In re Tovar, No. 08-22-00028-CV, 2023 WL 2373496 (Tex. App.—El Paso Mar. 6, 2023, no pet. h.).
After the intestate died, the court appointed his mother as the administrator. The intestate’s “baby momma” claimed she had priority. The El Paso Court of Appeals affirmed because an intestate’s parent has priority over an unrelated partner who is the other parent of an intestate’s child under Estates Code § 304.001. The court rejected the claim that because she was the next of kin of the minor child who is the intestate’s sole heir, she had priority over the intestate’s mother. The statute gives priority to the “decedent’s next of kin and not the next of kin of the decedent’s next of kin.” Id. at *5.
Moral: A non-marital partner lacks priority over an intestate’s next of kin to be appointed as the administrator of an intestate’s estate.