TEEAYTORNEYGENERAI. 

OF TEXAS 

FVILL WILSON 

AlTo- OENERAI. 

Ausm 11. T-a 

June 10, 1961 

Honorable Durney Walker 

District Attorney 

Mc,Lennan County 

Waco, Texas 

Dear Mr. Walker: 

Opinion No. ~14-1076 

Re: What constitutes “actual 

cash receipts” as such 

term is used in Article 

3926, v,c.s.? 

You have requested an opinion from this department on 

the construction of Article 3926, V.C.S. You state, “the 

question to be resolved is determining the scope and definition 

of 'actual cash receipts.‘” 

Article 3926, V.C.S., provides in part as follows: 

“The County Judge shall also receive 

the following fees: 1. A commission of 

one-half of one per cent upon the actual 

cash receipts of each executor, administrator 

or guardian, upon the approval of the exhibits and the final settlement of the account 

of such executor, administrator or guardian, 

but no more than one such commission shall 

be’charged on any amount received by any 

such executor, administrator or guardian.” 

(Emphasis added). 

You have cited several cases which we will discuss in 

connection with this opinion. 

In the case of Lyles v. Oheim, 138 Tex. 333, 159 S.W.2d 

102 (19&2), the question before the court was whether the commissions to be paid a County Judge under Article 3926, on the receipts 

of an estate, were to be paid to the County Judge who,made the 

orders and approved the proceedings for the sale of the property 

belonging to the estate, and who was in office when such estate 

and its administrator received the receipts derived from such 

sales, or whether such commissions were to be paid to the County 

Judge who later acted upon the annual account filed by the administrator of such estate. The point was not raised as to what constitutes “actual cash receipts”, but the commission was paid on the 

full amount of receipts received from the sale of the corpus of 

the estate and it seems that both parties to the suit as well as 

the court agreed that this was the proper amount of commissions 

to be paid. 
Honorable Burney Walker, Page 2 (Opinion No. ~~-1076) 

The term “receipts” does not embrace cash on deposit in 

the bank at the death of the testator. The term “actual cash 

receipts” should be held to specifically describe money received by the executor other than the cash or corpus of the 

estate which was on hand when the testator died. WilliS v. 

Harvey, 26 S.W.2d 288 (Civ.App. 1930, error ref.) 

In the case of Goodwin v. Downs, 280 S.W, 512 (Tex. 

Sup. 1926), the Court held that the County Judge was entitled 

to a commission on actual cash receipts received by the administrator while completing the road construction contracts of the 

decedent; and that the time and manner of distribution thereof 

did not affect his fees, since he received no commission on 

disbursements. 

In McCrory v. Wichita County, 

1953, error ref.), the Court said in 

Judge is not entitled to commissions 

delivered”, and when the ward’s sole 

_ . 

261 S.W.2d 867 (Civ.App. 

effect that the County 

on the “estate first 

interest in the corpus 

_ . of tne SState was tne rignt to reCeiVe a Ulstributive share 

of the funds upon liquidation, the “estate first delivered” 

to the guardian was the distribution made to her by the 

trustee and the amount so received was not “actual cash receipts” 

but was the corpus of the estate. If this distribution had 

been in the form of property other than money and the property 

had been sold after coming into the hands of the guardian then 

the proceeds would have been “actual cash receipts” and would 

have been subject to the commission. 

It is our opinion that “actual cash receipts” as used 

in Article 3926, V,C,S., does not mean the receiving of the 

corpus of the estate by the executor, administrator or guardian, 

which includes both real and personal property (including cash), 

but only means cash received from the sale of the corpus of the 

estate, or a part thereof, and all moneys received during the 

course of the administration from rentals, royalties and other 

revenue derived from the estate received. 

SUMMARY 

Actual cash receipts as used in Article 

3926, v.c.s., means cash received during 

the course of the administration from the 

sale of the corpus of the estate, or a 

part thereof and rents, royalties and 

other revenue derived from the estate and 

does not include the corpus of the estate 
Honorable Burney Walker, Page 3 (Opinion No. w-1.076) 

received by the executor, administrator 

or guardian, whether same consists of 

real or personal property (including 

cash). 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

J. H. Broadhurst 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE: 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Sam Wilson 

Martin DeStefano 

Ray Loftin 

Jerry Roberts 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: Morgan Nesbitt