Estate Planning & Probate

Estate Planning & Probate

Everything you own is going somewhere. The only question is who decides.

If you die without a will in Texas, the state has already written one for you. It splits community property and separate property under different rules, treats real estate differently from everything else, and produces results that surprise people — a surviving spouse who now owns a house with their late husband's children from a first marriage, for example, and cannot sell it without them.

The other half of this practice is the cleanup. Families come to us months after a death with a will nobody probated, a house still in a parent's name, and a bank that will not release an account. Most of it is fixable. It is simply more expensive than the plan would have been.

Texas has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax, and for the great majority of families the federal estate tax is not the issue either. What actually costs people money here is the paperwork that was never signed.

What we handle

The four-year rule

Texas generally gives you four years from the date of death to offer a will for probate. After that the door mostly closes: the will typically cannot be admitted in the ordinary way, and the estate is treated as though there was no will at all, which is often the opposite of what the person wanted.

There is a narrow path after four years for an applicant who was not in default — meaning they had a genuine reason for not filing — but relying on it is a bad plan. There are also short deadlines earlier in the process: notices to beneficiaries and creditors, and an inventory the executor owes the court.

The practical version is simple. If someone died and there is a will, do not put it in a drawer. The cost of probating it now is a fraction of the cost of fixing it later, and heirship proceedings exist mostly because families waited.

Independent administration is why Texas probate is cheaper than you think

Texas probate has a reputation problem it does not deserve. In most other states, an executor returns to court for permission to do almost anything. Texas allows independent administration, where the executor is qualified once and then handles the estate without asking the court's approval for each sale, payment and distribution.

• The will can grant it. A properly drafted Texas will names an independent executor and states that no bond and no court action are required beyond probating the will and filing an inventory. This one paragraph saves families thousands of dollars.
• The heirs can agree to it. If the will is silent, or if there is no will, all of the beneficiaries or heirs can consent to an independent administration. That agreement is much easier to get before people start arguing.
• The alternative is real. A dependent administration — court supervision of each step — is slower and considerably more expensive, and it is where contested estates end up.
• Some assets never go through probate at all. Life insurance, retirement accounts and payable-on-death accounts pass by beneficiary designation regardless of what the will says. Reviewing those designations is part of the job, and it is the one people forget after a divorce.

What it costs

Estate planning is quoted as a flat fee for the package of documents, so you know the number before we start drafting. Uncontested probate work — a straightforward independent administration or a muniment of title — is also typically a flat fee, plus the court's filing costs.

Contested matters, will contests and dependent administrations are hourly, because nobody can honestly predict the length of a fight. Whichever applies, the fee arrangement is in writing before any work begins, and the consultation itself is free.

Common questions