In In re Est. of De Chavez, a party filed an application to probate a Mexican will under Texas Estates Code Section 501.001 where the decedent was domiciled in Texas at the time of her death. No. 08-23-00072-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 4347 (Tex. App.—El Paso June 21, 2024, no pet. history). The opposing party filed a motion to dismiss the application because Section 501.001 was only intended to domesticate foreign wills that had been admitted to probate in a foreign jurisdiction.

Section 501.001 states:

The written will of a testator who was not domiciled in this state at the time of the testator’s death may be admitted to probate at any time in this state if: (1) the will would affect any property in this state; and (2) proof is presented that the will stands probated or otherwise established in any state of the United States or a foreign nation.

Tex. Est. Code § 501.001.

The court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s dismissal, stating:

Alfonso’s Amended Application alleges Georgina was domiciled in El Paso, Texas at the time of her death. Taking that allegation in the pleading as true, we hold that this admission triggers a complete bar to probating the Mexico Will under § 501.001, which does not apply to decedents who were domiciled in Texas. And because the Amended Application pursues no other avenue for probating the Mexico Will, we hold it was appropriate for the court to grant Dr. Pacheco’s motion to dismiss. The dismissal of the § 501.001 cause of action comports with what that section was intended to accomplish. Section 501.001 provides a procedural mechanism that simplifies the probate of foreign wills in Texas by avoiding all the formal requirements of an original proceeding to probate a will.

So where a testator who was domiciled in another jurisdiction owns property in Texas, the testator’s foreign will that has been admitted to probate in that other jurisdiction may be admitted to probate in Texas under § 501.001. Once probated in Texas, the foreign will is effective to dispose of the testator’s property in Texas, just as any other will. The obvious caveat is that the testator must have been domiciled in another jurisdiction. Alfonso’s pleading admits that is not the case, which is why § 501.001 simply does not apply here.

Id. (internal citations omitted).