(a) A person who exercises a lawful act of ownership in property that is the subject of an escheat proceeding must be made a party to the proceeding by:
(1) personal service of citation if the person is a resident of this state and the person’s address can be obtained by reasonable diligence; or
(2) service of citation on a person’s agent if the person is a nonresident or a resident who cannot be found and the agent can be found by the use of reasonable diligence.
(b) For the purposes of this section, reasonable diligence includes an inquiry and investigation of the records of the office of the tax assessor-collector of the county in which the property sought to be escheated is located.

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Terms Used In Texas Property Code 71.103

  • Comptroller: means the state comptroller of public accounts. See Texas Government Code 312.011
  • Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. Source: OCC
  • Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005

(c) The comptroller is an indispensable party to any judicial or administrative proceeding concerning the disposition and handling of property that is the subject of an escheat proceeding and must be made a party to the proceeding by personal service of citation.