Litigation is Still Pending, but Executor Wants Out

The executor was alleged to have treated the estate like a “personal slush fund,” but that lawsuit has been settled through mediation and the terms were confidential.

A long-time friend of the famed Texas plaintiff’s attorney John M. O’Quinn has filed a petition to resign as executor of O’Quinn’s estate. T. Gerald Treece has been the executor of O’Quinn’s estate since shortly after O’Quinn died in an auto accident in October 2009.

Texas Lawyer’s recent article, “Treece Will Resign as O'Quinn Estate Executor,” reports that an amended petition was filed on June 21 in O'Quinn's probate case.

Treece, vice president and associate dean of advocacy at the South Texas College of Law Houston, informed the court that he wants to resign, despite that fact the administration of O'Quinn's estate is not finished, and there are the outstanding claims still pending, due to litigation.

The details of the April 6 settlement, which followed a one-day mediation, are confidential.  However, on June 6th, the John M. O'Quinn Foundation filed an application with Houston Probate Court Judge Mike Wood to appoint J. Cary Gray, the managing partner of Gray, Reed & McGraw in Houston, as his successor.

The foundation contended that it’s necessary to appoint a successor to Treece to serve as successor independent administrator, "because claims against the decedent's estate remain and all of the assets in the decedent's estate have not been distributed." In addition, the foundation said that the alternate executors in O'Quinn's estate, both declined to serve as Treece's successor. One of them is the president of the board of trustees of the foundation, and the other is Bank of America.

His application to resign as executor includes a request for a “full judicial discharge” from any liability for all of the actions and decisions made as the executor, including fiduciary fees. In addition, Treece has asked that the estate pay for his attorney’s fees and any expenses related to litigation over the estate. This would include a lawsuit filed by O’Quinn’s longtime companion, Darla Lexington, against a funeral home to get O’Quinn’s remains returned to Texas from Louisiana.

Reference: Texas Lawyer (June 23, 2017) “Treece Will Resign as O'Quinn Estate Executor”

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