Texas Estates Code 362.051 – Failure to Present Account
(a) The court, on the court’s own motion or on the written complaint of anyone interested in a decedent‘s estate that has been administered, shall have the personal representative who is charged with the duty of presenting an account for final settlement cited to appear and present the account within the time specified in the citation if the representative failed or neglected to present the account at the proper time.
(b) On or after the fourth anniversary of the date the court clerk last issues letters testamentary or of administration for a decedent’s estate, the court may close the estate without an account for final settlement and without appointing a successor personal representative if:
(1) the whereabouts of the personal representative and heirs of the decedent are unknown; and
(2) a complaint has not been filed by anyone interested in the decedent’s estate.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 362.051
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- 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 - 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 - Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005