Lee v. Hersey, 223 S.W.3d 439 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2006, pet. denied).
A statutory county court at law with original probate jurisdiction
rendered a verdict against Executor in a breach of fiduciary duties
action involving an amount in controversy over $100,000 which would be
beyond the court’s jurisdictional limit under Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 21.009
and 25.0003. Executor appealed claiming that the judgment was void for
lack of jurisdiction.
The appellate court held that the statutory county court at law had
jurisdiction because the matters it heard were incident to the
decedent’s estate under Probate Code § 5A(a). The plaintiffs alleged
varies breaches of Executor’s fiduciary duties including his failure to
fund a testamentary trust. The suit also involved Executor’s claims to
recover estate assets further demonstrating that the litigation was
incident to the decedent’s estate. Accordingly, the jurisdictional
amount limit of the Government Code was not controlling.
Moral: A statutory county court at law with original probate
jurisdiction may hear probate cases which involve amounts exceeding the
court’s usual jurisdictional limits.