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Home/Practice Areas/Estate Planning & Probate/Probate/Administration disputes
The will was not the problem. The way the estate is being run is.
Probate
Independent administration keeps the court out of the routine work, which is what makes Texas probate affordable. It does not make an executor unaccountable. They owe duties of loyalty, care and full disclosure to the beneficiaries, and Texas provides specific mechanisms when those duties are not being met.
Self-dealing — selling estate property to oneself or a related party below value. Using estate funds personally, or mixing them with personal accounts. Living in estate property rent-free while beneficiaries wait. Failing to secure, insure or maintain assets. Paying some creditors and not others, or paying claims that should have been contested. Simply going silent for a year and refusing to answer beneficiaries who ask reasonable questions.
Not every complaint is a breach. Estates take time, tax matters delay closing, an asset may be difficult to sell, and a beneficiary who wants money now is not the same thing as a fiduciary who did something wrong. The answer is documentation and disclosure — an accounting that shows the work — rather than defensiveness. Executors are entitled to reasonable compensation and to reimbursement of proper expenses, and they should also know that they can be held personally liable if they get it wrong.
Claims that assets were removed before death by a relative acting under a power of attorney. Disputes over survivorship accounts and beneficiary designations changed shortly before death. Trust disputes involving trustees who will not account. And competing applications where two family members each want to be appointed.
Send a written demand for an accounting once the statutory period has passed. If it is ignored, the court can compel it — and the refusal supports removal.
A full statement of the estate's property, receipts, disbursements and what remains, which an interested person is entitled to demand.
Yes, on statutory grounds such as misapplying estate property, failing to file required documents, or gross mismanagement. The evidence has to be about conduct, not dislike.
That is a common complaint and it may be a breach of duty depending on the circumstances. It is exactly the kind of issue an accounting exposes.
An executor benefiting personally from estate transactions — selling estate property to themselves or a related party, or using estate funds.
Where the estate has been administered and there is no reason to keep holding assets, beneficiaries can petition the court to compel it.
Not every complaint is a breach. Estates take time, and the answer is documentation and disclosure rather than defensiveness.
Yes, for losses caused by a breach of duty, and compensation can be denied. It is why the role should not be treated casually.
That is a separate claim against the agent for breach of their duty, and it can proceed alongside the administration. Bank records are where it starts.
Trust disputes follow similar principles, with duties of loyalty and disclosure and remedies including removal and damages.
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