Holmes v. Beatty (Tex. 2009),
No. 07-0784 (Tex. Jun. 26, 2009)(Jefferson)([PROBATE LAW: right to survivorship accounts, community
property survivorship agreement, nontestimentary transfer)
HARRY HOLMES, II, INDEPENDENT EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF THOMAS J. HOLMES, SR.,
DECEASED AND AS TRUSTEE OF ANY TRUST NAMED AS A LEGATEE IN THE WILL OF THOMAS J.
HOLMES, SR., DECEASED v. DOUGLAS G. BEATTY, INDEPENDENT EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF
KATHRYN V. HOLMES, DECEASED; from Harris County; 14th district (14-03-00663-CV, 233 SW3d 475,
08-14-07) | Electronic briefs in Holmes v. Beatty No. 07-0784 (Tex. 2009)
consolidated with
Holmes v. Beatty (htm), No. 07-0785 (Tex. Jun. 26, 2009)(Jefferson)
HARRY HOLMES, II, INDEPENDENT EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF THOMAS J. HOLMES, SR.,
DECEASED AND AS TRUSTEE OF ANY TRUST NAMED AS A LEGATEE IN THE WILL OF THOMAS J.
HOLMES, SR., DECEASED v. DOUGLAS G. BEATTY, INDEPENDENT EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF
KATHRYN V. HOLMES, DECEASED; from Harris County; 14th district (14-05-00474-CV, 233 SW3d 494,
08-14-07)
2 petitions
The Court reverses and renders in part and affirms in part the court of appeals' judgment.
Chief Justice Jefferson delivered the opinion of the Court. [19 page opinion in pdf]
View Electronic Briefs for 07-0785
EXCERPT FROM THE OPINION BY CHIEF JUSTICE JEFFERSON
After decades of debate in the bench, bar, and the Legislature about the ability of spouses to
obtain rights of survivorship in community property, Texas citizens changed the constitution to
confirm that right. The 1987 amendment provides that “spouses may agree in writing that all or part
of their community property becomes the property of the surviving spouse on the death of a spouse.”
TEX. CONST. art. XVI, § 15. Two years later, the Legislature enacted Probate Code sections 451
through 462 to address the formalities necessary to the create a survivorship arrangement. See TEX.
PROB. CODE §§ 451-62. Today we are asked to determine how these sections operate with respect
to rights of survivorship in certain brokerage accounts and securities certificates issued from those
accounts. We conclude that the account agreements and certificates at issue here created rights of
survivorship. Accordingly, we reverse and render in part and affirm in part the court of appeals’
judgment.
* * *
Conclusion. The 1987 constitutional amendment and accompanying legislation sought to facilitate the
creation of rights of survivorship in community property and eliminate the constitutional hurdles
spouses faced when attempting to establish such rights. The Holmeses’ account agreements clearly
indicated their intent to create rights of survivorship in those accounts. The rights were not lost
when the Holmeses later obtained some of their investments in certificate form. Pursuant to these
survivorship agreements, each of the accounts and certificates at issue in this case passed to Thomas
upon his wife’s death, and then by will to Thomas’s beneficiaries when he died. If the Holmeses had
wished an alternate devise, they could have made appropriate provisions in their respective wills.
As they did not, we reverse and render in part and affirm in part the court of appeals’ judgment.
TEX. R. APP. P. 60.2(a), (c).