Estate Administration

Jurisdiction

Real Property in Another County

Herring v. Welborn, 27 S.W.3d 132 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2000, pet. denied).

 

Wife’s estate was being administered in County Court at Law. Husband, who was dissatisfied with the administration, brought suit in District Court in the county in which the real property under dispute was located. District Court granted a plea to the jurisdiction and awarded Defendants sanctions against Husband for the amount they expended in attorney’s fees.

The appellate court agreed that District Court was correct in dismissing Husband’s claim for lack of jurisdiction. County Court at Law had the authority to handle all matters incident to Wife’s estate to exclusion of District Court even though the land was located in another county. However, the court did not uphold the award of sanctions. Although Husband attempted to stretch the law, there were no unexplained misstatements and the legal authority was not misrepresented. Merely because Husband’s argument lost was not a justification for sanctions.

Moral: Concerns about real property are handled in the court in which the administration is pending even if that property is located in another county.



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