Texas Estates Code 1155.054 – Payment of Attorney’s Fees to Certain Attorneys
(a) A court that creates a guardianship or creates a management trust under Chapter 1301 for a ward, on request of a person who filed an application to be appointed guardian of the proposed ward, an application for the appointment of another suitable person as guardian of the proposed ward, or an application for the creation of the management trust, may authorize the payment of reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, as determined by the court, in amounts the court considers equitable and just, to an attorney who represents the person who filed the application at the application hearing, regardless of whether the person is appointed the ward’s guardian or whether a management trust is created, from available funds of the ward’s estate or management trust, if created, subject to Subsections (b) and (d).
(b) The court may authorize amounts that otherwise would be paid from the ward’s estate or the management trust as provided by Subsection (a) to instead be paid from the county treasury, subject to Subsection (e), if:
(1) the ward’s estate or management trust is insufficient to pay the amounts; and
(2) funds in the county treasury are budgeted for that purpose.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 1155.054
- 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 - Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- 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 - 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.
- Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
- Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Texas Estates Code 22.033
(c) The court may not authorize attorney’s fees under this section unless the court finds that the applicant acted in good faith and for just cause in the filing and prosecution of the application.
(d) If the court finds that a party in a guardianship proceeding acted in bad faith or without just cause in prosecuting or objecting to an application in the proceeding, the court may order the party to reimburse the ward’s estate for all or part of the attorney’s fees awarded under this section and shall issue judgment against the party and in favor of the estate for the amount of attorney’s fees ordered to be reimbursed to the estate.
(e) The court may authorize the payment of attorney’s fees from the county treasury under Subsection (b) only if the court is satisfied that the attorney to whom the fees will be paid has not received, and is not seeking, payment for the services described by that subsection from any other source.