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Bosque County, TX Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | Two courts, concurrently. Bosque County has no statutory probate court, and it has one statutory county court: "Bosque County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Bosque County" (Government Code § 25.0201). Because there is a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction and no statutory probate court, that court and the Bosque County Court have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings under the Texas Estates Code (§ 32.002(b)), the county court at law's probate jurisdiction coming from Government Code § 25.0003(d). The judge of the County Court at Law is Judge Luke Giesecke and the court publishes a Court Administrator, Stacy Artzt (verified July 2026) |
| Which court your papers will name | The County Court at Law, on the evidence the county itself publishes. The County Clerk posts probate citations online, and each 2026 estate citation read for this page recites that the application was "filed in the County Court at Law of Bosque County, Texas" and that it will be heard "at the County Court at Law Judicial Annex in MERIDIAN, TEXAS". Bosque publishes no order or rule assigning estates between its two courts, and the County Court at Law's own overview page lists its caseload without mentioning probate, so if you are drafting the caption yourself, confirm the court with the County Clerk before you file |
| Filing office | The Bosque County Clerk, who is the clerk of the county court (Texas Constitution article V, § 20) and the clerk of the county court at law for probate. The county draws the line itself: the District Clerk's page states that the District Clerk is clerk to the 220th Judicial District Court and the County Court at Law and handles that court's civil, family, child protective services and juvenile cases, while the County Clerk is the office that publishes the probate fee schedule, issues probate citations and holds the probate records. The clerk is Tab Ferguson (verified July 2026). Do not take an estate filing to the District Clerk |
| Courthouse and filing counter | Bosque County Clerk, 110 South Main, Room 110, Meridian, TX 76665. The County Judge's office is Room 100 in the same building |
| Where hearings are held | At the County Court at Law, 401 S. Hill Street, Meridian, TX 76665, which the county's own documents also call the Judicial Annex (the clerk's posted citations) and the Judicial Building (the District Clerk's page). This is a different building from the clerk's counter, so file at 110 South Main and appear at 401 S. Hill Street, and confirm the room with the court's administrator at 254-435-6601 |
| Mailing address | Bosque County Clerk, P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665, which is the box the clerk publishes on its own page and on its 2026 fee and search policies sheet. Note that P.O. Box 647 is the county's general box, used in the website footer and by the County Judge's office, and is not the clerk's. The County Court at Law's own box is P.O. Box 496. Call before mailing an original will |
| Phone | 254-435-2201 or 254-435-6606 for the Bosque County Clerk, both published by the clerk on its own page; the clerk's 2026 policies sheet prints 254-435-2201. For docket and hearing questions the County Court at Law publishes 254-435-6601. The county's general switchboard number, 254-435-2382, appears in the site footer on every page and is not the clerk's line. One caution specific to Bosque: the clerk's published policy is that "No information will be given over the phone regarding probates", so use the phone for procedure and put record requests in writing |
| Fax | None published for the Bosque County Clerk. The County Court at Law carries a fax number on its own letterhead, but no fax is published for the filing counter, so call the clerk before faxing anything intended for filing |
| None published for a probate desk. The county routes messages through the contact forms in its Department Directory, and the only address the clerk publishes on its fee and search policies sheet is the elected clerk's own mailbox, which is not reproduced here because an individual's address goes stale. Use the phone for procedure and a written request for records | |
| Office hours | Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., per the County Clerk's own page (verified July 2026). No lunch closure is published for the clerk's counter. The clerk keeps shorter hours for marriage licenses, which does not affect probate filings |
| Filing fee | $360.00 to open a probate case and $390.00 with the county's constable posting fee, from Bosque County's own published schedules. The $360.00 is the statewide statutory base fee, identical in every Texas county: a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) plus a $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)). The county's Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet, headed "PROBATE, GUARDIANSHIP, MENTAL HEALTH CASES EFFECTIVE 1/1/2023", prints both components, breaks the $223 down fund by fund, then prints "Base Filing Fee 360", "Add on Constable Fee Posting 30" and "Total Filing Fee 390". A later contested or adverse probate action is $120.00. Confirm the current total with the County Clerk before you file |
