In our latest video, we break down exactly what happens during a Texas probate when a loved one passes away intestate. We walk you through the entire court process, starting with the application to list heirs and the appointment of an attorney ad litem. This third-party attorney conducts a thorough investigation—reviewing everything from birth records to obituaries—to ensure the family tree is accurate and no one is left out.
We also tackle one of the most common points of anxiety: finding “disinterested family fact witnesses”. If the thought of finding witnesses makes you want to shut down, please watch this video. We share how we help our clients brainstorm and find the right people to testify so your case can move forward smoothly.
Whether your family is completely on the same page, allowing for a faster “independent administration,” or you are facing a more complex “dependent administration” with heavy court involvement, we’ve seen it all. Our goal is to help you stand in your loved one’s shoes, manage their assets, and properly distribute what they left behind.
Check out the full video for a step-by-step guide to finding clarity during a difficult time. If you have specific questions about your family’s scenario, we’re always here to help.
Video Transcript
0:00 Intro
0:50 Choose Wisely
1:31 Check and Double-Check
2:06 Let Us Handle It
2:39 What Does That Mean?
3:30 Court Is In Session
0:00 Intro
Once we list out the heirs in an application that we file with the court, the court is going to appoint what’s called an attorney ad litem. This is a third-party neutral attorney that serves the court and it’s their job to do an investigation into the heirship and ensure that what we have listed out is correct. The way that they do that is they will pull birth records, death records, marriage records, obituaries, and anything that can help them establish the family tree to, again, ensure that we have not left anybody out. It is common sometimes that you will see someone was left off whether on purpose or on accident, and the court wants to make sure before they sign off on something stating these are the people entitled to inherit from this estate they’ve done their due diligence and have made sure they have the correct parties before the court.
0:50 Choose Wisely
Another thing that the attorney ad litem is going to need is to speak to two disinterested family fact witnesses. This is where I get the biggest pushback on all of my heirship cases. I tell the client, “Please start brainstorming who you would like to use”. I explain who the witnesses can be, what they need to testify to, and it kind of shuts people down sometimes that I don’t know who’s going to come to court for me. This person only knew these three kids, but not this previous marriage. But we will work with you; we are happy to help you brainstorm on who you can use. I have never had a client that couldn’t come up with someone. So, we’re always able to help you find those people that can serve as those witnesses.
1:31 Check and Double-Check
Once the attorney ad litem has been able to speak to your two witnesses, make sure all the heirs are listed correctly, and review all of the documentation, they will file their report with the court that says they either agree with our application or they think we might need to go back to the drawing board because something was off or maybe somebody was left out. Once that report has been filed and everyone seems to be on the same page, that’s when we’re able to request our hearing. So again, anytime you’re dealing with probate, there’s always going to be a hearing. If there’s a will, if there’s not a will, there’s going to be a hearing because the judge needs to sign off on everything.
2:06 Let Us Handle It
So we get the heirship taken care of. The ad litem does their investigation. We get our hearing, the witnesses come with you, everyone gives their testimony, and then the judge will swear in the applicant as the administrator of the estate. Again, if we’ve gotten all of the heirs’ consents, we typically are able to get an independent uncourt-supervised administration. This is always in the judge’s discretion, but typically, so long as all of the family members are in agreement, the judge will allow for an independent administration.
2:39 What Does That Mean?
What that means is that once you go to court and get appointed, there are a couple things that you have to do through the court, such as running a notice to creditors, which we would obviously help you with, as well as preparing an inventory and list of claims for the estate so that all of the heirs have access to know what’s actually in the estate that they’re entitled to a portion of. Again, we can help you draft these documents and get them filed with the court. But if you got that independent administration, after that you are then able to stand in the decedent’s shoes, access the bank accounts, set up a new estate bank account, handle the real property, deed the real property out of the deceased individual’s names and into the heirs’ names so that you can get it listed and sold, and then properly distribute any funds that came in to the heirs that the judge has determined.
3:30 Court Is In Session
If we’re stuck with that dependent administration where you have someone that maybe we couldn’t find to serve and get their consent or you have a family member that’s just not comfortable signing off, we can still get everything done. We just have more court involvement. So if you have a house for instance that you want to sell, we have to actually get court permission to sell the house, permission to list it, permission to sell it, and then once you get the funds in, you have to get court permission to actually distribute the funds. So everything that you do has to be done through the court, which again is still possible. It just makes things a little bit more expensive and time-consuming.
So if we have a family that’s all on the same page, things do move faster and a little bit cheaper. But of course, we know family can be very involved and every family is different. So we have seen it all and we’re happy to walk you through any scenario that you have and answer any questions that you might have about your specific scenario. So, if your loved one did not have a will, we are certainly here to assist you through that process and get you through the courts so that you can handle your loved one’s assets that they left behind. So, if you have any other questions, you can click our links below or call our firm and one of our attorneys would be happy to speak with you. And we appreciate you watching our video.