Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-897 Page: 3 of 6
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Honorable Garry Mauro - Page 3 (JM-897)
cases, to apply to the contract a fee statute or rule
enacted or promulgated after the making of the contract
would unconstitutionally impair it.
None of the exceptions to the impairment rule set out
in JM-774, e.a., in the cases where legislative enactments
are in the "public interest," or where the exceptions turn
on the distinction between impairment of rights and
impairment of remedies, are any more apposite here than
they were held to be in the context of the very similar
issues presented in Attorney General Opinion JM-774.
Thus, it is our opinion that original contracts,
making references to the controlling statutes in the
manner indicated above, and executed after 1961, are
subject only to the fee which was provided for by the
statute or rule at the time the contract was made.
You also ask what paid-in-full deed fees, if any,
assignees of such contracts could be made liable for.
From the foregoing discussion, it follows that an
assignment contract referencing the controlling statute
and rules as they were referenced in the original contract
provisions discussed above does not subject the assignee
to fees or fee increases enacted or promulgated after the
assignment was made.
The issue, then, is whether the assignee is subject
to the law in force at the time of the assignment or to
that in force at the time the original contract was made,
with respect to the deed fee, where the assignment
contract made reference to controlling statutes or rules
in the manner discussed above with respect to the original
contracts. We feel that determination of this issue may
be made only with reference to particular contracts and
pertinent rules: what paid-in-full deed fee, if any, an
assignee may be made liable for depends on whether the
particular assignment and underlying contract, taken
together with the pertinent statutes and rules, show that
the assignment constituted a new contract with respect to
the obligation of the assignee to pay a deed fee, or show
a waiver by the assignee of the right under the original
(Footnote Continued)
only bind the purchaser or assignee to the provisions of
such act or rules as amended up to the time of the making
of the contract.p. 4415
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-897, text, May 6, 1988; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth273335/m1/3/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.