Question 1

Where are Harris County probate cases filed?

Accepted Answer

Harris County has five statutory probate courts, Probate Courts No. 1 through No. 5, which hear decedents' estates (as well as guardianship and mental-health matters). Their judges, locations, dockets and local rules are on the official Harris County Probate Courts site. Filings are kept by the Harris County Clerk, whose free Probate Web Inquiry lets anyone search the public case index by case number, party name, court or file date.

Question 2

What case types will I see on a new-filing list?

Accepted Answer

The most common decedent-estate filings are:Probate of will with independent administration: the court admits the will and appoints an independent executor.Probate of will as a muniment of title: the will is admitted without appointing anyone to administer the estate. A court may do this only if the estate owes no unpaid debt other than debt secured by a lien on real estate, or there is otherwise no need for administration (Tex. Est. Code §257.001).Letters of administration: there is no will (or no executor able to serve) and the court appoints an administrator, independent or dependent.Determination of heirship: a proceeding to declare who the heirs are, most often when someone dies without a will and no administration has been opened (Tex. Est. Code §202.002). It can be brought at any time after death (Tex. Est. Code §202.0025).Small estate affidavit: for some intestate estates whose assets, excluding the homestead and exempt property, do not exceed $75,000 (Tex. Est. Code §205.001).Guardianship and mental-health cases are also filed in these courts; ProbateBrief excludes them.

Question 3

Who has authority to sell a house in an estate?

Accepted Answer

It depends on how the estate is handled. Roughly:Independent executor or administrator: unless the will limits it, they have the same power of sale as a court-supervised representative without the requirement of court approval (Tex. Est. Code §402.052). A good-faith buyer who is not an heir or devisee need not look into the sale's propriety when the power of sale is granted in the will or the appointing order, or the executor records a sworn affidavit that the sale is necessary or advisable (Tex. Est. Code §402.053).Dependent (court-supervised) administration: the representative applies for an order of sale (Tex. Est. Code §356.251), and after the sale is reported the court must approve it before the property is conveyed (Tex. Est. Code §356.556). Expect a longer timeline.Muniment of title: no one is appointed, so the devisees named in the will generally sign as owners.No probate at all: heirs sometimes rely on a recorded affidavit of heirship. The statute gives a form for it (Tex. Est. Code §203.002), and once such a statement has been of record for five years or more in the county's deed records, it is prima facie evidence of the facts it states (Tex. Est. Code §203.001). Whether a title company will insure a sale on that basis is the title company's call. A small estate affidavit can transfer title to the homestead only when the homestead is the estate's only real property (Tex. Est. Code §205.006).A title company and the estate's attorney decide what is needed to close. Don't rely on this summary for a particular property.

Question 4

Are there deadlines that affect timing?

Accepted Answer

A will generally may not be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the death, unless the applicant shows they were not in default; letters testamentary are generally not issued for a will admitted after that date unless the application was filed before it (Tex. Est. Code §256.003).Within one month after receiving letters, the personal representative must publish a notice to creditors in a newspaper of general circulation in the county (Tex. Est. Code §308.051).How long a particular case takes depends on the court's docket, whether anyone contests, and the estate's facts. We don't publish average durations because we haven't measured them.

Question 5

What does a new filing tell an investor, and what doesn't it?

Accepted Answer

A new filing tells you a decedent's estate has been opened, which court has it, the filing date, the case type, and usually the applicant and the attorney of record. It does not tell you whether the estate owns real property, whether anyone wants to sell, or who will have authority to sign. ProbateBrief matches the decedent's name against Harris Central Appraisal District public data to suggest likely properties, with a match-confidence score. Always verify ownership in the HCAD and county deed records before acting.

Question 6

How should I reach out?

Accepted Answer

These are families who have just lost someone. Be patient and honest, accept a "no", and never imply you represent the court or the county. When an attorney is listed, many investors start there. You are responsible for following the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the National Do-Not-Call Registry, Texas telemarketing and solicitation laws, and real-estate licensing rules when you contact anyone.

How Harris County probate works for real-estate investors (2026)