocates of a masters system point out that it would be cheaper than creating a whole new statutory probate court, thus postponing the need for a county to incur that expense for several years; that it would allow attorneys and their clients to get hearings more promptly; and that no one would be forced to have their case heard by a master. Opponents in prior sessions have seen the masters bill as an obstacle to the creation of new statutory probate courts: if crowded dockets are the reason for masters, then let's not stop halfway, but rather create the full-service statutory probate courts we need. [01/28/99]