Removing an executor is not the same as disagreeing with one. Texas law lists the grounds, and they are narrower than most families expect. What follows is how removal actually works in the Harris County probate courts.
For an independent executor, which is what most Texas wills create, removal runs through one of two provisions of the Texas Estates Code.
Section 404.003, removal without notice. The court can act on its own motion or on the motion of any interested person, with no notice to the executor, when the executor cannot be served because their whereabouts are unknown, they are eluding service, or they are a nonresident without a designated resident agent. It also applies when sufficient grounds appear to support a belief that the executor has misapplied or embezzled, or is about to misapply or embezzle, estate property.
Section 404.0035, removal with notice. This is the more common path. On motion of an interested person, after the executor has been cited by personal service, the court may remove for:
The statute also lets the court act on its own motion, after 30 days’ written notice, when the executor neglects to qualify, fails to file an inventory or an affidavit in lieu of inventory before the 91st day after qualifying, or fails to timely file the affidavit or certificate required by Section 308.004.
The material conflict of interest ground is comparatively recent. It was added in 2017 and the chapter was amended again in 2023. Older articles on removal often do not mention it, and it is frequently the most useful ground in a family fight where the executor is also a buyer, a business partner, or a competing beneficiary.
Being slow is not misconduct. Being unpleasant is not misconduct. Making a decision you disagree with, selling property for less than you would have, hiring a lawyer you do not like, or favoring their own branch of the family in tone rather than in dollars will not by itself get an executor removed.
The statute says gross misconduct or gross mismanagement. Courts take the word gross seriously. Removal is a serious remedy and judges do not grant it because the siblings cannot get along.
In most removal cases the first real move is not the removal motion. It is a demand for an accounting.
Under Section 404.001, once 15 months have passed since the clerk first issued letters, any person interested in the estate may demand an accounting from the independent executor. The executor must then furnish a sworn written exhibit setting out, in detail, the estate property that came into their possession, what was done with it, what debts were paid, what debts and expenses remain, what property is still held, and the facts showing why the administration should not be closed.
If the executor does not comply within 60 days of the demand, you can compel compliance by filing an action in the probate court. After a hearing the court will order the accounting made.
Two practical points. First, after an initial accounting you can demand further accountings at intervals of not less than 12 months. Second, the statute says this right is cumulative of other remedies, so demanding an accounting does not waive anything else.
The accounting is also how removal cases get made. Failure to account is itself a removal ground, and an accounting that does get produced often supplies the evidence of self-dealing or mismanagement that the rest of the case needs.
Harris County has five statutory probate courts, created by Texas Government Code Section 25.1031(c).
Courts 1 through 4 sit at 201 Caroline Street. Court No. 5 sits at 1115 Congress Street, a separate building.
A removal action is a core matter. It belongs in the existing estate file under the original cause number, in whichever court already has the estate. You do not open a new case and you do not choose the judge.
The order of removal must state the cause. The removed executor’s letters are revoked, and the court can appoint a successor. The Estates Code also addresses the costs and expenses related to removal, which matters because the question of who pays for the fight is usually contested.
Removal does not by itself get the money back. If the executor took estate property, that is a separate claim for breach of fiduciary duty, and it is usually pleaded alongside the removal rather than after it.
Under the local rules of the Harris County probate courts, cases that have not been through a previously ordered alternative dispute resolution procedure generally will not be tried, except for good cause shown. Removal cases are no exception. Many of them settle at mediation with a resignation and an agreed successor, which is often a better outcome than a contested removal hearing.
Removal actions move faster than will contests but they are still litigation. Between the accounting demand, its 60-day window, pleadings, discovery, and mediation, a contested removal commonly takes months rather than weeks. Emergency circumstances, such as an executor actively liquidating estate assets, are handled differently and should be raised immediately rather than after a demand letter.
We handle contested probate matters, dependent administrations, and large or complex estates in all five Harris County probate courts. Our minimum engagement is $10,000, and contested matters are billed hourly against a retainer.
If you are an executor who has received a removal motion, we defend those too.
The first conversation is thirty minutes, no charge. Bring the cause number if you have it, the date letters were issued, and a short description of what the executor has or has not done.
Schedule a consultation or call (281) 219-9090.