(a) If there is no qualified executor or administrator of a deceased spouse’s estate, the surviving spouse, as the surviving partner of the marital partnership, may:
(1) sue and be sued to recover community property;
(2) sell, mortgage, lease, and otherwise dispose of community property to pay community debts, for which a portion of community property is liable for payment;
(3) collect claims due to the community estate; and
(4) exercise other powers as necessary to:
(A) preserve the community property;
(B) discharge community obligations, for which a portion of community property is liable for payment; and
(C) wind up community affairs.
(b) This section does not affect the disposition of the deceased spouse’s property.

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Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 453.003

  • 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
  • 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
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005