administrator's right to partition property

In Estate of Tillotson, an administrator of a decedent’s estate filed a turn over motion to have the decedent’s husband turn over the decedent’s community property interest in certain accounts. No. 05-20-00258-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 2097 (Tex. App.—Dallas March 18, 2021, no pet. history). After the trial court granted the motion, the surviving spouse appealed. The court of appeals first held that the administrator had the power to file a motion to seek the partition of community property:

The Estates Code provides that at any time after the first anniversary of the date original letters testamentary or of administration are granted, an executor, administrator, heir, or devisee of a decedent’s estate, by written application filed in the court in which the estate is pending, may request the partition and distribution of the estate. See Est. § 360.001(a). The Estates Code further provides that if an intestate deceased spouse is survived by a child, the deceased spouse’s undivided one-half interest in the community estate passes to the deceased spouse’s children. See id. § 201.003… Accordingly, we conclude Hoyl in her capacity as administratrix could request partition of the community property and that the trial court did not err by granting Hoyl’s request to partition community property.

Id. The court discussed that Estates Code section 360.253(a) allows a surviving spouse to seek a partition, but holds that it does not make that right an exclusive one to the surviving spouse.
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