Also known as: estates' property · estate property · estate assets
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Assets and interests that form part of a decedent's probate estate and are subject to administration by the personal representative along with claims of creditors.
Eugene Ellsworth died leaving an office building encumbered by a mortgage to Evergreen Bank. The will devised the building to Edgar Evers and directed the executor to pay all obligations from residuary assets. The executor sought instructions on whether estate funds must clear the lien before transfer. The court ruled that the building passed subject to the mortgage because the will lacked an express exoneration clause.
Emily Ellis served as personal representative and sold estate equipment to Elemental Pharmaceuticals. The buyer paid value and had no actual knowledge of any restriction on the sale. After the transaction a creditor challenged the conveyance. The court held the buyer protected and the equipment no longer part of the estate's property.
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Elliot Edmonds's surviving spouse claimed ERISA pension benefits after his death. The probate court attempted to include the benefits in the estate for distribution to children from a prior marriage. The court determined the benefits never became estate's property because they were governed by federal anti-alienation rules.
Enzo Eastwood's estate faced numerous tort claims from a product liability incident. A proposed class settlement sought to treat the estate assets as a limited fund for all claimants. The court approved the structure only after confirming that the assets constituted the estate's property available for equitable distribution.
Ewan Eckhart's estate included a vacant lot subject to subdivision covenants limiting use to single-family residences. The executor proposed selling the lot for commercial development. Neighboring owners sued to enforce the covenants against the estate's property.
Everest Holdings owned property in a school district with low tax revenue. The district argued that state equalization formulas treated local property as part of a statewide educational estate. The court rejected the claim and held that each district's property remained outside any centralized estate's property.
Property subject to a general testamentary power created by another is treated as the estate's property when the probate estate is insolvent. Creditors may reach the appointive assets to the same extent as if the donee had owned them outright.
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A nongeneral power does not expose appointive assets to the donee's creditors. The donee cannot appoint to herself, her estate, or her creditors, so the property remains outside the estate's property.
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An express direction in the will to pay debts from residuary assets may require exoneration of a specifically devised liened parcel. The devisee then receives the property free of the lien if the clause covers the obligation.
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…desirous parents are of supporting their schools with greater revenues, it is impossible to do so through the use of the real estate property tax. In these districts, the Texas system utterly fails to extend a realistic choice to parents because the property tax, which is the only revenue-raising mechanism extended to school…