Sections
Chapter 1021 General Provisions 1021.001
Chapter 1022 Jurisdiction 1022.001 – 1022.008
Chapter 1023 Venue 1023.001 – 1023.011

Terms Used In Texas Estates Code > Title 3 > Subtitle B - Scope, Jurisdiction, and Venue

  • Act: means a bodily movement, whether voluntary or involuntary, and includes speech. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Actor: means a person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Agency: includes authority, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, department, district, division, and office. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Alcoholic beverage: has the meaning assigned by § 1. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Another: means a person other than the actor. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Association: means a government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, partnership, or two or more persons having a joint or common economic interest. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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
  • Benefit: means anything reasonably regarded as economic gain or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Comptroller: means the state comptroller of public accounts. See Texas Government Code 312.011
  • Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying mental state. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Consent: means assent in fact, whether express or apparent. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • 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
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Death: includes , for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Devisee: includes a legatee. See Texas Estates Code 22.009
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
  • 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
  • Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Government: means :
    (A) the state;
    (B) a county, municipality, or political subdivision of the state; or
    (C) any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality, or political subdivision. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Governmental agency of the state: means :
    (1) a municipality;
    (2) a county;
    (3) a public school district;
    (4) a special-purpose district or authority;
    (5) a board, commission, department, office, or other agency in the executive branch of state government, including an institution of higher education, as defined by § 61. See Texas Estates Code 22.014
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Harm: means anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage, or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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
  • Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
  • Individual: means a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • 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
  • Juror: A person who is on the jury.
  • Law: means the constitution or a statute of this state or of the United States, a written opinion of a court of record, a municipal ordinance, an order of a county commissioners court, or a rule authorized by and lawfully adopted under a statute. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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
  • 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
  • Month: means a calendar month. See Texas Government Code 312.011
  • 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.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Omission: means failure to act. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Owner: means a person who:
    (A) has title to the property, possession of the property, whether lawful or not, or a greater right to possession of the property than the actor; or
    (B) is a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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.
  • Peace officer: means a person elected, employed, or appointed as a peace officer under Article Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
  • Person: means an individual or a corporation, association, limited liability company, or other entity or organization governed by the Business Organizations Code. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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 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
  • Possession: means actual care, custody, control, or management. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Public servant: means a person elected, selected, appointed, employed, or otherwise designated as one of the following, even if he has not yet qualified for office or assumed his duties:
    (A) an officer, employee, or agent of government;
    (B) a juror or grand juror; or
    (C) an arbitrator, referee, or other person who is authorized by law or private written agreement to hear or determine a cause or controversy; or
    (D) an attorney at law or notary public when participating in the performance of a governmental function; or
    (E) a candidate for nomination or election to public office; or
    (F) a person who is performing a governmental function under a claim of right although he is not legally qualified to do so. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Serious bodily injury: means bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • 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.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Statutory probate court: means a court created by statute and designated as a statutory probate court under Chapter 25, Government Code. See Texas Estates Code 22.007
  • Surety: includes a personal surety and a corporate surety. See Texas Estates Code 22.032
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Unlawful: means criminal or tortious or both and includes what would be criminal or tortious but for a defense not amounting to justification or privilege. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Victim Impact Statement: A written or spoken statement by the victim or his or her representative about the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on the victim. The statement is given to the court before sentencing.
  • Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Texas Estates Code 22.033
  • Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005