TX Probate Forms
Show Table of ContentsThere are a number of state-specific forms you may need when going through the probate process.
General Forms
In Texas, a few counties have dedicated Probate Courts, and the rest handle probate via Constitutional County Courts, with the relevant District Court having jurisdiction for contested matters. You can find the appropriate TX court for a given estate by using the Texas Courts search to select your desired court type and county location (or you can download the Texas court list and search for the relevant court within the estate's county). You can learn more about the Texas court system on the Texas Courts website.
You can check with your local court for the forms they might prefer, and below you will find some of the more common TX forms:
- Example Application to Open Safe Deposit Box - Find the will
- Example Application to Probate Will - Get the probate process started
- Example Receipt and Waiver of Notice - Heirs can sign in order to relieve you from formal notification requirements
- Example Consent to Independent Administration and Bond Waiver - Get this from heirs if you wish to use an independent administration
- Example Affidavit of Notice - Tell the court you notified heirs as required
- Example Creditor Notice Forms (end of document) - Publish creditor notice, mail creditor notice, affirm to court
- Example Estate Inventory - You may want to use EstateExec's Inventory Report instead
- Example Final Accounting - You may want to use EstateExec's Final Accounting Report instead
Since Texas provides only small estate forms at the statewide level, above we have provided example probate forms from various counties: you can either contact your local court to see if they have a preferred form (here are some from Harris County), adapt one of the above forms for your particular county, make up your own form, or have a lawyer do it for you.
Keep in mind that Texas requires an estate to have an attorney of record unless using a small estate approach or the estate does not involve other interested parties. Texas requires attorneys and encourages consumers to file submissions electronically, and many of these services in effect generate the required forms as you enter the information..
Other Texas forms you may find useful include:
- Example Small Estate Affidavit Form - Obtain custody of personal property for small estates with no will
- Texas Affidavit of Heirship Form - Obtain title to real estate for small estates with no will
- Affidavit of Death - Transfer real property subject to a Transfer on Death Deed
- Example Muniment of Title Application - Alternative approach to probate
Small Estates
Small estates sometimes need only 1 specialized form or affidavit: see Small TX Estates.
Additional Information
See also Overall Probate Process in TX.
In case you're interested, probate forms for other states can be found here: