Probate & Estate Administration
Probate Attorney in Wichita Falls, Texas
Someone has died. There is a will, or there isn't. Meanwhile the bank will not release the account, the title company will not close, and the house is still titled in the name of a person who is gone. Everyone keeps telling you that you "need to probate it" — without telling you which kind you need, or whether you need one at all.
Texas does not have one probate. It has several procedures, and they are not interchangeable. One of them appoints a representative and runs for months. One of them is a single court order that transfers a house. One of them is an affidavit that never sees a judge’s docket at all. Which one fits is determined by facts you already know: whether there was a will, what the estate owes, and what kind of property is sitting in the decedent’s name.
There is a clock, and most families do not know about it. A Texas will generally cannot be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the testator’s death unless the applicant is not in default for failing to file sooner — Tex. Est. Code § 256.003(a). There is a second trap in the same section: even where a late will is admitted, letters testamentary may not be issued unless the application was filed on or before that fourth anniversary — § 256.003(b). Families who wait often find that the cheap option closed and only the expensive one is left.
Which probate procedure does your situation actually need?
Five procedures cover the overwhelming majority of Texas estates. Here is when each one applies and what governs it.
Probate Administration
When it applies: the estate has debts to pay, assets to gather, claims to resolve, a lawsuit to pursue, or a business to wind down. Somebody has to be given legal authority to act for the estate, and that authority comes from the court.
Most Texas administrations are independent, which means the representative acts with minimal court supervision after qualifying — no bond fights over every check, no court permission for every sale. That is the practical difference between an administration that costs what it should and one that does not.
Independent administration arises three ways: the testator directs it in the will, Tex. Est. Code § 401.001; the distributees of a testate estate agree to it where the will did not provide for it, § 401.002; or the distributees of an intestate estate agree to it, § 401.003.
Where there is no will, § 304.001 supplies the priority order for who may serve as personal representative — surviving spouse first, then next of kin, then creditors, then others down a statutory list. (The same section puts an executor named in a will at the top of that order where a will exists.) Application contents for letters of administration are at § 301.052.
Once qualified, the representative publishes notice to creditors within one month, § 308.051, and files an inventory and appraisement before the 91st day, § 309.051, with the list of claims under § 309.052. An independent executor with no unpaid debts other than secured debt, taxes, and administration expenses may file an affidavit in lieu of that inventory, § 309.056 — which keeps the family’s balance sheet out of the public record.
Letters Testamentary
When it applies: an institution is refusing to deal with you. Letters testamentary are the document the bank, the brokerage, the insurance company, the mineral purchaser, and the title company are actually asking for when they say they need "proof you can act." They are issued after the will is admitted to probate and the executor qualifies.
If the decedent left no will, the equivalent document is letters of administration, and it comes out of the administration described above rather than out of a will.
The court grants letters testamentary before the 21st day after the will is admitted, to each executor named in the will who is not disqualified and who accepts and qualifies — Tex. Est. Code § 306.001. Letters of administration are granted under § 306.002, and the clerk issues the original letters under § 306.004.
Within 60 days of the order admitting the will, the representative must give notice to each beneficiary named in the will whose identity and address are known or reasonably ascertainable, § 308.002, followed by the compliance affidavit under § 308.004.
Note the interaction with the four-year rule: under § 256.003(b), letters testamentary are unavailable on a will admitted after the fourth anniversary of death unless the application was filed on or before that date. An estate can end up with an admitted will and no one authorized to act under it.
Muniment of Title
When it applies: there is a valid will, the estate owes nothing except possibly a mortgage on real property, and the real job is simply to move the house, the farm, or the mineral interest out of the decedent’s name and into the names the will directs.
This is the procedure Texas has that most states do not, and it is frequently the difference between a short, inexpensive matter and a full administration. There is no executor, no letters, no inventory, no creditor notice, and no ongoing representative. The court’s order is the instrument of transfer: it goes of record and the chain of title moves.
The court may admit a will as a muniment of title if it is satisfied the will should be admitted and either the estate owes no unpaid debt other than a debt secured by a lien on real estate, or the court finds no necessity for administration — Tex. Est. Code § 257.001. Required application contents are at § 257.051.
The force of the order comes from § 257.102, which gives persons who deal with the property in accordance with the order — banks, transfer agents, purchasers, title companies — the authority to rely on it.
Not later than the 180th day after the will is admitted, the applicant files a sworn report stating which terms of the will have been fulfilled, § 257.103. The court may waive or extend that deadline, and a failure to file it does not affect title — but it is a loose end worth closing.
Small Estate Affidavits
When it applies: the decedent died without a will, the estate is modest, and the family needs to collect bank accounts, a vehicle, or a final paycheck without opening an administration.
This is the narrowest of the five procedures and the one most often attempted where it does not fit. The conditions are strict and every one of them has to be met.
Under Tex. Est. Code § 205.001, the distributees of a person who died intestate may take without a personal representative if: 30 days have passed since death; no petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted; and the value of the estate assets, excluding homestead and exempt property, does not exceed $75,000.
