In In re Est. of De Chavez, a party filed an application to probate a Mexican will under Texas Estates Code Section 501.001 where the decedent was domiciled in Texas at the time of her death. No. 08-23-00072-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 4347 (Tex. App.—El Paso June 21, 2024, no pet. history). The opposing party filed a motion to dismiss the application because Section 501.001 was only intended to domesticate foreign wills that had been admitted to probate in a foreign jurisdiction.

Section 501.001 states:

The written will of a testator who was not domiciled in this state at the time of the testator’s death may be admitted to probate at any time in this state if: (1) the will would affect any property in this state; and (2) proof is presented that the will stands probated or otherwise established in any state of the United States or a foreign nation.

Tex. Est. Code § 501.001.

The court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s dismissal, stating:

Alfonso’s Amended Application alleges Georgina was domiciled in El Paso, Texas at the time of her death. Taking that allegation in the pleading as true, we hold that this admission triggers a complete bar to probating the Mexico Will under § 501.001, which does not apply to decedents who were domiciled in Texas. And because the Amended Application pursues no other avenue for probating the Mexico Will, we hold it was appropriate for the court to grant Dr. Pacheco’s motion to dismiss. The dismissal of the § 501.001 cause of action comports with what that section was intended to accomplish. Section 501.001 provides a procedural mechanism that simplifies the probate of foreign wills in Texas by avoiding all the formal requirements of an original proceeding to probate a will.

So where a testator who was domiciled in another jurisdiction owns property in Texas, the testator’s foreign will that has been admitted to probate in that other jurisdiction may be admitted to probate in Texas under § 501.001. Once probated in Texas, the foreign will is effective to dispose of the testator’s property in Texas, just as any other will. The obvious caveat is that the testator must have been domiciled in another jurisdiction. Alfonso’s pleading admits that is not the case, which is why § 501.001 simply does not apply here.

Id. (internal citations omitted).

Tags: application to probate foreign will, dismissal of application to probate will, foreign wills, Texas Estate Code 501.001
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Photo of David Fowler Johnson David Fowler Johnson

[email protected]
817.420.8223

David maintains an active trial and appellate practice and has consistently worked on financial institution litigation matters throughout his career. David is the primary author of the The Fiduciary Litigator blog, which reports on legal cases and issues impacting the fiduciary…

[email protected]
817.420.8223

David maintains an active trial and appellate practice and has consistently worked on financial institution litigation matters throughout his career. David is the primary author of the The Fiduciary Litigator blog, which reports on legal cases and issues impacting the fiduciary field in Texas. Read More

David’s financial institution experience includes (but is not limited to): breach of contract, foreclosure litigation, lender liability, receivership and injunction remedies upon default, non-recourse and other real estate lending, class action, RICO actions, usury, various tort causes of action, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and preference and other related claims raised by receivers.

David also has experience in estate and trust disputes including will contests, mental competency issues, undue influence, trust modification/clarification, breach of fiduciary duty and related claims, and accountings. David’s recent trial experience includes:

  • Representing a bank in federal class action suit where trust beneficiaries challenged whether the bank was the authorized trustee of over 220 trusts;
  • Representing a bank in state court regarding claims that it mismanaged oil and gas assets;
  • Representing a bank who filed suit in probate court to modify three trusts to remove a charitable beneficiary that had substantially changed operations;
  • Represented an individual executor of an estate against claims raised by a beneficiary for breach of fiduciary duty and an accounting; and
  • Represented an individual trustee against claims raised by a beneficiary for breach of fiduciary duty, mental competence of the settlor, and undue influence.

David is one of twenty attorneys in the state (of the 84,000 licensed) that has the triple Board Certification in Civil Trial Law, Civil Appellate and Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Additionally, David is a member of the Civil Trial Law Commission of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. This commission writes and grades the exam for new applicants for civil trial law certification.

David maintains an active appellate practice, which includes:

  • Appeals from final judgments after pre-trial orders such as summary judgments or after jury trials;
  • Interlocutory appeals dealing with temporary injunctions, arbitration, special appearances, sealing the record, and receiverships;
  • Original proceedings such as seeking and defending against mandamus relief; and
  • Seeking emergency relief staying trial court’s orders pending appeal or mandamus.

For example, David was the lead appellate lawyer in the Texas Supreme Court in In re Weekley Homes, LP, 295 S.W.3d 309 (Tex. 2009). The Court issued a ground-breaking opinion in favor of David’s client regarding the standards that a trial court should follow in ordering the production of computers in discovery.

David previously taught Appellate Advocacy at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law located in Fort Worth. David is licensed and has practiced in the U.S. Supreme Court; the Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Federal Circuits; the Federal District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas; the Texas Supreme Court and various Texas intermediate appellate courts. David also served as an adjunct professor at Baylor University Law School, where he taught products liability and portions of health law. He has authored many legal articles and spoken at numerous legal education courses on both trial and appellate issues. His articles have been cited as authority by the Texas Supreme Court (twice) and the Texas Courts of Appeals located in Waco, Texarkana, Beaumont, Tyler and Houston (Fourteenth District), and a federal district court in Pennsylvania. David’s articles also have been cited by McDonald and Carlson in their Texas Civil Practice treatise, William v. Dorsaneo in the Texas Litigation Guide, and various authors in the Baylor Law Review, St. Mary’s Law Journal, South Texas Law Review and Tennessee Law Review.

Representative Experience

  • Civil Litigation and Appellate Law
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