Grounds for Removing An Independent Executrix In Texas

Under the provisions of TEX. PROB. CODE ANN. 149C(a) (Vernon Supp. 2000), an independent executrix may be removed when: (1) she fails to timely file an inventory of the property of the estate and list of claims that have come to her knowledge; (2) sufficient grounds appear to support the belief that she has misapplied or embezzled, or that she is about to misapply or embezzle, all or any part of the property in her care; (3) she fails to make an accounting which is required by law to be made; (4) she fails to timely file the notice required by Section 128A of the Probate Code; (5) she is proved to have been guilty of gross misconduct or gross mismanagement in the performance of her duties, or; (6) she becomes legally incapacitated from properly performing her fiduciary duties. "Gross misconduct" and "gross mismanagement" include at a minimum: (1) any willful omission to perform a legal duty; (2) any intentional commission of a wrongful act; (3) any breach of a fiduciary duty that results in actual harm to a beneficiary's interests. Sammons v. Elder, 940 S.W.2d 276, 283 (Tex. App.--Waco 1997, writ denied).