(a) A person who possesses or controls a document delivered by a decedent for safekeeping or who leases a safe deposit box to a decedent may permit examination of the document or the contents of the safe deposit box by:
(1) the decedent’s spouse;
(2) a parent of the decedent;
(3) a descendant of the decedent who is at least 18 years of age; or
(4) a person named as executor of the decedent’s estate in a copy of a document that the person has and that appears to be a will of the decedent.
(b) An examination under Subsection (a) shall be conducted in the presence of the person who possesses or controls the document or who leases the safe deposit box or, if the person is a corporation, an officer of the corporation.

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Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 151.003

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Estate: means a decedent's property, as that property:
    (1) exists originally and as the property changes in form by sale, reinvestment, or otherwise;
    (2) is augmented by any accretions and other additions to the property, including any property to be distributed to the decedent's representative by the trustee of a trust that terminates on the decedent's death, and substitutions for the property; and
    (3) is diminished by any decreases in or distributions from the property. See Texas Estates Code 22.012
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027