Notice to Creditors in Texas Probate: Who Publishes It and What Follows

Who has to publish it

The personal representative does. That means an executor named in a will or an administrator the court appoints, in an independent or a dependent administration. If two people serve together, Section 308.055 says one notice covers both.

Families who settle an estate with a small estate affidavit, an affidavit of heirship, or a will probated as a muniment of title don't receive Letters. This notice doesn't apply to them.

What the notice has to say

Section 308.051(b) requires three pieces of information:

• The date the court issued your Letters.
• An address where creditors can send a claim.
• Who the claim should be addressed to. You choose between yourself, your attorney, or "Representative, Estate of" followed by the name of the person who died.

Where it runs and how you prove it

The notice runs in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the court issued your Letters. If that county has no such newspaper, Section 308.051(c) says to post the notice instead, following the posting rules elsewhere in the code.

Ask the newspaper for its publisher's affidavit, a sworn statement that the notice ran. Section 308.052 requires you to file a copy of the published notice, with that affidavit, in the court handling the estate. TexasLawHelp gives the same instruction.

There's one more recipient in some estates. If the person who died paid, or should have paid, taxes the Texas Comptroller administers, such as sales tax from a business, Section 308.051(a)(2) also requires sending the notice to the Comptroller. Our Comptroller estate claims notice guide covers that version.

Secured creditors get their own letter

A secured creditor holds a claim backed by estate property, like the lender on a house or a car. The newspaper notice doesn't cover them. Within two months after you receive Letters, Section 308.053 requires a notice to each secured creditor you know about, sent by a qualified delivery method. Under Section 22.0295, that means certified or registered mail with a return receipt, a courier with proof of delivery, or an IRS-designated private delivery service.

Then file a copy of each notice, the delivery receipt, and your affidavit that you sent it with the court clerk. The Texas secured creditor notice form guide walks through that letter.

The optional 121-day notice

The newspaper notice doesn't start a claims deadline of its own. A creditor can generally present a claim any time before the estate closes, as long as the general statute of limitations hasn't run (Section 355.001).

The notice that does shorten the window is optional. Section 308.054 lets you send an unsecured creditor, such as a credit card company or a hospital, a direct notice by a qualified delivery method. It must say that the creditor has to present the claim before the 121st day after receiving the notice, or the claim is barred. Section 355.060 makes that bar work in a dependent administration, and Section 403.055 does the same in an independent one.

An independent executor's version also has to say that a claim can be presented only by one of the methods the code lists (Section 403.051(b)). And it only reaches creditors you know about and actually send it to.

What happens after claims come in

The rules depend on the kind of administration.

In a dependent administration, the court supervises claims. Once a creditor presents a claim supported by the required affidavit, you have 30 days to allow or reject it in a signed memorandum (Section 355.051). If you do nothing, Section 355.052 treats it as rejected. A creditor whose claim is rejected has 90 days to sue, or the claim is barred (Section 355.064).

An independent executor has more room. You can approve a claim, reject it, or take no action (Section 403.051(a)(3)). The 90-day suit rule doesn't apply (Section 403.058). A creditor can sue you as executor, but you don't have to answer a suit for money until six months after the court entered the order appointing you (Section 403.059).

In both kinds, pay approved claims in the order Section 355.102 sets, starting with funeral expenses and the costs of the last illness. Section 403.051(a)(3) holds independent executors to the same order.

If the month has already passed

Section 308.056 makes a representative who fails to give the newspaper notice or the secured creditor notice liable for any damage a person suffers because of it, along with the sureties on any bond. The exception is a person who had notice some other way. If you've missed the month, publish as soon as you can and ask a Texas probate attorney whether anything else is needed.

Common questions

How Legacywyse can help

When your plan includes Letters, the checklist adds the creditor notice with its one-month deadline, along with the secured creditor letter. Legacywyse drafts the notice from your answers. You take it to the newspaper, then file the publisher's affidavit with the court.