| Local forms | None. Bosque County publishes no probate application, order, oath, inventory or cover sheet of its own, and Texas has no comprehensive set of probate procedure forms either, so those documents are drafted. What the County Clerk does publish for probate is a Probate Fee Schedule, a Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet, a 2026 filing, copies and search policies sheet, and a Quick Links entry for small estate affidavit information that points to a TexasLawHelp article rather than to a county form |
| E-filing | Mandatory for attorneys, and the Bosque County Clerk's published policy goes further: "An attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically thru Efile." Filing is through eFileTexas.gov. Under the statewide rule an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)), so the county's policy and the statewide rule do not say the same thing. If you intend to file without a lawyer, call the County Clerk at 254-435-2201 first and ask what the office will accept |
| Case search | No free public probate search, and a written-request rule at the counter. The County Clerk's Quick Links point to a Judicial Records Online Index run by iDocket, a private vendor whose portal requires an account; iDocket's own county list shows Bosque County Clerk records, including thousands of probate cases, with no document images. The county's other online portal is headed "Criminal Docket" and does not cover estates, though the clerk does publish posted citations online. For records, the clerk's 2026 policies sheet controls: no probate information is given over the phone, a request must be made in writing, a search costs $5.00 per name, copies are $1.00 per page and a certified copy adds $5.00. Documents e-filed in a Bosque case may also appear in the statewide re:SearchTX portal, which requires free registration, charges for documents, and states that it provides an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian; coverage is set county by county and Bosque's is not published |
| Remote appearance | Not published for probate. The most recent county statement is the County Court at Law's letter to attorneys of September 1, 2022, which required in-person appearance for a listed set of hearings (misdemeanors, child protective services, juvenile delinquency, jury trials and hearings before an assigned judge), did not list probate, and said the judge would continue to use the same meeting identifier for video hearings, obtainable from the Court Administrator. That letter rests on a COVID-era Supreme Court of Texas emergency order that has since expired, so plan on appearing in person and ask the Court Administrator at 254-435-6601 what the court does now |
| Website | https://www.bosquecounty.gov/171/County-Clerk--Recording-lifes-events-sin (the Bosque County Clerk, with the probate fee schedule, the filing and search policies sheet and the records links) and https://www.bosquecounty.gov/176/County-Court-at-Law (the County Court at Law) |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you file anything in Meridian, know what is actually in the estate and what it owes. Which Texas route fits, and whether an administration is needed at all, turns on whether there is a will, who the distributees are, what the assets are worth and whether there are unpaid debts. Those routes are set by state statute and are identical in all 254 Texas counties; they are explained on the Texas state page. Getting the answer before the first filing matters more than usual in Bosque County, because the County Clerk's published policy is that a probate must be prepared by an attorney and filed electronically, because the clerk will not discuss a probate over the phone, and because the hearing is set by the posting of a citation rather than by a date you pick. A wrong route means starting over and paying the fee again.
Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Bosque County or out-of-county real property, along with every debt, before the application is drafted. How each asset is titled decides whether it passes through the estate at all: survivorship accounts, accounts with a named beneficiary and land covered by a recorded transfer on death deed pass outside the estate and never reach either Bosque County court. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that the application filed with the Bosque County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.
Which court handles jurisdiction
Meridian is the single probate filing location for Bosque County. There is no branch or satellite counter for estates: the County Clerk takes filings at 110 South Main, Room 110, and the County Court at Law hears them at 401 S. Hill Street, a short distance away in the same town. The courts serve every part of the county, including Clifton, Cranfills Gap, Iredell, Meridian, Morgan, Valley Mills and Walnut Springs and the ranch country and lake communities around them. Because attorneys file electronically through eFileTexas.gov, most of the paperwork in an uncontested estate never requires a trip to Meridian; the trips that matter are delivering the original will and attending the hearing.
Venue is the ordinary Texas rule: you file in the county where the decedent lived, if the decedent had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas (Estates Code § 33.001(a)(1)). If the person lived in Bosque County, the case belongs here even if they died in a hospital in Waco, Hillsboro or Fort Worth. For a decedent with no Texas domicile or fixed residence, venue depends on where the death happened and where the estate or the nearest of kin are (§ 33.001(a)(2)).
