A complex estate is usually one with land in several counties, mineral interests, an operating family business, an out-of-state executor, or a trust alongside the will. These estates can go badly even when nobody is accusing anybody of anything, and handling one like an ordinary probate gets expensive.
Complexity comes from the kind of assets and people involved, and the dollar value alone won’t tell you much. A several-million-dollar estate held entirely in brokerage accounts can be simpler to administer than a much smaller one that includes half of a ranch. These are the things that usually drive the work.
Most Texas estates can be administered independently, which means the executor acts without a court order for each step. It’s faster and cheaper, and that’s why it’s the default preference.
Under Texas Estates Code Section 401.001, a testator can direct in the will that no action be had in the probate court beyond probating and recording the will and returning the inventory, appraisement, and list of claims. The same section also lets a testator go the other way and forbid an independent administration entirely.
When there’s no will, Section 401.003 lets all of the distributees agree to an independent administration and jointly designate the administrator. All is the word that matters. One distributee who won’t sign is enough to put the estate under court supervision.
Complex estates end up in dependent administration more often than simple ones. More people have a reason to withhold agreement, and more is at stake when they do. Court supervision has real benefits when the family is uneasy, because every significant act the representative takes has an order behind it, and that protects the representative as much as it limits them.
In a dependent administration, the representative needs a court order to sell estate property. Under Section 356.251, the representative applies for an order of sale when the sale appears necessary or advisable to pay administration expenses, funeral expenses, expenses of the last illness, allowances, and claims, or to dispose of an interest in estate real property when selling it is considered in the estate’s best interest.
Section 356.252 requires an application to sell real estate to be in writing, to describe the property, and to come with an exhibit verified by affidavit showing the estate’s condition and the claims against it. Harris County title companies see this all the time, but it adds weeks. A sale negotiated on a timeline that ignores the court process tends to fall apart.
Moving property out of the estate and into the beneficiaries’ names takes its own proceeding. People who assumed distribution was clerical are usually surprised by that.
Under Section 360.001, any time after the first anniversary of the date original letters were granted, an executor, administrator, heir, or devisee may apply for partition and distribution. Section 360.002 allows a partial distribution earlier, once the inventory, appraisement, and list of claims have been filed and approved. If a partial distribution goes to some heirs or devisees and not all of them, the court must require a refunding bond unless every interested party files a written waiver.
If the estate isn’t entirely money or debts owed to it, Section 360.151 directs the court to appoint three or more disinterested commissioners to make the partition. Section 360.153 tells them how to do it. If the real estate can be divided without manifest injury, they allot each distributee a share in each parcel, shares in some parcels, or whole parcels, and they can use money or other personal property to even out the shares. Their report under Section 360.154 has to describe what went to each distributee and its value, and where land was divided, it must include a plat showing the division lines and the acreage in each share.
When property can’t be divided fairly, Section 360.201 requires the court to make a special written finding identifying that property, and Section 360.202 then requires the court to order it sold and the proceeds distributed. A beneficiary who buys at that sale pays only the amount by which the bid exceeds their own share.
Every argument about who gets the house eventually runs through these sections, and it helps to understand them before that argument starts.
Harris County has five statutory probate courts, created by Texas Government Code Section 25.1031(c). No other Texas county has as many.
Probate Courts No. 1 through 4 sit at the Harris County Civil Courthouse, 201 Caroline Street. Probate Court No. 5 is at 1115 Congress Street, 5th Floor.
Under Texas Estates Code Section 32.005, in a county with a statutory probate court, that court has exclusive jurisdiction of all probate proceedings, contested or uncontested. For an estate with assets and parties in several places, having one forum is an advantage, and it’s the reason the court that opens the estate matters more than people expect.
From Houston we handle estates in Harris, Fort Bend, Galveston, Montgomery, and Brazoria counties, and estates with real property in more than one of them are routine for us. Kreig LLC also has offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi, and West Texas, so one firm can handle a matter with property in several parts of the state.
We aren’t the right firm for a simple uncontested probate, a muniment of title, or a small estate affidavit, and we’ll tell you so on the first call.
The first conversation is a short call, and it’s free. Bring what you have: the will if there is one, the cause number if a case is already open, a list of what the estate holds and roughly where, and a description of the other interested parties.
Schedule a consultation or call (281) 219-9090.