Estate Probation

After the court appoints an administrator (you, if you applied), the administrator can distribute separate personal property to the children according to the Texas rules of inheritance.  If you are the applicant, you might also want to talk to your attorney about setting aside the home and up to $60,000 in personal property for the widow (you) and about the fact that property purchased during the marriage is assumed to be community property unless proven otherwise.  These days a lot of folks feel entitled to "their" money and stuff before the body is cold.  But no one has authority to distribute anything until a court appoints them executor of a Will or administrator of an estate or signs an Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit.