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![handle is hein.sag/sagtx0225 and id is 1 raw text is: KEN PAXTON
AT'TORNEN GENERAI O. TXAS
February 6, 2023
The Honorable Donna Campbell, M.D.
Chair, Senate Committee on Nominations
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068
Opinion No. KP-0424
Re: Whether a corporate entity may serve as a substitute trustee for purposes of conducting
a mortgage foreclosure sale under Property Code chapter 51 (RQ-0466-KP)
Dear Senator Campbell:
You ask whether a corporate entity may serve as a substitute trustee for the purpose of
conducting a mortgage foreclosure sale under Property Code chapter 51.1 You explain that
confusion exists on the question whether a person acting as a substitute trustee under that chapter
may be a legal entity or if a substitute trustee must be a natural person, i.e., an individual human
being. See Request Letter at 1-2.
Property Code chapter 51 provides the law governing enforcement of a deed of trust which
creates a lien against real property. See generally TEX. PROP. CODE §§ 51.0001-.016.
Subsection 51.0001(8) identifies the trustee as the person who is authorized to exercise the power
of a sale under the terms of a security instrument ... . Id § 51.0001(8); see also id §§ 51.0001(6)
(defining security instrument to mean a deed of trust, mortgage, or other contract lien on an
interest in real property), 51.0074(a) (providing that [o]ne or more persons may be authorized
to exercise the power of sale under a security instrument). Subsection 51.0001(7) defines a
[s]ubstitute trustee as a person appointed by the current mortgagee or mortgage servicer under
the terms of the security instrument to exercise the power of sale. Id § 51.0001(7) (emphasis
added). As you point out, chapter 51 does not define person. See generally id; see also Request
Letter at 1.
Chapter 311, Government Code, provides definitions of common terms that apply unless
the statute or context . .. requires a different definition[.] TEX. GoV'T CODE § 311.005. It defines
person to include a corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or
'See Letter from Honorable Donna Campbell, M.D., Chair, Comm. on Veterans Affairs & Border Sec., Tex.
State Senate, to Honorable Ken Paxton, Tex. Att'y Gen. at 1 (July 7, 2022), https://texasattomeygeneral.gov/sites/
default/files/request-files/request/2022/RQ0466KP.pdf (Request Letter).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagtx0225&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)