Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 193 - Death Records

• Affidavit: means a statement in writing of a fact or facts signed by the party making it, sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths, and officially certified to by the officer under his seal of office. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Claims: includes :
  (1) liabilities of a decedent that survive the decedent's death, including taxes, regardless of whether the liabilities arise in contract or tort or otherwise;
  (2) funeral expenses;
  (3) the expense of a tombstone;
  (4) expenses of administration;
  (5) estate and inheritance taxes; and
  (6) debts due such estates. See Texas Estates Code 22.005
• 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.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Distributee: means a person who is entitled to a part of the estate of a decedent under a lawful will or the statutes of descent and distribution. See Texas Estates Code 22.010
• 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.
• 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.
• Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
• 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
• Probate: Proving a will
• 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: includes estates and interests in land, whether corporeal or incorporeal or legal or equitable. See Texas Estates Code 22.030