The affidavit itself must satisfy § 205.002 — sworn to by two disinterested witnesses and by each distributee with legal capacity — and the judge must examine and approve it under § 205.003. The clerk records it as a local government record under § 205.005.
The limit that catches people: as to real property, a small estate affidavit reaches the homestead only, and only where the homestead is the estate’s sole real property, with the affidavit recorded in the deed records of a county where the homestead sits — § 205.006(a). And § 205.008(b) states plainly that except as provided by § 205.006, the chapter does not transfer title to real property. A rent house, a vacant lot, or inherited acreage will not move by small estate affidavit.
Uncontested Probate in Wichita County and Surrounding Counties
When it applies: nobody is fighting. There is no will contest, no competing applicant, no disputed heir. The family agrees, and what stands between them and a clean transfer is procedure — the right application, the right venue, the citation period, and a hearing.
Most probate is this. It is administrative work that has to be done correctly rather than a dispute that has to be won, and it should be priced and staffed accordingly.
Venue for probating a will and granting letters is the county where the decedent resided, if the decedent had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas — Tex. Est. Code § 33.001, with fallbacks for non-residents.
Which court hears it depends on what courts the county has. Under § 32.002, in a county with no statutory probate court and no county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, the county court has original jurisdiction; where a county court at law does exercise that jurisdiction, it is concurrent with the county court. General probate jurisdiction, including pendent and ancillary matters, is at § 32.001.
If a matter that started uncontested becomes contested, § 32.003 governs: in a county with no statutory probate court, the judge may on the court’s own motion — and shall on a party’s motion — either request assignment of a statutory probate court judge or transfer the contested matter to district court.
The practical floor on timing is citation. Service by posting requires the citation to be posted at least 10 days before the return day, excluding the date of posting — § 51.053. Nothing gets heard before that period runs.
Our office is in Iowa Park, inside Wichita County and a short drive west of Wichita Falls. We handle probate for families in Wichita, Archer, Clay, and Wilbarger Counties, and in Baylor, Young, Montague, and Jack Counties when the decedent lived or held property there.
Probate questions we answer every week
Do I have to probate a will in Texas?
Not always. If everything the decedent owned passed by beneficiary designation, survivorship, or a recorded transfer on death deed, there may be nothing left for a court to move. Probate becomes necessary when something is stuck in the decedent’s sole name — most commonly real property, an unpaid account with no beneficiary, or a mineral interest. The honest first question is not "how do we probate this," it is "what is actually titled in the decedent’s name, and does anything need to move?"
How long do I have to probate a will in Texas?
Generally four years from the date of death. A will may not be admitted after the fourth anniversary unless the applicant proves he or she was not in default for failing to file sooner — Tex. Est. Code § 256.003(a). Separately, letters testamentary may not be issued on a will admitted after that anniversary unless the application was filed on or before it — § 256.003(b). Past four years, the options narrow and usually get more expensive. If you are near that line, treat it as urgent.
What is the difference between muniment of title and full probate?
Full administration appoints someone to act for the estate over time — collecting assets, paying creditors, filing an inventory, distributing what remains. Muniment of title appoints no one. It is a single order admitting the will for the purpose of transferring title, available when the estate owes no unpaid debt other than a debt secured by a lien on real estate, or the court finds no necessity for administration — § 257.001. If the estate is a house, a will, and a mortgage, muniment of title is very often the right answer and the cheaper one.
My parent died without a will. What are my options?
Three paths, depending on what is in the estate. If the assets are modest and no real property other than a homestead is involved, a small estate affidavit under § 205.001 may work. If someone needs authority to act, the distributees can agree to an independent administration under § 401.003. And where the question is simply who the heirs are — because a title company, a mineral buyer, or a sibling needs it settled — a judicial proceeding to determine heirship under § 202.002 produces a judgment that says so, with an attorney ad litem appointed for unknown heirs under § 202.009.
Will a small estate affidavit transfer my parent’s house?
Only if it was their homestead and it is the only real property in the estate. Section 205.006(a) permits title to the homestead to pass by affidavit in that narrow case, and § 205.008(b) confirms that otherwise the chapter does not transfer real property at all. Families routinely spend weeks assembling a small estate affidavit for property it can never reach. Confirm the fit before you build the file.
Do I need a lawyer to probate a will in Texas?
In practice, yes, when you are serving as personal representative. A representative who acts for an estate is acting for the beneficiaries and creditors of that estate, not only for himself, and Texas courts have generally treated that as representing the interests of others — which requires a licensed attorney. That rule comes from court decisions and local practice rather than from a statute, and courts vary in how they apply it. A person probating a will as a muniment of title purely for their own interest sits in a different posture.
Let’s find out which procedure you actually need.
Most of this can be sorted out in one conversation. Bring the will if there is one, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a list of what was titled in the decedent’s name — accounts, vehicles, real property, minerals. From those three things we can usually tell you which of the five procedures fits, roughly what it costs, and how long it takes, before you commit to anything.
If you are inside the four-year window on a will, call sooner rather than later. That deadline does not move.
Watson Law Firm 300 N. Wall StreetIowa Park, TX 76367
(940) 264-3041