SB1335

When a court initiates removal under section 361.052(a), notice to answer at the specified time and place may now use a qualified delivery method. When an interested person files the complaint, citation by personal service remains required. The underlying grounds remain, including specified misuse of estate property, missing accounts, disobedience of court orders, gross misconduct or mismanagement, incapacity, and failure to settle within three years unless the court extends that period for sufficient sworn cause. The new notice rule applies only to motions or complaints made on or after September 1, 2025; earlier ones remain under prior law. Final law, sections 2 and 8; Prior removal rule.

The existing definition of qualified delivery includes courier hand delivery with a delivery receipt; certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, with the return receipt; or a Treasury-designated private delivery service with proof of delivery. It does not mean ordinary email or any untracked mailing. The bill creates no new blanket power to remove a representative without notice or without statutory grounds. Qualified delivery definition; Final law.

For final settlement with no estate property left in the representative’s possession, the court’s order must discharge the representative, cancel the letters, discharge and release any bond sureties, and close the estate. Similar express cancellation and surety-release language applies when administration is complete, the final account is approved, property has been delivered to those entitled to it, and the court’s requirements for unknown or missing recipients have been met. These are conditions for closing, not permission to skip distribution or accounting. Final law, sections 3–4; Existing procedure for unknown or missing recipients; Prior final-settlement conditions.

The independent-administration provisions likewise expressly cancel letters when the relevant closing occurs and include independent administrators as well as independent executors. Court-ordered closing after accounting and distribution, closing through a report or notice, and a distributee’s application to close are addressed separately. In the report-or-notice route, the existing 30-day objection period remains: an objection can postpone closing until its disposition or a court closing order. Liability for mismanagement and false statements remains. Final law, sections 5–7; Accounting and distribution; Closing timing and continuing liability; Distributee application.

Bond release is not identical in every route. The unchanged report-or-notice provision releases sureties from future acts on filing a closing report and required proof of delivery, but says a notice of closing alone does not release them. The distributee-application order also concerns surety liability for future acts. SB1335 should not be summarized as erasing every bond claim simply because someone files a notice. Existing subsection (d); Final law, section 7.

The Senate substitute changed the introduced bill’s certified-mail-only wording for court-initiated removal to the defined qualified-delivery method and removed an unnecessary subsection label. The Senate-passed, House committee and final versions match the substitute in substance. The amendment index lists no separate amendments. Introduced bill; Senate substitute; Senate-passed text; House committee text; Text index; Amendment index; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Courts, estate representatives, heirs and institutions relying on letters gain more explicit rules about cancellation and the end of authority. Courts also gain additional qualifying delivery options for their own removal motions. Potential administrative convenience is not a guaranteed reduction in legal fees, and representatives remain accountable for prior misconduct. The act does not create a new inheritance share or an automatic right to immediate distribution. Final law.

The April 7, April 9 and May 1 fiscal notes all anticipate no significant state or local fiscal impact and assume state costs can be absorbed with existing resources. They do not quantify private legal expenses, delivery savings or effects on bond claims. The act makes no appropriation. Introduced fiscal note; Substitute fiscal note; Engrossed fiscal note; Final law.