How Do I Claim a Small Estate in Texas?
A Texas small estate affidavit is available only for an intestate estate and must be sworn by two disinterested witnesses and every distributee, then filed with and approved by the probate court. Texas has no statewide form: each county probate court mandates its own and many reject generic affidavits. Those county forms add content Chapter 205 does not spell out — classifying each asset as community or separate property, and stating whether the decedent received Medicaid benefits on or after March 1, 2005, which if so must be answered with the amount owed, a Medicaid Estate Recovery Program certification, or proof that no claim will be filed. This tool does not produce a substitute; the required form comes from the county probate court.
The Texas small-estate procedure
Filed with the clerk of the court that has jurisdiction and venue of the estate (§ 205.001(4)); the judge examines the affidavit and may approve it if it conforms to the chapter (§ 205.003). After approval, the distributees provide copies certified by the court clerk to each person who owes money to the estate, has custody of estate property, or acts as registrar, fiduciary, or transfer agent (§ 205.004). The approved affidavit is kept as a local government record or recorded in the county clerk's "Small Estates" book (§ 205.005).
Frequently asked questions
A Texas small estate affidavit is available only for an intestate estate and must be sworn by two disinterested witnesses and every distributee, then filed with and approved by the probate court. Texas has no statewide form: each county probate court mandates its own and many reject generic affidavits. Those county forms add content Chapter 205 does not spell out — classifying each asset as community or separate property, and stating whether the decedent received Medicaid benefits on or after March 1, 2005, which if so must be answered with the amount owed, a Medicaid Estate Recovery Program certification, or proof that no claim will be filed. This tool does not produce a substitute; the required form comes from the county probate court.
An estate of $75,000 or less, per Tex. Est. Code §§ 205.001-205.009. The procedure is available 30 days after the death.
Filed with the clerk of the court that has jurisdiction and venue of the estate (§ 205.001(4)); the judge examines the affidavit and may approve it if it conforms to the chapter (§ 205.003). After approval, the distributees provide copies certified by the court clerk to each person who owes money to the estate, has custody of estate property, or acts as registrar, fiduciary, or transfer agent (§ 205.004). The approved affidavit is kept as a local government record or recorded in the county clerk's "Small Estates" book (§ 205.005).
Texas has no statewide form. Each county probate court publishes its own required small estate affidavit form, so the form comes from the probate court for the county where the estate is administered (Tex. Est. Code §§ 205.001-205.009).
The chapter does not transfer title to real property (§ 205.008(b)) with one exception: if the decedent's homestead is the ONLY real property in the estate, title to the homestead may be transferred under the affidavit, which must be recorded in the deed records of a county where the homestead is located; bona fide purchasers may rely on the recorded affidavit, subject to creditor claims and undisclosed-heir recovery rights (§ 205.006). "Homestead" and "exempt property" mean property eligible to be set aside under § 353.051 (§ 205.009).
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