Probate

Probate

If you've recently lost a loved one, we can help.

Losing someone you love is one of the hardest things we experience in our lives. We have stood in your shoes, and lean on our personal and professional experience with probate to guide our clients through the process. Let us help you deal with such tasks as sorting through the deceased person’s property and accounts, figuring out the amount of any debts, and making distributions to the beneficiaries. We know how overwhelming probate can feel, and we will be there to support you every step of the way. Our Houston probate attorneys can guide you through the legal and practical requirements you must fulfill if you find yourself in charge of a deceased person’s estate.

Call us today if you need help making the probate process easy, understandable, and efficient.

What is Probate?

Probate is the judicial process where a court appoints a personal representative or an executor to manage a decedent’s assets, pay any of decedent’s debts, and transfer legal title in the remaining property to the beneficiaries or heirs of decedent’s estate.

Generally, probate administration is a fairly efficient process in Texas. However, situations can arise where the process becomes complex, such as when a person dies without a will, or when complex family situations cause added stress and complexity.

We know this process and have represented individuals and corporate personal representatives in courts all across Texas.  We handle non-contested and contested probate matters for estates of varying sizes and complexities.

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Some of the common questions we are asked during a probate process include:

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What do I do if the deceased person left a Will?

A common misconception is that, if a person dies with a Will, there is no need for probate. Unfortunately, that is not the case. A Will does not have any validity to transfer assets until a judge issues an order stating that the Will is the valid last Will of the person who passed away. The process of going through the probate court to approve the Will and comply with the requirements of Texas law after a Will has been determined to be valid is a legal process known as “probate.”

The typical “simple” Texas probate (assuming there are no unusual issues concerning the Will) involves the following steps:

 

• • The original Will and an application to probate the Will prepared by a probate attorney is filed with the County Clerk (usually in the county where the deceased person resided).

 

• • There is a period of at least 10 days before a hearing may be held to probate the Will. This time period is required to allow anyone who wants to contest the Will to file a contest.

 

• • A probate attorney, and in certain counties, the person named as executor, must attend the court hearing during which testimony is given to prove that the Will is the valid last Will of the person who died and that the person named as executor is qualified to act.

 

• • The judge signs an order admitting the Will to probate and appointing the executor, after which the executor is issued “letters testamentary,” an official document showing that the executor has the authority to access the deceased person’s assets.

 

• • The executor needs to arrange for a “notice to creditors” to be published in a local newspaper (even if the deceased person had no creditors) announcing that anyone who has a claim against the deceased person should present it to the executor.

 

• • The executor needs to give notice to all the beneficiaries named in the Will (including charities) letting the beneficiaries know that the Will has been admitted to probate.  The notice must include a copy of the Will.

 

• • The executor needs to prepare an inventory of the deceased person’s assets. This inventory must be filed with the court and made public, unless the deceased person did not have any debts, in which case an “affidavit in lieu of an inventory” may be filed with the court. In any event, the inventory must be distributed to the beneficiaries of the estate.

 

• • After the court approves the inventory filed by the Executor, the Executor’s duties to the court have been fulfilled.

 

• • After the inventory has been filed, the duties of an Executor include making sure that the deceased person’s final tax return has been filed, paying the deceased person’s debts, and distributing the remaining assets to the beneficiaries.

   

What happens if the deceased person did not leave a Will?

 

Unless all of the deceased person’s heirs agree to apply to the court for and independent administration (meaning an estate administration that is not overseen by the court), the estate of a person dying without a will (also known as dying intestate) will be supervised by a judge who will appoint an independent administrator answerable to the judge.

In most cases, the administrator will have to post a bond. In addition, the administrator will have to request the court’s permission almost every time the administrator wishes to deal with an asset of the estate, including making an investment and paying debts.

Before a distribution may be made to the deceased person’s heirs, the court will oversee a proceeding referred to as an heirship proceeding to determine the identity of the deceased person’s heirs. As part of the heirship proceeding, the court will appoint an independent probate attorney (not the attorney for the administrator of the estate) to represent the deceased person’s unknown heirs, minor heirs, and heirs who may be incapacitated and unable to enforce their own rights to the estate.

This independent attorney, known as an attorney ad litem, will investigate the deceased person’s background and will make a report to the court.

The fees for the attorney ad litem are paid for out of the deceased person’s estate.

During the heirship proceeding, two witnesses who are not heirs of the deceased person must appear in court to give testimony regarding the deceased person’s family background.

If any of the deceased person’s assets are to be distributed to a minor child or an incapacitated person, another proceeding may be necessary for a guardian to be appointed for the minor child or incapacitated person.

If a person dies without a Will, who are the deceased person’s heirs?

There are three sets of rules for determining heirs under Texas law. One set of rules applies to unmarried individuals, another applies to the separate property of a married individual, and another applies to a married person’s community property.

A deceased unmarried person’s heirs are:

• • The deceased person’s children and the descendants of a predeceasing child; or if none,

 

• • The deceased person’s mother and father in equal shares; or

 

• • If only a mother or father is surviving, the deceased person’s property is divided in half and split between the surviving parent and the deceased person’s brothers and sisters and the descendants of a predeceasing sibling (or all to the siblings, and the descendants of a predeceasing sibling, if no parents survive); or

 

• • If there are no siblings or descendants of siblings, all of the deceased person’s estate passes to the surviving father or mother.

   

A deceased married person’s separate property passes as follows:

 

• • If a person dies leaving a surviving spouse and children, the surviving spouse receives one-third of the deceased person’s separate property that is not real estate (referred to as personal property), and the balance of the deceased person’s separate personal property passes to the deceased person’s children and their descendants. The surviving spouse is also entitled to a life estate in one-third of the real estate of the deceased person, with remainder to the children of the deceased person.

 

• • If a person dies leaving a surviving spouse and no children, the surviving spouse is entitled to all of the deceased person’s personal property, and to one-half of the deceased person’s real estate, or all of the deceased person’s real estate, if the deceased person is not survived by a father, mother, nor any surviving brothers or sisters or their descendants.

   

A deceased married person’s community property passes as follows:

 

• • The community property of a deceased spouse passes to the surviving spouse if no descendant survives the deceased spouse, or if all surviving children and descendants of the deceased spouse are also children or descendants of the surviving spouse.

 

• • If a child of the deceased spouse is not a child of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse keeps his or her half of the community property and the deceased married person’s half of the community property passes to the children or descendants of the deceased spouse.

   

How we can help --

After a loved one passes away, our probate attorneys assist you by performing a thorough review of the family situation, the deceased person’s assets, and the potential for creditors, to determine the most efficient and cost-effective way to transfer the deceased person’s property to the beneficiaries or heirs. We always attempt to minimize probate court involvement, but if it becomes necessary to go through the court’s probate procedure, we will assist you in fulfilling the duties imposed on an executor or administrator by the court and Texas law.

Our probate attorneys counsel clients on probate, estate, and trust administration issues in the following areas:

 

• Probating a Will and assisting the Executor in administering the estate.
• Court proceedings to determine a decedent’s heirs, if there is no Will.
• Small Estate Affidavits.
• Affidavits of Heirship.
• Documenting asset transfers to beneficiaries.
• Dealing with creditors in an estate.
• Arranging for a federal estate tax return, if needed.
• Representing beneficiaries of estates to ensure that the Executor or administrator properly fulfills their fiduciary duties.

 

Call Us Today!

If there has been a death in your family, or if your family is currently involved in a probate administration, you do not have to deal with it alone.  Let a trusted probate attorney from the Heights Law Group walk you through this process. We can make this time in your life easy and less stressful. Call us today at (832) 810-3373 to find out more.