Estates Code § 455.005

Sec. 455.005. INFORMING PUBLIC PROBATE ADMINISTRATOR. (a) If a public officer or employee knows of a decedent without known or suitable next of kin or knows of property of a decedent that is subject to loss, injury, waste, or misappropriation, the officer or employee may inform the public probate administrator of that fact. (b) If a person dies in a hospital, mental health facility, or board and care facility without known or suitable next of kin, the person in charge of the hospital or facility may give immediate notice of that fact to the public probate administrator of the county in which the hospital or facility is located. (c) A funeral director in control of a decedent's remains may notify the public probate administrator if: (1) none of the persons listed in Section 711.002, Health and Safety Code, can be found after a reasonable inquiry or contacted by reasonable means; or (2) any of the persons listed in Section 711.002, Health and Safety Code, refuses to act. Added by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 671 (H.B. 1755), Sec. 2, eff. January 1, 2014.