Trustee Notice to Beneficiaries Requirements in Texas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Texas uses an ongoing information duty, not a statutory event notice

The Texas Trust Code does not supply a general form, recipient list, content list, or day count merely because a trustee accepts office or a trust becomes irrevocable. Instead, Texas Property Code § 111.0035(c) says trust terms may not limit the common-law duty to keep a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust informed while the beneficiary is at least 25 and either may receive distributions or would receive a distribution if the trust terminated.

That rule is narrower than a universal mailing to every current and remote beneficiary, but it is not optional trust language. The statute expressly protects the common-law duty from limitation by the trust terms.

Acceptance does not start a beneficiary-notice clock

Section 112.009(a) treats a signed acceptance as conclusive and the exercise of trust powers or duties as presumptive acceptance. It does not attach a general beneficiary notice deadline to either act.

The notice inside that section addresses the opposite situation. A nominee may take temporary action to preserve trust property without accepting only if, within a reasonable time, the nominee gives notice of rejection to the settlor or, if the settlor is deceased or incapacitated, to beneficiaries then entitled to distributions.

The concrete 90-day rule begins with an accounting demand

Section 113.151(a) lets a beneficiary make a written demand for a statement of accounts. The 90-day period runs from the trustee's receipt of that demand, not from acceptance, a settlor's death, or irrevocability.

If the trustee fails or refuses to deliver the statement within 90 days or a longer court-ordered period, a beneficiary may sue to compel it. A successful beneficiary may receive a discretionary award of court costs and reasonable and necessary attorney's fees and costs.

What trips people up

• Ninety days is an accounting-response period, not an initial-notice deadline. It starts only after the trustee receives a beneficiary's written demand under § 113.151(a).
• The protected information class is not every beneficiary. Section 111.0035(c) uses an age-25 threshold and current-or-termination distribution tests.
• The rejection notice in § 112.009 is not an acceptance notice. It preserves a nominee's ability to protect property temporarily without accepting the trust.
• A generic trustee letter does not become mandatory because it may be useful. Texas preserves a common-law duty, but the cited code does not prescribe one universal event-triggered form, content list, service method, or notary block.

Common questions

Must a Texas trustee send a statutory notice when the settlor dies?

The cited Texas Trust Code provisions do not impose a general death-triggered initial notice. Death may change trust administration and beneficiary rights, but the surveyed statutory mailing with a fixed deadline and content list does not appear in the complete official Trust Code.

Can the trust instrument eliminate the duty to keep beneficiaries informed?

Not for the class protected by § 111.0035(c). A beneficiary with full legal capacity and full information may separately release a duty or liability under § 114.005, but the release must be written and delivered to the trustee.

Who can use the statutory accounting demand?

Section 113.151(a) permits a beneficiary to demand an accounting in writing. Section 111.0035(b)(4)(A) makes the response duty nonwaivable by trust terms for an irrevocable-trust beneficiary who may receive distributions or would receive a distribution if the trust terminated at the time of demand.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Prop. Code § 111.0035(a)–(c) — default and mandatory rules, nonwaivable accounting-response duty, and the protected common-law informed duty. Official Texas Trust Code (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 112.009(a) — acceptance and the limited rejection-notice rule for property-preservation action. Official Texas Trust Code (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 113.151(a) — written accounting demand, 90-day response, suit, frequency, and discretionary costs and fees. Official Texas Trust Code (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 114.005 — informed beneficiary release and required writing delivered to the trustee. Official Texas Trust Code (accessed 2026-07-31).