Texas Estates Code 402.053 – Protection of Person Purchasing Estate Property
(a) A person who is not a devisee or heir is not required to inquire into the power of sale of estate property of the independent executor or independent administrator or the propriety of the exercise of the power of sale if the person deals with the independent executor or independent administrator in good faith and:
(1) a power of sale is granted to the independent executor in the will;
(2) a power of sale is granted under Section 401.006 in the court order appointing the independent executor or independent administrator; or
(3) the independent executor or independent administrator provides an affidavit, executed and sworn to under oath and recorded in the deed records of the county where the property is located, that the sale is necessary or advisable for any of the purposes described in Section 356.251(1).
(b) As to acts undertaken in good faith reliance, the affidavit described by Subsection (a)(3) is conclusive proof, as between a purchaser of property from the estate, and the personal representative of an estate or the heirs and distributees of the estate, with respect to the authority of the independent executor or independent administrator to sell the property. The signature or joinder of a devisee or heir who has an interest in the property being sold as described in this section is not necessary for the purchaser to obtain all right, title, and interest of the estate in the property being sold.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 402.053
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Affidavit: means a statement in writing of a fact or facts signed by the party making it, sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths, and officially certified to by the officer under his seal of office. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- 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 - Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Devisee: includes a legatee. See Texas Estates Code 22.009
- 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
- Heir: means a person who is entitled under the statutes of descent and distribution to a part of the estate of a decedent who dies intestate. See Texas Estates Code 22.015
- Independent executor: means the personal representative of an estate under independent administration as provided by Chapter 401 and § 402. See Texas Estates Code 22.017
- 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
- Signature: includes the mark of a person unable to write, and "subscribe" includes the making of such a mark. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- sworn: includes affirm or affirmed. See Texas Government Code 312.011
(c) This subchapter does not relieve the independent executor or independent administrator from any duty owed to a devisee or heir in relation, directly or indirectly, to the sale.