Texas Estates Code 455.006 – Public Probate Administrator’s Initiation of Administration
(a) The public probate administrator shall investigate a decedent‘s estate and circumstances to determine if the opening of an administration is necessary if the public probate administrator has reasonable cause to believe that the decedent found in the county or believed to be domiciled in the county in which the administrator is appointed does not have a personal representative appointed for the decedent’s estate.
(b) The public probate administrator shall secure a decedent’s estate or resolve any other circumstances related to a decedent, if, after the investigation, the public probate administrator determines that:
(1) the decedent has an estate that may be subject to loss, injury, waste, or misappropriation; or
(2) there are other circumstances relating to the decedent that require action by the public probate administrator.
Terms Used In Texas Estates Code 455.006
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- 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 - Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
- 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 - Probate: Proving a will
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) To establish reasonable cause under Subsection (a), the public probate administrator may require an information letter about the decedent that contains the following:
(1) the name, address, date of birth, and county of residence of the decedent;
(2) a description of the relationship between the interested person and the decedent;
(3) a statement of the suspected cause of death of the decedent;
(4) the names and telephone numbers of any known friends or relatives of the decedent;
(5) a description of any known property of the decedent, including the estimated value of the property; and
(6) a statement of whether the property is subject to loss, injury, waste, or misappropriation.