Texas Estates Code 122.201 – Assignment; When Assignment Ineffective or Limited
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person who is entitled to receive property or an interest in property from a decedent under a will, by inheritance, or as a beneficiary under a life insurance contract, and does not disclaim the property under Chapter 240, Property Code, may assign the property or interest in property to any person.
(b) An assignment of property or an interest in property under Subsection (a) by a child support obligor does not take effect to the extent the assigned property or interest in property could be applied to satisfy a support obligation of the obligor that has been:
(1) administratively determined as evidence by a certified child support payment record produced by the Title IV-D agency in a Title IV-D case; or
(2) confirmed and reduced to judgment as provided by § 157.263, Family Code.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 122.201
- 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 - Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- 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 - Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- 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 - Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) In this section:
(1) “Title IV-D agency” has the meaning assigned by § 101.033, Family Code.
(2) “Title IV-D case” has the meaning assigned by § 101.034, Family Code.
(d) If Subsection (b) applies, the child support obligee to whom child support arrearages are owed may enforce the child support obligation against the obligor as to the assigned property or interest in property by a lien or by any other remedy provided by law.
(e) Unless the personal representative of a decedent’s estate has actual notice of a claim that an assignment of property or an interest in property under Subsection (a) does not take effect under Subsection (b), the personal representative is not liable for transferring property pursuant to such assignment.