Opinion ID: 6320572
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Service of application for temporary

Text: guardianship Mauricette filed her application for appointment as James’s temporary guardian in Bexar County in October 2014, shortly after Juliette took James to New York. James was personally served with this application and citation in New York by Sara Clark, a private process server. Juliette contends that Estates Code Section 1051.103(a) required service by a “sheriff or other officer” and contends that Clark was neither. But, as discussed above, Section 1051.103(a) does not prescribe who may effect service. Section 1051.051 does. Because James was absent from Texas, Section 1051.051(b)(2) authorizes personal service by “a disinterested person competent to make an oath that the citation . . . was served.” TEX. EST. CODE § 1051.051(b)(2). We thus reject Juliette’s argument that service of the temporaryguardianship application on James was defective because he was not served by a sheriff, constable, or other elected official. Juliette also argues that service of the application for temporary guardianship did not comply with Section 1051.051(b)(2) because the Affidavit of Service failed to establish that Clark was “disinterested.” A “disinterested” person is one who is “[f]ree from bias, prejudice, or partiality” and lacks “a pecuniary interest in the matter at hand.” 21 Disinterested, BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY (11th ed. 2019). In her Affidavit of Service, Clark states only that she is “not a party to this action.” This statement alone does not establish that Clark was “disinterested.” See Indus. Models, Inc. v. SNF, Inc., No. 02-13-00281-CV, 2014 WL 3696104, at  (Tex. App.—Fort Worth July 24, 2014, no pet.) (concluding that an affidavit stating that the person serving citation was “not a party” is insufficient to establish that person was “disinterested”); see also TEX. R. CIV. P. 103 (prohibiting service by someone who is either “a party to” a suit or “interested in the outcome” of a suit). Accordingly, we conclude the record does not establish that James was served by a disinterested person, as required by Section 1051.051(b)(2).6