Warren v. Weiner, 462 S.W.3d 140 (Tex App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2015, no pet.).
Mother and Father, while married, created a trust
for a child and named themselves as co-trustees. The
divorce decree provided for Mother and Father to continue serving as
trustees. They are now accusing each other of
violating the terms of the trust. Mother brought an
action in probate court to terminate the trust or remove Father as a
co-trustee. Father claimed that the probate court
lacked jurisdiction because the family court has continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction. The probate court agreed and Mother
appealed.
The appellate court reversed.
The court determined that the Family Code did not give the family court
exclusive jurisdiction over the trust. Instead, the
family court has exclusive jurisdiction only over matters implicating
the Family Code. The divorce decree cannot grant or
waive a court’s jurisdiction by agreement.
The court also determined that the family court did
not have dominate jurisdiction. The claims of breach
of trust were not connected with the divorce proceedings in family
court. Neither the child nor the trust were parties
to the divorce. There was no dispute relating to the
trust at the time of the divorce.
Moral: A family court does not acquire
exclusive jurisdiction over a trust even though trust matters may be
covered in the divorce decree.