Estates Code § 151.004

Sec. 151.004. DELIVERY OF DOCUMENT WITHOUT COURT ORDER. (a) Subject to Subsection (c), a person who permits an examination of a decedent's document or safe deposit box under Section 151.003 may deliver: (1) a document appearing to be the decedent's will to: (A) the clerk of a court that: (i) has probate jurisdiction; and (ii) is located in the county in which the decedent resided; or (B) a person named in the document as an executor of the decedent's estate; (2) a document appearing to be a deed to a burial plot in which the decedent is to be buried, or appearing to give burial instructions, to the person conducting the examination; or (3) a document appearing to be an insurance policy on the decedent's life to a beneficiary named in the policy. (b) A person who has leased a safe deposit box to the decedent shall keep a copy of a document delivered by the person under Subsection (a)(1) until the fourth anniversary of the date of delivery. (c) A person may not deliver a document under Subsection (a) unless the person examining the document: (1) requests delivery of the document; and (2) issues a receipt for the document to the person delivering the document. Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 680 (H.B. 2502), Sec. 1, eff. January 1, 2014.