Waste Disposal Center, Inc. v. Larson, 74 S.W.3d 578 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2002, pet. denied).
Plaintiffs sued “the Estate of Decedent.” Estate appeared and
participated in the case. At the end of the trial, Estate obtained a
directed verdict on jurisdictional grounds because the estate of a
deceased person is not a legal entity. Plaintiffs appealed.
The appellate court affirmed. The court began its analysis by explaining
that an estate is not a legal entity which is capable of being sued.
This defect is a matter of fundamental jurisdiction which cannot be
waived because no one is named as a defendant and thus there is no one
to waive the defect. Estate’s appearance and participation in the case
was irrelevant because Plaintiffs did not sue by name or serve the
personal representative of the estate. No estoppel to assert lack of
jurisdiction arose because the personal representative did not appear or
participate in the lawsuit.
Moral: A plaintiff should sue the personal representative of a decedent,
not the decedent’s estate.