Texas Estates Code 113.252 – Rights of Creditors
(a) A multiple-party account is not effective against:
(1) an estate of a deceased party to transfer to a survivor:
(A) amounts equal to the amounts of estate taxes and expenses charged under Subchapter A, Chapter 124, to the deceased party, P.O.D. payee, or beneficiary of the account; or
(B) if other assets of the estate are insufficient, amounts needed to pay debts, other taxes, and expenses of administration, including statutory allowances to the surviving spouse and minor children; or
(2) the claim of a secured creditor who has a lien on the account.
(b) A party, P.O.D. payee, or beneficiary who receives payment from a multiple-party account or causes a payment to be made to another person from a multiple-party account after the death of a deceased party is liable to account to the deceased party’s personal representative for amounts the deceased party owned beneficially immediately before the party’s death to the extent necessary to discharge the claims, expenses, and charges described by Subsection (a). The party, P.O.D. payee, or beneficiary is not liable in an amount greater than the amount the party, P.O.D. payee, or beneficiary received or caused to be paid to another person from the multiple-party account after the deceased party’s death.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 113.252
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Child: includes an adopted child, regardless of whether the adoption occurred through:
(1) an existing or former statutory procedure; or
(2) an equitable adoption or acts of estoppel. See Texas Estates Code 22.004 - 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 - 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 - 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 - Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
- 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 - Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) Any proceeding by the personal representative of a deceased party to assert liability under Subsection (b):
(1) may be commenced only if the personal representative receives a written demand by a surviving spouse, a creditor, or a person acting on behalf of a minor child of the deceased party; and
(2) must be commenced on or before the second anniversary of the death of the deceased party.
(d) Amounts recovered by the personal representative under this section must be administered as part of the decedent‘s estate.