In In re Est. Living Trust U/A Dated December 2023, the court addressed whether a trustee may appear pro se in litigation on behalf of a trust. No. 14-25-00521-CV, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 4958 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] July 15, 2025, orig. proceeding). The court of appeals held that only a licensed attorney may represent a trust in court when the trustee is acting solely in a representative capacity. A non-attorney trustee cannot file legal actions pro se on behalf of the trust. The court held that a relator had to have standing to bring a mandamus petition in her individual capacity. Here, the relator’s interest was based solely on her fiduciary duty as trustee, not on any personal right, and thus she lacked standing to seek mandamus relief in her individual capacity. The court denied the relator’s petition for writ of mandamus.
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