Texas Probate Legal Questions

The executor or administrator of your mother's estate has a duty to assemble assets, pay debts and distribute the rest.  This includes evicting both heirs if the house was not left to them (and only them) and does not need to be sold to pay bills and deeding it from the estate to them if it was.... Read More

If you cannot find the original, you can hire a probate lawyer who practice in the county in which your mother-in-law lived and died to help you probate (prove) the copy.  Because it is a copy, there must be testimony showing that it is a true copy.  This can be given by the two witnesses or by one witness and the notary or, if none of these people can be found, by two people who will not inherit and are familiar with your mother-in-law's signature. ... Read More

If you have requested and paid the fee for a jury trial on your contest, you should expect it to be set. You should also expect to have a great deal of difficulty winning a jury trial in which you represent yourself.  Even lawyers rarely do that, calling to mind the old saying that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.  ... Read More

Unless you have a written lease and are paying rent, you are a guest and can be asked to leave.  If you do not, an eviction action can be brought and the sheriff can remove you.  The executor's duty is to collect the decedent's property, pay his debts and distribute what remains according to the Will.  Allowing you to live in the house rent-free is wasting the estate and violates that duty.  If the house does not need to be sold to pay your father-in-law's debts and passes to your sister-in-law, she may or may not want to rent it to you.... Read More

There is no length of marriage requirement.  Nor is there a one-third provision in Texas. In Texas a surviving spouse has a right to reside in the home for life regardless of whether it was purchased before or during the marriage.  If it was purchased before the marriage, her contributions to the mortgage payments, etc. during the marriage would also give her a right for reimbursement.  ... Read More

A Will must be submitted for probate (proving that it is the Will of the person who died) to have legal effect.  It then becomes a public document.  Please check with the clerk of the local probate court. Please also note that it is the duty of the executor appointed by the court to gather the assets, pay the debts and distribute the rest according to the Will.  Some debts may not be known for some time.  The final year's tax return cannot be filed until the following year.  For this reason, Texas does not even allow a beneficiary under the Will to request an accounting until 15 months after the court appoints the executor.  If there has been no distribution, not even a partial distribution, 24 months after the court has appointed the executor, a beneficiary may ask the court to replace that person.... Read More

A gift deed is a deed of gift made during life.  It could be either a general or a special warranty deed. A distribution deed (sometimes called an executors deed) is a deed to carry out the terms of a Will or, if there is no Will, an heirship proceeding. A deed is not valid until it is delivered.  Recording with the county clerk evidences delivery. If the gift deed was delivered (and, better yet, recorded) during your mother's lifetime, it governs.  ... Read More

As your probate lawyer has advised you, when there is community property 50% belongs to each spouse.  The Judgment Declaring Heirship declared that your wife's 50% passed to you as her heirs, meaning that the house is 100% yours.  But the Inventory is of your wife's estate.  Her estate included her 50% interest in the community property.  That should be recorded on the Inventory.... Read More

The parents' Wills should be submitted to a court for probate (proving -- that a Will is the Will of the person who died).  The executor can then record a Distribution Deed (sometimes called an Executor's Deed) distributing the home to your cousin.  His daughter, as the beneficiary under your cousin's Will, can then probate his Will and record a Distribution Deed distributing the home to her as the sole beneficiary under your cousin's Will.  Please keep in mind that a Will has no legal effect until a court admits it to probate. Note also that even if your cousin had no Will, since the parents left the home to him in their Wills, it would pass to his heirs at law, who are his children, not his siblings.  The home would only pass to all the parents' children (and to the children of any child who predeceased them) if they had no Wills. ... Read More

If you were left the house in a Will, once the estate is probated (proved), it may be yours.  Otherwise, it passes to others under the Will or, if there is no Will, to your friend's heirs at law.  You have no right of occupancy. If you had a written contract and evidence that it was breached because you were not paid what the contract provided, you may file a claim for back wages against the estate.... Read More

When someone dies without a Will, their estate can be settled via an Affidavit of Small Estate or an Application for Determination of Heirship, depending on the amount in the estate and on other questions.  You may well need to settle your mother's estate by hiring an attorney to help you file an Application for Determination of Heirship.  After paying the debts, it will be distributed to her children (assuming her spouse left his 50% community property share to her), not to a grandchild who is the child of a living child. Until the court appoints someone to settle the estate, no one has authority  to live in the house or to evict someone else who is living there.... Read More