How Do I Dispute an Intestate Administration in Texas?
Full Question:
Answer:
In Texas, if someone dies without a will, he or she is said to have died intestate. When someone dies intestate, Texas law lays out how the estate will be distributed in the Texas Probate Code. The court will appoint an administrator to distribute the assets and this representative must list the assets and file them with the court. Objections may be filed. Please see the statutes below to determine applicability. I suggest you contact a local attorney who can review all the facts and documents involved.
Please see the following TX statutes:
§ 76 PROB. CODE. Persons Who May Make Application
An executor named in a will or any interested person may make
application to the court of a proper county:
(a) For an order admitting a will to probate, whether the same is
written or unwritten, in his possession or not, is lost, is destroyed, or
is out of the State.
(b) For the appointment of the executor named in the will.
(c) For the appointment of an administrator, if no executor is
designated in the will, or if the person so named is disqualified, or
refuses to serve, or is dead, or resigns, or if there is no will. An
application for probate may be combined with an application for the
appointment of an executor or administrator; and a person interested in
either the probate of the will or the appointment of a personal
representative may apply for both.
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§ 78 PROB. CODE. Persons Disqualified to Serve as Executor or
Administrator
No person is qualified to serve as an executor or administrator
who is:
(a) An incapacitated person;
(b) A convicted felon, under the laws either of the United States or of
any state or territory of the United States, or of the District of
Columbia, unless such person has been duly pardoned, or his civil rights
restored, in accordance with law;
(c) A non-resident (natural person or corporation) of this State who
has not appointed a resident agent to accept service of process in all
actions or proceedings with respect to the estate, and caused such
appointment to be filed with the court;
(d) A corporation not authorized to act as a fiduciary in this
State; or
(e) A person whom the court finds unsuitable.
§ 37. PASSAGE OF TITLE UPON INTESTACY AND UNDER A
WILL.
[omitted]
Intestate Leaving Husband or Wife. Where any person
having title to any estate, real, personal or mixed, other than a
community estate, shall die intestate as to such estate, and shall
leave a surviving husband or wife, such estate of such intestate
shall descend and pass as follows:
1. If the deceased have a child or children, or their
descendants, the surviving husband or wife shall take one-third of
the personal estate, and the balance of such personal estate shall
go to the child or children of the deceased and their descendants.
The surviving husband or wife shall also be entitled to an estate
for life, in one-third of the land of the intestate, with remainder
to the child or children of the intestate and their descendants.
2. If the deceased have no child or children, or their
descendants, then the surviving husband or wife shall be entitled
to all the personal estate, and to one-half of the lands of the
intestate, without remainder to any person, and the other half
shall pass and be inherited according to the rules of descent and
distribution; provided, however, that if the deceased has neither
surviving father nor mother nor surviving brothers or sisters, or
their descendants, then the surviving husband or wife shall be
entitled to the whole of the estate of such intestate.
§ 251 PROB. CODE. List of Claims
There shall also be made out and attached to said inventory a full and
complete list of all claims due or owing to the estate, which shall
state:
(a) The name of each person indebted to the estate and his address when
known.
(b) The nature of such debt, whether by note, bill, bond, or other
written obligation, or by account or verbal contract.
(c) The date of such indebtedness, and the date when the same was or
will be due.
(d) The amount of each claim, the rate of interest thereon, and
time for which the same bears interest.
(e) In the case of decedent's estate, which of such claims are
separate property and which are of the community.
(f) What portion of the claims, if any, is held in common with
others, giving the names and the relationships, if any, of other
part owners, and the interest of the estate therein.
§ 252 PROB. CODE. Affidavit to be Attached
The representative of the estate shall also attach to such inventory
and list of claims his affidavit subscribed and sworn to before an
officer in the county authorized by law to administer oaths, that the
said inventory and list of claims are a true and complete statement of
the property and claims of the estate that have come to his knowledge.
§ 294 PROB. CODE. Notice by Representative of Appointment
(a) Giving of Notice Required. Within one month after receiving
letters, personal representatives of estates shall send to the
comptroller of public accounts by certified or registered mail if the
decedent remitted or should have remitted taxes administered by the
comptroller of public accounts and publish in some newspaper, printed in
the county where the letters were issued, if there be one, a notice
requiring all persons having claims against the estate being administered
to present the same within the time prescribed by law. The notice shall
include the date of issuance of letters held by the representative, the
address to which claims may be presented, and an instruction of the
representative's choice that claims be addressed in care of the
representative, in care of the representative's attorney, or in care of
"Representative, Estate of ___________" (naming the estate).
(b) Proof of Publication. A copy of such printed notice, together with
the affidavit of the publisher, duly sworn to and subscribed before a
proper officer, to the effect that the notice was published as provided in
this Code for the service of citation or notice by publication, shall be
filed in the court where the cause is pending.
(c) When No Newspaper Printed in the County. When no newspaper is
printed in the county, the notice shall be posted and the return made and
filed as required by this Code.
(d) Permissive Notice to Unsecured Creditors. At any time before an
estate administration is closed, the personal representative may give
notice by certified or registered mail, with return receipt requested, to
an unsecured creditor having a claim for money against the estate
expressly stating that the creditor must present a claim within four
months after the date of the receipt of the notice or the claim is
barred, if the claim is not barred by the general statutes of
limitation. The notice must include:
(1) the dates of issuance of letters held by the representative;
(2) the address to which claims may be presented; and
(3) an instruction of the representative's choice that the claim be
addressed in care of:
(A) the representative;
(B) the representative's attorney; or
(C) "Representative, Estate of" (naming the estate).
§ 258 PROB. CODE. Correction Required When Inventory, Appraisement,
or List of Claims Erroneous or Unjust
Any person interested in an estate who deems an inventory,
appraisement, or list of claims returned therein erroneous or unjust in
any particular may file a complaint in writing setting forth and pointing
out the alleged erroneous or unjust items, and cause the representative
to be cited to appear before the court and show cause why such errors
should not be corrected. If, upon the hearing of such complaint, the
court be satisfied from the evidence that the inventory, appraisement, or
list of claims is erroneous or unjust in any particular as alleged in the
complaint, an order shall be entered specifying the erroneous or unjust
items and the corrections to be made, and appointing appraisers to make a
new appraisement correcting such erroneous or unjust items and requiring
the return of said new appraisement within twenty days from the date of
the order. The court may also, on its own motion or that of the personal
representative of the estate, have a new appraisal made for the purposes
above set out.
§ 93 PROB. CODE. Period for Contesting Probate
After a will has been admitted to probate, any interested person may
institute suit in the proper court to contest the validity thereof,
within two years after such will shall have been admitted to probate, and
not afterward, except that any interested person may institute suit in
the proper court to cancel a will for forgery or other fraud within two
years after the discovery of such forgery or fraud, and not afterward.
Provided, however, that incapacitated persons shall have two years after
the removal of their disabilities within which to institute such
contest.
