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Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 202.002

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • 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
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

A court may conduct a proceeding to declare heirship when:
(1) a person dies intestate owning or entitled to property in this state and there has been no administration in this state of the person’s estate;
(2) there has been a will probated in this state or elsewhere or an administration in this state of a decedent‘s estate, but:
(A) property in this state was omitted from the will or administration; or
(B) no final disposition of property in this state has been made in the administration; or
(3) it is necessary for the trustee of a trust holding assets for the benefit of a decedent to determine the heirs of the decedent.