Which court hears the case is the fact most often gotten wrong on a Texas county page, and Bosque is one of the counties with two answers. Government Code § 25.0201 provides that "Bosque County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Bosque County", and Bosque has no statutory probate court. Under Estates Code § 32.002(b), in a county with no statutory probate court but with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, that court and the county court have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings; the county court at law's probate jurisdiction is granted by general law in Government Code § 25.0003(d). So both the County Court at Law of Bosque County and the Bosque County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, can hear an estate, and neither displaces the other. What the county's own paperwork shows is that estates are filed in and heard by the County Court at Law: each probate citation the County Clerk posted online in 2026 recites an application "filed in the County Court at Law of Bosque County, Texas" and sets the hearing at the County Court at Law Judicial Annex in Meridian. The county's probate fee schedule also charges the statutory county judge's order fee of $2.00 in probate matters (Local Government Code § 118.101), so both offices are part of the process. Confirm the caption with the County Clerk rather than assuming, because Bosque publishes no rule allocating estates between its two courts.
If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, Bosque County's route is the county-court-at-law route, not the district-court route that applies in counties with no county court at law. Under Estates Code § 32.004(a), in a county with no statutory probate court but with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, when a matter in a probate proceeding is contested the judge of the county court may, on the judge's own motion, or shall, on the motion of any party to the proceeding, transfer the contested matter to the county court at law, and the county judge may also transfer the entire proceeding. The county court at law then hears the matter as if it had been originally filed there, and if only the contested matter was transferred, it goes back to the county court once it is resolved (§ 32.004(b)). Two practical consequences follow in Bosque. First, because estates are already being filed in the County Court at Law, a contest in one of those cases is heard by the court that already has it. Second, Bosque's county court at law has an extra grant most do not: Government Code § 25.0202(a) gives a county court at law in Bosque County concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in family law cases, in contested probate matters and in transferred felony proceedings, so the Legislature built the County Court at Law to be the destination for a contested estate. The district court seated in the county, the 220th Judicial District Court, does not open estates.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the route and gather the documents. Collect the original signed will if there is one, a certified copy of the death certificate, the names and addresses of the people who inherit, and a list of assets and debts with values. A person named in a will to settle the estate is an executor; a person appointed by the court where there is no will, or where no named executor qualifies, is an administrator; the Texas Estates Code's umbrella term for either is personal representative.
- Read the Bosque County Clerk's policy on who prepares the papers before you draft anything. The clerk's 2026 filing, copies and search policies sheet states: "An attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically thru Efile." The statewide rule is different, in that an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)), so if you plan to proceed without a lawyer, call the County Clerk at 254-435-2201 and ask what the office will accept before you spend time on documents.
- Draft the papers. Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms and Bosque County publishes none of its own, so the application, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order, the oath and the inventory are drafted documents rather than fill-in forms. Caption them for the court the county's own filings name, the County Court at Law of Bosque County, and confirm that with the clerk if you are unsure.
- E-file the application through eFileTexas.gov, with a copy of the will attached. Attorneys must e-file in probate matters and the Bosque County Clerk requires electronic filing of probates in its own policy. Bosque publishes no county-specific mandate date and no local list of documents excluded from e-filing, so ask the clerk if you have anything unusual to file, such as a bond or a citation return.
- Deliver the original will to the clerk within three business days. This is statewide and there is no electronic substitute: when a party electronically files an application to probate a document as an original will, the original will must be filed with the clerk within three business days after the application is filed (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). Bosque County states its own version on the clerk's policies sheet, "Original will must be sent to the court within three days of filing", and the rule's three business days is the safer reading. Take or send the wet-ink original to the Bosque County Clerk, 110 South Main, Room 110, Meridian, TX 76665, or P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665.
