Що робити, якщо вас призначено управителем у Техасі

Before you act: read, then decide

Being named is not the same as serving. The instrument names the successor and the order of succession; whether the role is taken up is the named person's decision, and §112.009 says how the record shows it: signing the trust instrument or a separate written acceptance is conclusive evidence of acceptance, and exercising the trustee's powers or performing the trustee's duties is presumptive evidence of it, with the exceptions the section states. Reading the instrument and every amendment comes before either.

The two beginnings, and what each asks of you

A successor's work begins in one of two ways. When the settlor is alive but can no longer act, the instrument usually says how incapacity is established and what the successor may do; the settlor's power to revoke, modify or amend the trust remains the settlor's while the trust is revocable (§112.051), so the successor administers under the settlor's instructions and the instrument's terms. When the settlor has died, the trust is irrevocable, the beneficiaries' rights are their own, and the trustee's duties run to them: to administer in good faith (§113.051), to keep them reasonably informed (§111.0035(c)), and to answer a written demand for an accounting on or before the 90th day (§113.151).

Both beginnings need the same two pieces of paper early: the written acceptance that is conclusive evidence of taking the role (§112.009), and a certification of trust under §114.086 that lets banks and title companies deal with the trustee without reading the whole instrument — a person who relies on it in good faith is protected as §114.081 provides.

The documents to find in the first week

The administration is only as good as the paper it rests on. The first week is for finding it: the signed trust instrument and every amendment and restatement; any certification of trust already prepared (§114.086); the deeds and the most recent statements for each account; beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance; insurance policies on the house and vehicles; and, where the settlor has died, the will — which the person holding it delivers to the clerk of the court with jurisdiction on notice of the death (Est. Code §252.201) — and several certified copies of the death certificate.

• The trust instrument, every amendment and any restatement — the terms control nearly every later question.
• A certification of trust (§114.086): the trust's existence and date, the settlor, the trustee and the trustee's powers, without the whole instrument.
• Deeds, titles, account statements, beneficiary designations and insurance policies.
• The will and the death certificate, where the settlor has died.

Assets by how they are titled

Each asset passes by its own path, and the list of what the trust holds starts there: trust-titled property is the trustee's to administer; property in the decedent's own name without a beneficiary designation passes through the estate; joint property and beneficiary-designated accounts pass by their own terms. In Texas the marital character of each asset matters too — property acquired during marriage other than separate property is community property (Fam. Code §3.002), separate property is what §3.001 describes, and the classification shapes what the trust holds and what passes at death. A homestead is protected from forced sale by most creditors (Tex. Const. art. XVI, §50) and may not be partitioned while a surviving spouse elects to use or occupy it (art. XVI, §52). Within a reasonable time after accepting or receiving the assets, the trustee reviews them and decides what to keep and what to dispose of (§117.006).

The beneficiaries, and what they are owed

A beneficiary is a person for whose benefit property is held in trust, whatever the nature of the interest (§111.004); Texas has no separate "qualified beneficiary" class, and each provision names its own recipients. What the beneficiaries are owed is information and, on demand, an accounting: the duty to keep them reasonably informed is the common law's, and the instrument's terms cannot limit it for a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust who is 25 or older (§111.0035(c)); a written demand for an accounting is answered on or before the 90th day with what §113.152 lists, not more than once every 12 months unless a court orders otherwise (§113.151). Texas sets no opening notice and no deadline for one.

Строки довірчого власника у Техасі: що передбачають закони

Звірено із законами Техасу 2026-10-04. Загальна інформація, не юридична консультація; офіційний текст має пріоритет.

