In In re Mittelsted, a trial court held a former executor in contempt for over twenty acts of commingling personal property with estate property and ordered that the executor pay over $200,000 to avoid contempt. No. 14-22-00274-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 1014 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] February 16, 2023, original proceeding). The executor filed
Texas Court of Appeals
Court Affirms Order Holding That Party Had Mental Capacity To Execute Contracts Regarding The Sale Of Real Property
In In re Estate of Montemayor, a buyer sued a seller regarding five real estate contracts. No. 09-21-00054-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 1174 (Tex. App.—Beaumont May 13, 2022, no pet. history). The seller’s executor alleged that the contracts were not enforceable because the seller did not have mental capacity to execute them. The jury…
Court Reversed The Appointment Of A Successor Independent Administrator Of An Estate
In In re Estate of Allen, a trial court appointed a successor independent administrator, the decedent’s son, and the decedent’s wife appealed the decision. No. 08-21-00184-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 8841 (Tex. App.—El Paso December 2, 2022, no pet. history). The court first discussed the distinction between a dependent and independent administration:
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Court Affirmed Removal Of An Administratrix For Gross Mismanagement
In In the Est. of Lemme, an administratrix of an estate hired her boyfriend to do legal work. No. 07-21-00300-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 8829 (Tex. App.—Amarillo December 1, 2022, no pet. history). After an accounting was submitted, heirs objected to the amount of the fees paid. The trial court removed the administratrix for…
Court Affirmed The Decision To Not Probate A Copy Of A Lost Will
In In re Est. of Brown, a charity attempted to probate a copy of a lost will. No. 01-19-00953-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 9259 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] December 20, 2022, no pet. history). The trial court denied the application, and the charity appealed. The court of appeals affirmed. The court first discussed the…
Court Affirmed An Order Holding That A Deceased Astronaut’s Artifacts Were His Separate Property
In Bean v. Bean, a dissenting co-executor sought relief from a probate court regarding whether certain assets were separate property or community property. No. 05-21-00286-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 9058 (Tex. App.—Dallas December 13, 2022, no pet. history). Alan Lavern Bean was an astronaut during Apollo-era space programs. He owned 39 artifacts from his experience…
Appellate Court Affirmed An Order Denying A Beneficiary’s Request For Injunctive Relief To Require A Trustee To Reimburse The Trust For Attorney’s Fees Spent Defending Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claims
In In re McIntire, trust beneficiaries sued a trustee for multiple allegations of breach of fiduciary duty. No. 07-22-00249-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 60 (Tex. App.—Amarillo January 5, 2023, original proceeding). The trust beneficiaries filed a motion for partial summary judgment, which the trial court denied. The trust beneficiaries also sought an order requiring…
Court Construes A Trust To Allow A Trustee To Sell Real Estate And To Consider The Proceeds As Principal Of The Trust
In In re John O. Yates Trust, a trustee of a trust filed suit to obtain declarations on whether it could sell certain real estate held in the trust, and if so, whether the proceeds should be designated as principal. No. 04-21-00365-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 9470 (Tex. App.—San Antonio December 28, 2022, no…
Court Granted Mandamus Relief To Order District Court To Abate Trust Dispute Due To Earlier Filed Suit In Probate Court
In In re McGowan, a dispute arose regarding whether certain interests in real property were funded into a trust or whether the decedent still had those interests at the time of his death such that they were in his estate. No. 03-22-00726-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 168 (Tex. App.—Austin January 11, 2023, original proceeding). The parties claiming that the interests were in a trust, the Sisters, filed claims in the probate case. Later suit was filed in district court regarding the same issues. The Sisters then filed a motion transfer the claims from the probate court to the district court and consolidate them. The trustee/executor filed a motion to abate in the district court due to the previously pending claims in probate court. The district court granted the motion to consolidate and denied the motion to abate. The trustee/executor filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the court of appeals challenging the denial of the motion to abate.…
Court Affirms Judgment In Divorce Proceeding That Property Was Community Even Though It Was Purchased With Trust Assets
In Leggio v. Florian, the trial court awarded three real estate properties to the wife over an allegation by the husband that all of the properties were his separate property. No. 14-21-00168-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 5563 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] August 4, 2022, no pet. history). In the court of appeals, the court noted that “[i]f the trial court mischaracterizes a spouse’s separate property as community property and erroneously awards some of that property to the other spouse, then the trial court’s decree of divorce must normally be reversed in part and the case remanded for a new division of the marital estate, unless no harm has been shown from the erroneous division.” Id. There is a statutory presumption that the properties were community property because they were “possessed by either spouse during or on dissolution of marriage.” Id. (citing Tex. Fam. Code § 3.003(a)). The husband had the burden of rebutting the community-property presumption. The court noted:…