- Pay the filing fee and the service items you need. Bosque County's spreadsheet prices a new probate case at a $360.00 base plus a $30.00 constable posting fee for a total of $390.00, and its Probate Fee Schedule prices the individual applications and services: $8.00 to issue a citation, $30.00 for posting by the constable, $90.00 for personal service or service by certified mail, $75.00 for service by publication, $2.00 for each proposed order and $2.00 for each set of letters. The county's own instruction is that the "Filer is responsible for requesting necessary additional services and paying appropriate fees", so ask for citation and posting when you file. A filer who cannot afford the cost files a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, the statewide form required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145.
- Let the citation be issued and posted. The County Clerk delivers the citation to the sheriff or a constable, who posts it at the courthouse and returns it to the clerk (Estates Code § 51.053), and it must be posted for at least 10 days before the return day, excluding the day of posting (§ 51.053(b)). Bosque publishes the posted citations on its own citation-by-posting page, so you can see when yours went up.
- Attend the hearing at the County Court at Law. The citations the Bosque County Clerk posts set the hearing "no earlier than 10:00 am on the first Monday next after the expiration of ten days, from the date of posting this citation", at the County Court at Law Judicial Annex in Meridian, which is 401 S. Hill Street. Bring the proposed proof of death and other facts, the proposed order, the proposed oath and a copy of the death certificate, and confirm the courtroom and the setting with the court's administrator at 254-435-6601.
- Collect the letters. On an admitted will the court grants Letters Testamentary to a qualifying executor (Estates Code § 306.001); where there is no will, or no named executor qualifies, it grants Letters of Administration (§ 306.002). Bosque County charges $2.00 for each set (Local Government Code § 118.061, and the county's own schedule prices letters of appointment at $2.00), so order enough for every bank, transfer agent and title company the estate has to deal with.
- Administer the estate and file what the statute requires. The steps that follow, including notice to beneficiaries after an order admitting a will (§ 308.002), the published notice to creditors within one month of receiving letters (§ 308.051), notice to secured creditors within two months (§ 308.053), and the inventory, which must be filed with the court clerk before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies unless the court grants longer (§ 309.051(a)), are set by state statute and apply the same way in every Texas county. File them with the Bosque County Clerk, and note that the county charges $25.00 for an inventory filed after its due date. Where the estate is run as an independent administration, the court's involvement after the appointment order and the inventory is deliberately minimal (Estates Code chapters 401 to 405).
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Bosque County
Bosque County publishes no local probate forms. There is no county application to probate a will, no county order, no county oath, no county inventory and no county cover sheet, and the clerk's Quick Links entry for small estate affidavit information points to an article on TexasLawHelp rather than to a form of the county's own. Texas as a whole has no comprehensive set of probate procedure forms either: the Texas Judicial Branch forms page carries will forms, a transfer on death deed kit and civil forms in this area, and the Supreme Court of Texas has not promulgated a small estate affidavit form or a muniment of title form under Government Code § 22.020(b)(1), even though that provision directs it to (Estates Code chapters 205 and 257). In practice the application, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order, the oath and the inventory in a Bosque County estate are drafted documents.
What Bosque County does publish is unusually good on cost and on counter practice, and it is worth reading before you file. The County Clerk posts a Probate Fee Schedule that prices every application by name and statute, a Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet that breaks the filing fee into its statutory components with a printed effective date of January 1, 2023, and a 2026 policies sheet covering filing, copies and search fees whose probate paragraph sets out the rules that actually govern a family: that an attorney must prepare all probates and file them electronically, that the original will must be sent to the court within three days of filing, that no probate information is given over the phone and that record requests must be in writing.
