A successor representative must continue the estate administration, account for estate property received by the predecessor, and may take certain legal steps against or with the predecessor.
Sec. 361.153. RIGHTS, POWERS, AND DUTIES OF SUCCESSOR REPRESENTATIVE. (a) If a personal representative of an estate not administered succeeds another personal representative, the successor representative has all rights, powers, and duties of the predecessor, other than those rights and powers conferred on the predecessor by will that are different from those conferred by this title on personal representatives generally. Subject to that exception, the successor representative shall administer the estate as if the successor's administration were a continuation of the former administration. (b) A successor representative shall account for all the estate property that came into the predecessor's possession, and is entitled to any order or remedy that the court has the power to give to enforce the delivery of the estate property and the liability of the predecessor's sureties for any portion of the estate property that is not delivered. The successor is not required to account for any portion of the estate property that the successor failed to recover after due diligence. (c) In addition to the powers granted under Subsections (a) and (b), a successor representative may: (1) make himself or herself, and may be made, a party to a suit prosecuted by or against the successor's predecessors; (2) settle with the predecessor, and receive and give a receipt for any portion of the estate property that remains in the predecessor's possession; or (3) commence a suit on the bond or bonds of the predecessor, in the successor's own name and capacity, for all the estate property that: (A) came into the predecessor's possession; and (B) has not been accounted for by the predecessor. Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 680 (H.B. 2502), Sec. 1, eff. January 1, 2014.