(a) The court shall grant letters testamentary or of administration to persons qualified to act, in the following order:
(1) the person named as executor in the decedent‘s will;
(1-a) the person designated as administrator as authorized under § 254.006;
(2) the decedent’s surviving spouse;
(3) the principal devisee of the decedent;
(4) any devisee of the decedent;
(5) the next of kin of the decedent;
(6) a creditor of the decedent;
(7) any person of good character residing in the county who applies for the letters;
(8) any other person who is not disqualified under § 304.003; and
(9) any appointed public probate administrator.
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(5), the decedent’s next of kin:
(1) is determined in accordance with order of descent, with the person nearest in order of descent first, and so on; and
(2) includes a person and the person’s descendants who legally adopted the decedent or who have been legally adopted by the decedent.

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Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 304.001

  • 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.
  • Devisee: includes a legatee. See Texas Estates Code 22.009
  • 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
  • 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
  • Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
  • Probate: Proving a will

(c) If persons are equally entitled to letters testamentary or of administration, the court:
(1) shall grant the letters to the person who, in the judgment of the court, is most likely to administer the estate advantageously; or
(2) may grant the letters to two or more of those persons.