The one genuinely statewide procedural form a Bosque County filer may need is the Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, published on the Texas Judicial Branch forms page and required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145. The county's District Clerk also posts a copy of that form for its own courts.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Bosque County Probate Fee Schedule (bosquecounty.gov) | The County Clerk's itemized probate schedule: $360 for an application to probate a will and for letters testamentary, for a muniment of title, for letters of administration, for a small estate affidavit, for a determination of heirship and for the other listed applications; $120 for an adverse action, contest or cross action; $25 for an application for sale of property or a late inventory; $2 for a county judge's order or a set of letters; $8 citation issuance; $30 constable posting; $90 personal service or certified mail; $75 publication; $5 to deposit a will. No effective date is printed on this document |
| Bosque County Probate and Civil Filing Fees (bosquecounty.gov) | The same fees as a spreadsheet, and the more useful document of the two because it carries a printed effective date, "PROBATE, GUARDIANSHIP, MENTAL HEALTH CASES EFFECTIVE 1/1/2023", and prints the arithmetic: the $223 local consolidated fee fund by fund, the $137 state consolidated fee, a $360 base filing fee, a $30 constable posting add-on and a $390 total |
| Bosque County Clerk 2026 policies for filing, copies and search fees (bosquecounty.gov) | The clerk's current counter policies, including the probate paragraph: an attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically, the original will must be sent to the court within three days of filing, no probate information is given over the phone, requests must be in writing, a search is $5.00 per name, copies are $1.00 per page and a certified copy adds $5.00 |
| Bosque County Clerk (bosquecounty.gov) | The filing counter's own page: the Room 110 address, the P.O. Box 617 mailing address, the phone numbers, the hours, the court information and orders section, the citation-by-posting link and the records portals |
| Texas Judicial Branch court forms (txcourts.gov) | The statewide forms that do exist, including the Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145 and the Supreme Court of Texas will forms. There is no statewide application, order, oath or inventory form |
Fees
Bosque County publishes its probate costs twice, and the two documents complement each other: a Probate Fee Schedule that prices each application and service by name and statute, and a Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet that shows the arithmetic and carries the printed heading "PROBATE, GUARDIANSHIP, MENTAL HEALTH CASES EFFECTIVE 1/1/2023". The base figures in both match the statewide statutory fee exactly, which is the point to understand first: the fee to open a probate is set by Texas statute and is the same in every county. The spreadsheet even prints the two components and allocates the local one fund by fund, in the same percentages the statute uses.
| Item | Amount | Authority or source |
|---|---|---|
| Opening a probate case, base fee | $360.00 | The statewide statutory base fee, identical in every Texas county: a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) plus a $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)). The amounts were enacted by S.B. 41, effective January 1, 2022, and both sections were later amended by S.B. 1612, effective January 1, 2024. Bosque County prints both components and the $360 total in its own spreadsheet |
| Constable posting fee | $30.00 | Bosque County's own schedules, which add it to the base as "Add on Constable Fee Posting". Sheriff and constable service and posting fees are set by the commissioners court, which may not set them higher than is necessary to pay the expenses of providing the service (Local Government Code § 118.131) |
| Total to open a probate case with posting | $390.00 | Bosque County's Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet, printed as "Total Filing Fee 390" under the January 1, 2023 heading. This is the number to budget for a first filing in Meridian |
| Citation issuance | $8.00 each | Bosque County's Probate Fee Schedule, matching the statutory issuing-document fee the county clerk must collect (Local Government Code § 118.059) |
| Service other than posting | $90.00 personal service or certified mail, $75.00 publication | Bosque County's Probate Fee Schedule. Certified mail service is quoted plus current postage and certified mail fees. Newspaper publication itself is billed by the publisher, not the clerk |
| Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration | $2.00 each | Bosque County's Probate Fee Schedule (letters of appointment), which matches the statutory per-document fee the county clerk collects (Local Government Code § 118.061). Order enough sets for every institution the estate deals with |
| County judge's order fee | $2.00 for each proposed order | Bosque County's Probate Fee Schedule, citing Local Government Code § 118.101, the statutory schedule of fees the county judge collects in probate matters |
| Later contested or adverse probate action | $120.00 | Bosque County's own schedules price an adverse action, contest, interpleader or cross action at $120, which is the statutory figure: $75 under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(2) plus $45 under § 133.151(a)(2) for an action other than the original application |
| Filings inside an open estate | $25.00 for an application for sale of property, a late inventory or an accounting; $10.00 for a creditor's claim; $5.00 to approve and record a bond; $5.00 to deposit a will for safekeeping | Bosque County's Probate Fee Schedule and its additional and optional fees sheet. The statutory basis for these clerk fees is Local Government Code § 118.052 and the sections it lists |
| Probate record search and copies | $5.00 per name searched, $1.00 per page, plus $5.00 for a certified copy | The Bosque County Clerk's 2026 policies for filing, copies and search fees, which also states that no probate information is given over the phone and that a request must be made in writing |
| Electronic filing charges | Set by the vendor, not by Bosque County | Filing through eFileTexas.gov carries the electronic filing service provider's own charge and any card surcharge, on top of the court costs above. Bosque County publishes no county electronic filing fee of its own |
| If you cannot afford the fee | No cost | File a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, the statewide form required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145. The court must waive the electronic filing fee for a person it determines is indigent (Government Code § 72.031(f)) |
Two cautions. The base $360.00 is fixed by statute and is the same in all 254 Texas counties, so a figure materially above it is either a total that includes service and posting items, as Bosque's $390.00 does, or is out of date. And Bosque's Probate Fee Schedule PDF carries no printed effective date; its amounts are the current statutory ones, but confirm the total with the County Clerk at 254-435-2201 before you file.
