Sections
Chapter 101 Estate Assets in General 101.001 – 101.052
Chapter 102 Probate Assets: Decedent’s Homestead 102.001 – 102.006
Chapter 111 Nonprobate Assets in General 111.001 – 111.102
Chapter 112 Community Property With Right of Survivorship 112.001 – 112.253
Chapter 113 Multiple-Party Accounts 113.001 – 113.253
Chapter 114 Transfer On Death Deed 114.001 – 114.106
Chapter 115 Beneficiary Designation for Motor Vehicles 115.001 – 115.006
Chapter 121 Survival Requirements 121.001 – 121.153
Chapter 122 Disclaimers and Assignments 122.001 – 122.206
Chapter 123 Dissolution of Marriage 123.001 – 123.151
Chapter 124 Valuation and Taxation of Estate Property 124.001 – 124.052
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Terms Used In Texas Estates Code > Title 2 > Subtitle C - Passage of Title and Distribution of Decedents' Property in General

  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Artificial swimming lagoon: means an artificial body of water used for recreational purposes with more than 20,000 square feet of surface area, an artificial liner, and a method of disinfectant. See Texas Health and Safety Code 1.005
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Charitable organization: means :
    (1) a nonprofit corporation, trust, community chest, fund, foundation, or other entity that is:
    (A) exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being described by Section 501(c)(3) of that code; and
    (B) organized and operated exclusively for:
    (i) religious, charitable, scientific, educational, or literary purposes;
    (ii) testing for public safety;
    (iii) preventing cruelty to children or animals; or
    (iv) promoting amateur sports competition; or
    (2) any other entity that is organized and operated exclusively for the purposes listed in Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986. See Texas Estates Code 22.003
  • Child: includes an adopted child, regardless of whether the adoption occurred through:
    (1) an existing or former statutory procedure; or
    (2) an equitable adoption or acts of estoppel. See Texas Estates Code 22.004
  • 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
  • Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
  • Common disaster: A sudden and extraordinary misfortune that brings about the simultaneous or near-simultaneous deaths of two or more associated persons, such as husband and wife.
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • 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.
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture. See Texas Agriculture Code 1.003
  • Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Devisee: includes a legatee. See Texas Estates Code 22.009
  • Distributee: means a person who is entitled to a part of the estate of a decedent under a lawful will or the statutes of descent and distribution. See Texas Estates Code 22.010
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. Source: OCC
  • 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
  • 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
  • Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Exempt property: means the property in a decedent's estate that is exempt from execution or forced sale by the constitution or laws of this state, and any allowance paid instead of that property. See Texas Estates Code 22.013
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
  • Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
  • Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
  • 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
  • Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
  • Judge: means the presiding judge of any court having original jurisdiction over probate proceedings, regardless of whether the court is:
    (1) a county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction;
    (2) a court created by statute and authorized to exercise probate jurisdiction; or
    (3) a district court exercising probate jurisdiction in a contested matter. See Texas Estates Code 22.019
  • Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • lien: include :
    (1) a deed of trust;
    (2) a vendor's lien, a mechanic's, materialman's, or laborer's lien, an attachment or garnishment lien, and a federal or state tax lien;
    (3) a chattel mortgage;
    (4) a judgment; and
    (5) a pledge by hypothecation. See Texas Estates Code 22.024
  • Livestock: means cattle, horses, mules, asses, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, exotic livestock, including elk and elk hybrids, and hogs, unless otherwise defined. See Texas Agriculture Code 1.003
  • Marital deduction: The deduction(s) that can be taken in the determination of gift and estate tax liabilities because of the existence of a marriage or marital relationship.
  • Minor: means a person younger than 18 years of age who:
    (1) has never been married; and
    (2) has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes. See Texas Estates Code 22.022
  • Next of kin: includes :
    (1) an adopted child or the adopted child's descendants; and
    (2) the adoptive parent of the adopted child. See Texas Estates Code 22.026
  • Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
  • person interested: means :
    (1) an heir, devisee, spouse, creditor, or any other having a property right in or claim against an estate being administered; and
    (2) anyone interested in the welfare of an incapacitated person, including a minor. See Texas Estates Code 22.018
  • Personal property: includes an interest in:
    (1) goods;
    (2) money;
    (3) a chose in action;
    (4) an evidence of debt; and
    (5) a real chattel. See Texas Estates Code 22.028
  • 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
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Qualified delivery method: means delivery by:
    (1) hand delivery by courier, with courier's proof of delivery receipt;
    (2) certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, with return receipt; or
    (3) a private delivery service designated as a designated delivery service by the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Section 7502(f)(2), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with proof of delivery receipt. See Texas Estates Code 22.0295
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • Real property: includes estates and interests in land, whether corporeal or incorporeal or legal or equitable. See Texas Estates Code 22.030
  • Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
  • 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.
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
  • Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Texas Estates Code 22.033