Matter of Estate of Casares, 556 S.W.3d 913 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2018, no pet.).
The court granted a motion to determine heirship
and that administration of the decedent’s estate was unnecessary. The
decedent’s neighbor then filed a claim against the decedent’s estate for
damages incurred because the decedent’ estate had not been administered
in a timely fashion; the decedent had died over ten years prior. For
example, the claimant had to remove trash and weeds from the property
and was bothered by pigeons, bees, and hornets.
The court affirmed the determination of heirship
because the decedent’s neighbor lacked standing as he was not an
“interested person” under Estates Code § 22.018. The decedent’s neighbor
did not have a claim that was against an estate being administered
because the estate was not under administration. In addition, the
neighbor’s claim is not against the estate because the damage was
alleged to occur after the decedent’s death.
Moral: A person in the decedent’s
neighbor’s position needs to seek other remedies for problems caused by
estate property not being maintained properly.