Texas Probate and Intestate Succession: What Happens Without a Will (2026)

Texas has no single statewide probate court; depending on the county, a case is heard in a Statutory Probate Court, a County Court at Law, or a Constitutional County Court. Most Texas estates use independent administration, a distinctly low-supervision process that sets Texas apart from most other states.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Probate Works in Texas

Texas probate does not run through one dedicated statewide court. Texas Estates Code Chapter 32 assigns jurisdiction based on the county: the state's most populous counties, including Harris, Dallas, and Travis, have dedicated Statutory Probate Courts (often numbered, such as Probate Court No. 1); counties without one but with a County Court at Law generally hear probate there; and counties with neither route probate through the Constitutional County Court. Regardless of which of these three court types actually hears a given case, Texans generically call the proceeding probate court.

The defining feature of Texas probate, and the biggest way it diverges from most other states, is independent administration. Under Estates Code Chapter 401 through 405, an independent executor or independent administrator manages the estate largely free of ongoing court supervision. Once appointed, that person can generally sell estate assets, pay valid debts, and make distributions to beneficiaries or heirs without seeking court approval for each step, except in the narrow set of situations Estates Code § 402.002 specifically requires court involvement. That is a sharp contrast with the fully court-supervised probate many other states default to, where a personal representative typically needs judicial sign-off before selling a house or closing out a claim.

Independent administration can arise in two ways. First, a testator can name an independent executor directly in a valid will, which is the most common route and one reason so many Texas wills specifically use that language. Second, and this is the detail that surprises people who assume independent administration requires a will, an intestate estate can also proceed independently if all of the decedent's heirs, after a formal court proceeding to determine heirship, unanimously agree in writing to designate an independent administrator. Estates Code § 401.003. That unanimous-agreement mechanism means even a Texan who died without a will can often avoid the heavier, fully supervised process, as long as the heirs are not in conflict.

The alternative is dependent administration, which is fully court-supervised: the administrator needs court approval for most significant actions, including selling estate property, paying claims, and making distributions. Texas courts require dependent administration when a will does not authorize independent administration and the heirs cannot unanimously agree to designate an independent administrator, when the estate is contested, or when there are minor heirs or other circumstances that call for closer court oversight. Because dependent administration requires a court order for nearly every meaningful step, it generally takes longer and costs more in legal and court fees than independent administration.

Once a personal representative is appointed, notice to creditors follows a defined timeline. Independent executors must publish notice to unsecured creditors within one month of receiving Letters Testamentary. Secured creditors generally have six months from the date Letters are granted to elect how their claim will be treated, under Estates Code Chapter 355. Texas does not impose as rigid a claims-bar deadline as some Uniform Probate Code states use, but these notice windows still shape how quickly an independent administration can move toward closing.

Intestate Succession in Texas: Who Inherits Without a Will

When a Texan dies without a valid will, Texas Estates Code Chapter 201 decides who inherits, and because Texas is a community property state, the answer depends on whether property is classified as community or separate.

Community property. Under Estates Code § 201.003, if all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse, or if the decedent has no surviving descendants at all, the surviving spouse inherits the decedent's one-half interest in the community estate outright. Combined with the half the spouse already owned as a matter of community property law during the marriage, the surviving spouse ends up owning the entire community estate. The outcome changes if the decedent has a surviving descendant who is not also a descendant of the surviving spouse, for example a child from a prior relationship. In that case, the decedent's one-half community interest passes to that descendant, and any other descendants, rather than to the spouse. The surviving spouse keeps only the half of the community property that was already legally theirs, and does not inherit any additional share of the decedent's half.

Separate property. Under Estates Code § 201.002, if the decedent has surviving descendants, the surviving spouse takes one-third of the decedent's separate personal property outright, with the descendants taking the remaining two-thirds. For separate real property, the spouse receives a life estate in one-third of it, meaning the right to use or receive income from that share for the spouse's lifetime, while the descendants hold the remaining two-thirds outright plus the remainder interest in the spouse's life-estate share. If the decedent has no surviving descendants, the surviving spouse takes all of the separate personal property and one-half of the separate real property outright, with the other half of the real property passing to the decedent's surviving parents or siblings under the no-spouse rules below, unless there is no surviving parent, sibling, or sibling's descendant at all, in which case the spouse takes the entire estate.

No surviving spouse. Under Estates Code § 201.001, an intestate estate with no surviving spouse passes first to the decedent's descendants. If there are none, it passes to both parents equally. If only one parent survives, the estate splits between that parent and the decedent's siblings, or a deceased sibling's descendants. If no parent survives, it passes entirely to siblings and their descendants. Beyond that, Texas law splits the estate equally between the decedent's paternal and maternal grandparents' lines before it would ultimately escheat to the State of Texas, which happens only when no qualifying relative can be found at all.

One way to make sure your property goes to the people you actually choose, rather than following Texas's intestate succession order, is to have a valid will in place. recordinglaw.com's free Texas Last Will and Testament Generator can help you create one, with no account required.

Small Estate and Simplified Probate in Texas

Texas's small estate affidavit, governed by Estates Code Chapter 205, is narrower than it might first appear. It is available only when the decedent died intestate, without a will, and the estate's non-exempt assets total $75,000 or less. That figure excludes the homestead, which passes outside the affidavit process directly to a surviving spouse or minor children, other property exempt under Texas Property Code § 42.002, and non-probate assets such as life insurance proceeds or retirement accounts with a named beneficiary. Unlike some states' small estate procedures, the Texas affidavit is not a purely private, out-of-court document. It still has to be filed with, and approved by, the probate court before it can be used to collect and distribute the decedent's remaining assets.

A decedent who left a will typically cannot use the small estate affidavit at all. Texas offers a separate simplified procedure, muniment of title, for that situation when the estate is straightforward, though the small estate affidavit itself remains reserved for intestate estates.

Texas has no state estate tax, and its state inheritance tax was repealed effective September 2015. Only the federal estate tax could theoretically reach a Texas estate, and for 2026 that tax applies only above a $15,000,000 per-person exclusion, confirmed on IRS.gov, so it affects only the largest estates.

Do You Need a Probate Attorney?

Independent administration is specifically designed to be workable without heavy ongoing legal involvement once an executor is appointed, which is part of why it is the dominant form of Texas probate. That said, a probate attorney is genuinely valuable for the appointment itself, particularly in an intestate estate where heirship has to be formally determined and all heirs must unanimously agree in writing before independent administration is even available. An attorney also matters more when a will is contested, when heirs cannot agree and dependent administration becomes necessary, when the estate includes a business, or when community and separate property need to be carefully distinguished. For the broader picture of how probate works outside Texas, see Probate by State.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about probate and intestate succession in Texas as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for advice from a probate attorney licensed in Texas, particularly for a contested estate, a business interest, a blended family, or an estate large enough to raise a federal estate tax question. Figures, thresholds, and program details change; verify current details directly with the official source before relying on any figure here.

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Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.