Texas Probate Code - Section 3. Definitions And Use Of Terms
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§ 3. DEFINITIONS AND USE OF TERMS. Except as otherwise
provided by Chapter XIII of this Code, when used in this Code,
unless otherwise apparent from the context:
(a) "Authorized corporate surety" means a domestic or
foreign corporation authorized to do business in the State of Texas
for the purpose of issuing surety, guaranty or indemnity bonds
guaranteeing the fidelity of executors and administrators.
(b) "Child" includes an adopted child, whether adopted by
any existing or former statutory procedure or by acts of estoppel,
but, unless expressly so stated herein, does not include a child who
has no presumed father.
(c) "Claims" include liabilities of a decedent which
survive, including taxes, whether arising in contract or in tort or
otherwise, funeral expenses, the expense of a tombstone, expenses
of administration, estate and inheritance taxes, and debts due such
estates.
(d) "Corporate fiduciary" means a financial institution as
defined by Section 201.101, Finance Code, having trust powers,
existing or doing business under the laws of this state, another
state, or the United States, which is authorized by law to act under
the order or appointment of any court of record, without giving
bond, as receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, or, although
without general depository powers, depository for any moneys paid
into court, or to become sole guarantor or surety in or upon any
bond required to be given under the laws of this state.
(e) "County Court" and "Probate Court" are synonymous terms
and denote county courts in the exercise of their probate
jurisdiction, courts created by statute and authorized to exercise
original probate jurisdiction, and district courts exercising
probate jurisdiction in contested matters.
(f) "County Judge," "Probate Judge," and "Judge" denote the
presiding judge of any court having original jurisdiction over
probate proceedings, whether it be a county court in the exercise of
its probate jurisdiction, a court created by statute and authorized
to exercise probate jurisdiction, or a district court exercising
probate jurisdiction in contested matters.
(g) "Court" denotes and includes both a county court in the
exercise of its probate jurisdiction, a court created by statute
and authorized to exercise original probate jurisdiction, or a
district court exercising original probate jurisdiction in
contested matters.
(h) "Devise," when used as a noun, includes a testamentary
disposition of real or personal property, or of both. When used as
a verb, "devise" means to dispose of real or personal property, or
of both, by will.
(i) "Devisee" includes legatee.
(j) "Distributee" denotes a person entitled to the estate of
a decedent under a lawful will, or under the statutes of descent and
distribution.
(k) "Docket" means the probate docket.
(l) "Estate" denotes the real and personal property of a
decedent , both as such property originally existed and as from time
to time changed in form by sale, reinvestment, or otherwise, and as
augmented by any accretions and additions thereto (including any
property to be distributed to the representative of the decedent by
the trustee of a trust which terminates upon the decedent's death)
and substitutions therefor, and as diminished by any decreases
therein and distributions therefrom.
(m) "Exempt property" refers to that property of a
decedent's estate which is exempt from execution or forced sale by
the Constitution or laws of this State, and to the allowance in lieu
thereof.
(n) Repealed by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1039, § 73(1),
eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
(o) "Heirs" denote those persons, including the surviving
spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of descent and
distribution to the estate of a decedent who dies intestate.
(p) "Incapacitated" or "Incapacitated person" means:
(1) a minor;
(2) an adult individual who, because of a physical or mental
condition, is substantially unable to provide food, clothing, or
shelter for himself or herself, to care for the individual's own
physical health, or to manage the individual's own financial
affairs; or
(3) a person who must have a guardian appointed to receive
funds due the person from any governmental source.
(q) "Independent executor" means the personal
representative of an estate under independent administration as
provided in Section 145 of this Code. The term "independent
executor" includes the term "independent administrator."
(r) "Interested persons" or "persons interested" means
heirs, devisees, spouses, creditors, or any others having a
property right in, or claim against, the estate being administered;
and anyone interested in the welfare of a minor or incompetent ward.
(s) "Legacy" includes any gift or devise by will, whether of
personalty or realty. "Legatee" includes any person entitled to a
legacy under a will.
(t) "Minors" are all persons under eighteen years of age who
have never been married or who have not had disabilities of minority
removed for general purposes.