Timeline
- Filing day. The application is e-filed through eFileTexas.gov and, once accepted, the Bosque County Clerk opens the case and issues the citation you asked for. Ask for citation and posting at the same time; the county states that the filer is responsible for requesting the services it needs.
- Posting, at least 10 days. The clerk delivers the citation to the sheriff or a constable, who posts it at the courthouse and files a return (Estates Code § 51.053(a) and (c)). The citation must be posted for at least 10 days before the return day, excluding the day of posting (§ 51.053(b)), and Bosque's own posted citations are published on the clerk's citation-by-posting page.
- Return day, the first Monday after service is complete. A citation issued by a county clerk is returned to the court on the first Monday after service is perfected (Estates Code § 51.104), which is why every Bosque probate citation reads that the application will be heard "no earlier than 10:00 am on the first Monday next after the expiration of ten days, from the date of posting this citation".
- The hearing, at 10:00 a.m. at the County Court at Law Judicial Annex, 401 S. Hill Street in Meridian. Bosque County publishes the 10:00 a.m. setting in its citations but publishes no docket list for probate and no filing-to-hearing estimate, so confirm your date and courtroom with the court's administrator at 254-435-6601.
- Within three business days of e-filing the application, and independent of the hearing schedule: the wet-ink original will must be on file with the County Clerk (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). Do not wait for the hearing date to send it.
- Before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies: the inventory, appraisement and list of claims is filed with the court clerk unless the court grants longer, or an affidavit in lieu of it is filed where the statute allows (Estates Code § 309.051(a)). Bosque charges $25.00 for an inventory filed after its due date.
Local nuance
Bosque County-specific considerations
The clerk's published policy is that an attorney prepares the probate. The Bosque County Clerk's 2026 policies sheet states it in one line: "An attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically thru Efile." That is the county's own counter policy, and it is stricter than the statewide rule, under which an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)). Take the policy at face value: if you intend to handle an estate yourself in Bosque County, call the County Clerk at 254-435-2201 before drafting or filing anything and ask what the office will accept, rather than assuming either that you will be turned away or that you can file on paper.
Nothing about a probate is given over the phone, and record requests go in writing. The same policies sheet states that "No information will be given over the phone regarding probates" and that a request must be made in writing, with a search fee of $5.00 per name, copies at $1.00 per page and $5.00 more for a certified copy. Plan for that if you are the out-of-state relative trying to find out whether an estate has been opened: write to the Bosque County Clerk, P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665, and be ready to pay the search fee.
Two buildings, and they are not interchangeable. Estate filings, the original will and the inventory go to the County Clerk at 110 South Main, Room 110, in the courthouse. Hearings are held at the County Court at Law, 401 S. Hill Street, which the clerk's posted citations call the County Court at Law Judicial Annex and the District Clerk's page calls the Judicial Building. The County Judge's office is Room 100 at 110 South Main. Confirm where you are due to appear with the court's administrator at 254-435-6601.
The hearing date comes from the citation, not from a calendar you pick. Every probate citation the County Clerk posts recites that the application will be heard "no earlier than 10:00 am on the first Monday next after the expiration of ten days, from the date of posting this citation", which tracks the statutory posting period (Estates Code § 51.053(b)) and the first-Monday return day for a citation issued by a county clerk (§ 51.104). The practical effect is that the posting drives the schedule: ask for citation and posting when you file, watch for the posted citation, and count from there.
