What happens when a loved one passes—and all you can find is a copy of their will?
At The Blum Firm, this is one of the most common (and stressful) questions we hear: “Is a photocopy enough?” The truth is, while having the original will makes things easier, a copy doesn’t mean you’re out of options—it just means you’ll need to take a few extra steps.
In this video, we walk you through what it takes to probate a copy of a will in Texas, including how to notify potential heirs, address the legal presumption that the original was revoked, and explain to the court why the original may be missing.
From misplaced documents to memory-related conditions like dementia, we’ve seen it all—and we’re here to guide you through this more complex probate path with clarity and confidence.
🖨️ Have a copy instead of the original? Don’t panic—we’ve got you covered.
Watch now to learn what to do next.
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Video Transcript
0:00 Intro
0:10 I Only Have A Photocopy
0:37 List All Heirs
2:24 In Summary For Probating
0:00 Intro
If you watched our other video that talks about how to probate an estate when you have an original last will and testament, it might prompt the question of what happens if all you have is a photo copy.
0:10 I Only Have A Photocopy
This is a question that we get all the time here at the firm. People are panicking. They call, their loved one passed away, but they cannot find the original document or they bring in what they thought was the original document and it actually turns out to be a photo copy of the document. So, this is not the best case scenario, but we have lots of experience handling estates where all the family can find is a photo copy, and it just requires a few extra steps.
0:37 List All Heirs
So, in our video where we discussed probating an original will, all of those steps still apply, but when you have a copy, you actually have to list out the heirs of the estate in your application. Frequently, in a will, it does not provide for all of the heirs. Say for example, there is a surviving spouse. Typically, you will see a will that leaves everything to the surviving spouse, even if there are children from that marriage. If you’re probating a copy, you still list that the sole beneficiary is the surviving spouse, but you also have to list who would take if there was no will.
So, in Texas with that scenario, you would be looking at the surviving spouse as well as the children. So, we would have to actually serve the children notice of us attempting to probate the copy of the will, even if they’re not going to be taking from the estate. The reason for that is because if for some reason the court decides not to admit the copy of the will, the heirs would then step in place and take from the estate.
Another big issue with a copy of a will is in Texas there’s an automatic presumption that the will was revoked by the testator and that’s why you can’t find the original document. So we have to actually plead to the court in our application why the family can’t find the original will. Sometimes your loved one may have been suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia and they may have been swirling away documents when they passed or even accidentally thrown the document away thinking that it was the copy or just clearing out things not even realizing that their will was in that stack of papers. So, we have to tell the court why the family can’t find the original and prove to them that we do believe this was the most current version of your loved one’s will and they did not make a new one.
2:24 In Summary For Probating
So, in summary, probating a copy of a will does require a few extra steps, but here at the Blum Firm, we have handled this numerous times and are prepared to help you probate that copy of your loved one’s will, and we’d be happy to answer any questions that you might have regarding an estate where all you have is a photo copy of that document. If you have any other questions regarding a scenario similar to this, you can click the link below or visit our website and we’d be happy to answer any other questions that you might have. Thank you so much.