The estate, the creditors, and the reserve

There is no Notice of Trust and no trust-side court filing in an ordinary Texas administration. When a probate estate is opened beside the trust, the clocks that run are the personal representative's: notice to the beneficiaries the statute names within 60 days after a will is admitted (Est. Code §308.002) with proof of it within 90 days (§308.004), creditor notice by publication within one month after letters (§308.051), notice to secured creditors within two months (§308.053), and the inventory before the 91st day after qualification (§309.051). Claims against the decedent run through the estate (Estates Code chapter 308). The trust's file records those events beside its own and concludes nothing about them — and holds a reasonable reserve until the debts and taxes are known, because the trustee may keep exercising its powers only for the reasonable period needed to wind up and distribute (§112.052).

Money, taxes, and the record from day one

The trust's own account and its own tax identification number come as soon as the trust is irrevocable; the revocable trust used the settlor's Social Security number, and that stops at death. Trust money never mixes with the trustee's own — the general duty of good-faith administration (§113.051) and the prudent investor rule's duty of loyalty (§117.007) both say so in their own words, and a loan of trust funds to the trustee is restricted outright (§113.052). The record starts on day one: the assets on hand when the trusteeship began, each receipt and disbursement with its payee, each known liability — the items a statement of accounts must show (§113.152). Federal filings follow their own calendar: the settlor's final return, the trust's Form 1041 and K-1s, and Form 706 nine months after death where it applies; Texas has no estate or inheritance tax (Tex. Const. art. VIII, §26).

Where the trust has income beneficiaries and remainder beneficiaries, the ledger keeps two columns from the start: receipts and disbursements of principal and of income are shown separately in a statement of accounts (§113.152), and the allocation between them follows Texas's Uniform Principal and Income Act (Property Code chapter 116; the fiduciary's duties: §116.004). Receipts from oil, gas and other minerals — common Texas trust assets — are allocated under §116.174, which is why a mineral interest is listed on its own line from the first week.

The checklist, printable

The same items, in the order most trustees meet them.

• Read the trust and every amendment; decide whether to accept, in writing where the trust asks for it (§112.009).
• Find the deeds, statements, designations, policies, the will and the death certificates.
• Secure the property; confirm insurance; forward the mail (§113.051).
• List every asset by how it is titled and by its marital character (Fam. Code §§3.001–3.002).
• Review the assets and decide what to keep within a reasonable time (§117.006).
• Obtain the trust's EIN; open the trust's own account; never commingle.
• Identify the beneficiaries; send a short written account of the administration (§111.0035(c)).
• Record the estate's clocks when a probate is opened (Est. Code chapters 308–309) — the representative's, not the trustee's.
• Answer a written demand for an accounting on or before the 90th day (§113.151) with what §113.152 lists.
• Hold a reasonable reserve; distribute only after the debts and taxes are known (§112.052).
• Prepare a certification of trust for the institutions that ask (§114.086).

What to avoid in the first ninety days

The breaches that surface in Texas trust litigation are the familiar ones, and each is a duty read backwards.

• Lending trust funds to oneself, an affiliate or a relative (§113.052), or dealing with the trust for one's own account against the duty of loyalty (§117.007).
• Mixing trust money with one's own, or paying personal bills from the trust's account (§113.051).
• Distributing before the debts, the taxes and the reserve are known (§112.052) — the trustee is accountable for the loss (§114.001).
• Ignoring a beneficiary's written demand for an accounting past the 90th day (§113.151).
• Exercising a discretionary power on the strength of words like "absolute" or "sole" rather than in good faith according to the terms and purposes of the trust (§113.029).
• Accepting a release without giving the beneficiary the full information the statute requires (§114.005).
• Delegating investment or management functions without care in selecting, instructing and monitoring the agent (§117.011).
• Continuing to administer after a terminating event beyond the reasonable period needed to wind up and distribute (§112.052).

When a licensed Texas attorney is the right next call

TrusteeClear organizes the record; it does not give legal advice and it does not decide any of these questions for you. Many new trustees bring the record to a licensed Texas attorney of their choosing when a question stops being general: whether and how an estate needs to be opened, how community and separate property divide, a homestead a surviving spouse occupies, a discretionary distribution the instrument leaves open, or a dispute among the beneficiaries.