Texas Estates Code 1151.201 – Mortgage or Pledge of Estate Property Authorized in Certain Circumstances
(a) Under court order, the guardian may mortgage or pledge any property of a guardianship estate by deed of trust or otherwise as security for an indebtedness when necessary for:
(1) the payment of any ad valorem, income, gift, or transfer tax due from a ward, regardless of whether the tax is assessed by a state, a political subdivision of the state, the federal government, or a foreign country;
(2) the payment of any expense of administration, including amounts necessary for the operation of a business, farm, or ranch owned by the estate;
(3) the payment of any claim allowed and approved, or established by suit, against the ward or the ward’s estate;
(4) the renewal and extension of an existing lien;
(5) an improvement or repair to the ward’s real estate if:
(A) the real estate is not revenue producing but could be made revenue producing by certain improvements and repairs; or
(B) the revenue from the real estate could be increased by making improvements or repairs to the real estate;
(6) the purchase of a residence for the ward or a dependent of the ward, if the court finds that borrowing money for that purpose is in the ward’s best interests; and
(7) funeral expenses of the ward and expenses of the ward’s last illness, if the guardianship is kept open after the ward’s death.
(b) Under court order, the guardian of the estate may also receive an extension of credit on the ward’s behalf that is wholly or partly secured by a lien on real property that is the ward’s homestead when necessary to:
(1) make an improvement or repair to the homestead; or
(2) pay for the ward’s education or medical expenses.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 1151.201
- 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 - Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- 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 - Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- 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.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- 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 - Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Texas Estates Code 22.033
(c) Proceeds of a home equity loan described by Subsection (b) may be used only for the purposes authorized under Subsection (b) and to pay the outstanding balance of the loan.