Texas Estates Code 354.001 – Summary Proceedings for Certain Small Estates
(a) If, after a personal representative of an estate has filed the inventory, appraisement, and list of claims or the affidavit in lieu of the inventory, appraisement, and list of claims as provided by Chapter 309, it is established that the decedent‘s estate, excluding any homestead, exempt property, and family allowance to the decedent’s surviving spouse, minor children, and adult incapacitated children, does not exceed the amount sufficient to pay the claims against the estate classified as Classes 1 through 4 under Section 355.102, the representative shall:
(1) on order of the court, pay those claims in the order provided and to the extent permitted by the assets of the estate subject to the payment of those claims; and
(2) after paying the claims in accordance with Subdivision (1), present to the court the representative’s account with an application for the settlement and allowance of the account.
(b) On presentation of the personal representative’s account and application under Subsection (a), the court, with or without notice, may adjust, correct, settle, allow, or disallow the account.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 354.001
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Claims: includes :
(1) liabilities of a decedent that survive the decedent's death, including taxes, regardless of whether the liabilities arise in contract or tort or otherwise;
(2) funeral expenses;
(3) the expense of a tombstone;
(4) expenses of administration;
(5) estate and inheritance taxes; and
(6) debts due such estates. See Texas Estates Code 22.005 - Court: means and includes:
(1) a county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction;
(2) a court created by statute and authorized to exercise original probate jurisdiction; and
(3) a district court exercising original probate jurisdiction in a contested matter. See Texas Estates Code 22.007 - 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 - Exempt property: means the property in a decedent's estate that is exempt from execution or forced sale by the constitution or laws of this state, and any allowance paid instead of that property. See Texas Estates Code 22.013
- Minor: means a person younger than 18 years of age who:
(1) has never been married; and
(2) has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes. See Texas Estates Code 22.022 - personal representative: include :
(1) an executor and independent executor;
(2) an administrator, independent administrator, and temporary administrator; and
(3) a successor to an executor or administrator listed in Subdivision (1) or (2). See Texas Estates Code 22.031 - Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
(c) If the court settles and allows the personal representative’s account under Subsection (b), the court may:
(1) decree final distribution;
(2) discharge the representative; and
(3) close the administration.