(u) "Minutes" means the probate minutes.
(v) "Mortgage" or "Lien" includes deed of trust, vendor's
lien, chattel mortgage, mechanic's, materialman's or laborer's
lien, judgment, attachment or garnishment lien, pledge by
hypothecation, and Federal or State tax liens.
(w) "Net estate" means the real and personal property of a
decedent, exclusive of homestead rights, exempt property, the
family allowance and enforceable claims against the estate.
(x) "Person" includes natural persons and corporations.
(y) Repealed by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1039, § 73(1),
eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
(z) "Personal property" includes interests in goods, money,
choses in action, evidence of debts, and chattels real.
(aa) "Personal representative" or "Representative"
includes executor, independent executor, administrator,
independent administrator, temporary administrator, together with
their successors. The inclusion of independent executors herein
shall not be held to subject such representatives to control of the
courts in probate matters with respect to settlement of estates
except as expressly provided by law.
(bb) "Probate matter," "Probate proceedings," "Proceeding
in probate," and "Proceedings for probate" are synonymous and
include a matter or proceeding relating to the estate of a decedent.
(cc) "Property" includes both real and personal property.
(dd) "Real property" includes estates and interests in
lands, corporeal or incorporeal, legal or equitable, other than
chattels real.
(ee) "Surety" includes both personal and corporate
sureties.
(ff) "Will" includes codicil; it also includes a
testamentary instrument which merely:
(1) appoints an executor or guardian;
(2) directs how property may not be disposed of; or
(3) revokes another will.
(gg) The singular number includes the plural; the plural
number includes the singular.
(hh) The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.
(ii) "Statutory probate court" means a statutory court
designated as a statutory probate court under Chapter 25,
Government Code. A county court at law exercising probate
jurisdiction is not a statutory probate court under this Code
unless the court is designated a statutory probate court under
Chapter 25, Government Code.
(jj) "Next of kin" includes an adopted child or his or her
descendents and the adoptive parent of the adopted child.
(kk) "Charitable organization" means:
(1) a nonprofit corporation, trust, community chest, fund,
foundation, or other entity that is exempt from federal income tax
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
because the entity is organized and operated exclusively for
religious, charitable, scientific, educational, or literary
purposes, testing for public safety, prevention of cruelty to
children or animals, or promotion of amateur sports competition;
or
(2) any other entity or organization that is organized and
operated exclusively for the purposes listed in Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(ll) "Governmental agency of the state" means:
(1) an incorporated city or town, a county, a public school
district, a special-purpose district or authority, or a district,
county, or justice of the peace court;
(2) a board, commission, department, office, or other
agency in the executive branch of state government, including an
institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
Education Code;
(3) the legislature or a legislative agency; and
(4) the supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, a
court of appeals, or the State Bar of Texas or another judicial
agency having statewide jurisdiction.
(mm) "Ward" is a person for whom a guardian has been
appointed.
Acts 1955, 54th Leg., p. 88, ch. 55, eff. Jan. 1, 1956. Amended by
Acts 1957, 55th Leg., p. 53, ch. 31, § 2(a), eff. Aug. 22, 1957;
Acts 1961, 57th Leg., p. 44, ch. 30, § 2, eff. Aug. 28, 1961;
Acts 1969, 61st Leg., p. 1703, ch. 556, § 1, eff. June 10, 1969;
Acts 1969, 61st Leg., p. 1922, ch. 641, § 1, eff. June 12, 1969;
Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 104, ch. 45, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975;
Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 2195, ch. 701, § 1, eff. June 21, 1975;
Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 1061, ch. 390, § 1, 2, eff. Sept. 1,
1977; Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 1740, ch. 713, § 1, eff. Aug. 27,
1979; Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 159, § 1, 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1985;
Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 591, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1985; Acts
1989, 71st Leg., ch. 375, § 33, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 1989,
71st Leg., ch. 1035, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 1991, 72nd
Leg., ch. 14, § 284(96), eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1991, 72nd
Leg., ch. 895, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch.
957, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1039,
§ 4, 73(1), eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 52,
§ 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 344, §
6.001, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 379, § 1,
eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
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Last modified: August 10, 2007
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