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Someone has died, and you have been handed a folder, a house still in their name, and a bank that will not talk to you. What you need to know first is that Texas probate is not the ordeal its reputation suggests — and that a large share of Texas estates never need a full administration at all.
This page explains which procedure fits your situation, what it costs, how long it takes, and what happens when there was no will. If you would rather just ask someone, get in touch — the first question is always whether there was a will, and the answer determines everything that follows.
Probate only governs assets that were in the deceased person’s name alone with no built-in transfer mechanism. A great deal of property is not.
Passes outside probate: retirement accounts and life insurance with a living named beneficiary · payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts · property held in a funded trust · real property covered by a recorded transfer on death or lady bird deed · assets held with survivorship rights.
Usually needs probate: a house in the deceased person’s name alone · bank or brokerage accounts with no beneficiary named · a vehicle titled solely to them · a business interest · anything where a third party demands legal authority before releasing it.
If everything the person owned falls into the first list, you may have nothing to probate. That is worth checking before you spend a dollar.
Texas gives you four years from the date of death to offer a will for probate. Past that, unless you can show you were not at fault for the delay, the will generally cannot be admitted to grant letters testamentary and the estate is distributed as though there had been no will at all.
This catches families constantly. A parent dies, nobody feels urgency because the house is just sitting there, and years later a sale or refinance is impossible because title never moved. If a relative died with a will that was never probated, find out how long ago before anything else.
Texas offers several routes. Choosing the right one is most of the work.
Most of the horror stories about probate describe dependent administration, where the executor returns to court for permission to do almost anything. Texas defaults to independent administration when the will requests it, or when all the beneficiaries agree.
The court appoints the executor, an inventory is filed, and from there the executor sells property, pays debts and distributes assets without further court supervision. It is dramatically faster and cheaper. See our guide to independent administration for executors.
A Texas procedure that barely exists elsewhere. If there is a valid will and the estate owes no unpaid debt other than debt secured by a lien on real estate, the court can admit the will as a muniment of title — recognising it as the document that transfers ownership without ever appointing an executor.
No administration, no inventory, no notice to creditors. For a family whose main asset is a house with a mortgage on it, this can resolve the entire estate in one hearing.
Available only when there was no will, the estate’s assets are worth no more than $75,000 excluding the homestead and exempt property, and assets exceed known liabilities. It can transfer the homestead, but only to a surviving spouse or minor children who were living there — not other real property. Our page on small estate affidavits covers the detail.
Not a court proceeding at all — a sworn statement recorded in the county deed records establishing who the heirs are. Useful for clearing title to real property when there was no will and the family agrees. It becomes prima facie evidence only after it has been on file for five years, which is why recording it early matters. See affidavit of heirship in Texas.
When there is no will and the heirs are disputed, unknown, or include a minor, the court determines heirship formally. An attorney ad litem is appointed to represent unknown heirs, and the resulting judgment binds everyone. Slower and more expensive than an affidavit — and sometimes the only thing a title company will accept.
The fallback when the will is silent, beneficiaries disagree, or creditors need the protection of court oversight. Every significant act needs court approval. Avoidable in most cases with a well-drafted will.
| Procedure | Court? | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Independent administration | Yes, then largely unsupervised | Most estates with a will |
| Muniment of title | One hearing | Will, no debts beyond a mortgage |
| Small estate affidavit | Yes, no administration | No will, under $75k, homestead only |
| Affidavit of heirship | No | No will, real property, family agrees |
| Determination of heirship | Yes | Disputes, unknown or minor heirs |
| Dependent administration | Yes, throughout | Debts, conflict, no independent request |
When someone dies without a will, the Texas Estates Code decides who inherits. It rarely matches what the family expected, and the rules differ depending on whether property is community or separate.
If you die married with children, what happens to your half of the community estate depends entirely on whose children they are.
That second rule is the single most common unpleasant surprise in Texas probate. A surviving spouse in a second marriage can find themselves co-owning the family home with their stepchildren.
Separate property — owned before marriage, or received by gift or inheritance — follows its own rule when there is a spouse and children:
A life estate in one-third of a house is exactly as awkward to administer as it sounds. The full scheme is set out in Chapter 201 of the Texas Estates Code, and our page on how Texas real estate passes to heirs works through the practical consequences. See also Texas next of kin laws.
Being named executor is a job, not an honour. In broad terms:
An executor owes fiduciary duties and can be held personally liable for getting it wrong — paying the wrong creditor first, distributing early, or commingling estate funds. More in the executor’s role and responsibilities.
Venue follows the county where the deceased person lived, not where the family lives or where the property sits.
Frisco straddles the Collin–Denton line, so two neighbours on the same street can end up in different courts. Counties without a statutory probate court hear estate matters on the general county docket, which changes both timing and local practice. Our DFW probate court process page covers the local differences.
An uncontested independent administration typically runs six months to a year. The hearing itself often happens within a few weeks of filing, but the estate cannot close until the creditor notice period has run.
Muniment of title can be done in a matter of weeks. A contested estate, an unknown heir, or a claim against the estate can extend things well past a year.
An uncontested independent administration is usually handled on a flat fee, plus court filing fees and the cost of publishing notice to creditors. Texas does not charge a percentage of the estate the way some states effectively do.
Costs rise when there is no will (heirship must be established first), when a dependent administration is required, or when someone contests. Almost every expensive probate we see traces back to a planning decision that was never made — which is the honest argument for avoiding probate in the first place.
The Kazi Law Firm handles probate, muniment of title, determinations of heirship, heirship affidavits and estate administration across North Texas from our Frisco office, with offices in Cedar Park and San Antonio. We appear in the Collin, Denton and Dallas County probate courts.
Most uncontested matters are handled on a flat fee, so you know the cost before we begin. Bring the will if there is one, a death certificate, and a rough list of what the person owned — that is enough for us to tell you which procedure you need and what it will take.
Schedule a consultation. If you are here because you would rather your own family never went through this, start with estate planning in Frisco or our guide to wills and trusts. For plain-language background, the Texas State Law Library and TexasLawHelp are both reliable starting points.