Bosque publishes its posted citations online, which is genuinely useful. The County Clerk maintains a citation-by-posting page listing the citations currently posted, so an applicant or an interested person can see that a citation has gone up and read it. The county's other online portal is headed "Criminal Docket" and does not cover estates, and the Judicial Records Online Index the clerk links is a private vendor's sign-in-gated index with no document images, so the posted-citations page is the only probate document the county puts in front of the public for free.
Two courts share the jurisdiction, and the paperwork names the County Court at Law. Bosque County has one statutory county court (Government Code § 25.0201) and no statutory probate court, so the County Court at Law of Bosque County and the Bosque County Court hold concurrent original probate jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)). The county's own 2026 probate citations are all filed in the County Court at Law, while the county's probate fee schedule still charges the county judge's statutory $2.00 order fee (Local Government Code § 118.101). The County Court at Law's overview page, meanwhile, lists its caseload without mentioning probate. None of that is contradictory under a concurrent-jurisdiction statute, but it does mean you should confirm the caption with the clerk instead of copying a form from another county.
Small-estate Alternatives
One Bosque-specific point about the small estate affidavit, the intestate-only route in Estates Code chapter 205 that lets distributees collect a small estate without a personal representative being appointed. In many counties the affidavit is priced below a full probate. In Bosque County it is not: the County Clerk's Probate Fee Schedule prices a small estate affidavit under section 205 at the same $360 as an application to probate a will and for letters testamentary, so the filing fee is no reason to choose one route over the other here. Budget the same $390 with the constable posting fee.
Bosque County also publishes no small estate affidavit form. Its County Clerk's Quick Links carry an entry for small estate affidavit information, and it points to an article on TexasLawHelp, a self-help site run by a non-profit, rather than to a county template or a court-approved form. No statewide form exists either, because the Supreme Court of Texas has not promulgated one under Government Code § 22.020(b)(1)(A). The affidavit's required contents are set by statute (Estates Code § 205.002), approval is discretionary with the judge (§ 205.003), and the eligibility conditions are statewide, so read them on the Texas state page before you draft anything.
Recent updates
| Change | What it means in Bosque County |
|---|---|
| Probate, guardianship and mental health filing fees effective January 1, 2023 | The County Clerk's Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet carries that printed effective date and prints the arithmetic: a $223 local consolidated fee broken out fund by fund, a $137 state consolidated fee, a $360 base filing fee, a $30 constable posting add-on and a $390 total, with $120 for an action inside an existing case. The amounts are the current statutory ones, so the 2023 date reflects when the county reprinted the schedule, not a stale fee |
| The County Clerk's 2026 policies for filing, copies and search fees | The clerk's current counter policies include the probate rules that matter most to a family: an attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically, the original will must be sent to the court within three days of filing, no probate information is given over the phone, requests must be made in writing, and a record search costs $5.00 per name |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Bosque County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the Meridian, Clifton or Valley Mills area home was held with a right of survivorship or passed under a recorded transfer on death deed, it goes to the survivor outside the estate and neither Bosque County court is involved in the house itself. Where other assets stood in the decedent's sole name, the spouse applies through the Bosque County Clerk, and the county's own filings name the County Court at Law of Bosque County. Expect the clerk's policy that an attorney prepares and e-files the probate, the wet-ink original will at the clerk's counter within three business days (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and a hearing at 10:00 a.m. on the first Monday after the citation has been posted 10 days. Budget $390.00, which is the $360.00 statutory base (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1)) plus the county's $30.00 constable posting fee. | Asset discovery to establish how the home and the accounts are titled and what actually has to reach the court. Packet generation for the Bosque County filing, built to the county's fee schedule and its electronic filing policy. A vetted attorney referral, which matters more than usual here because the clerk's published policy is that an attorney prepares the probate. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | Most of this can be handled from out of state, but two Bosque rules shape it. The clerk will not discuss a probate by phone and requires a written request with a $5.00 per-name search fee, so finding out whether an estate has been opened means writing to the County Clerk at P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665. And the clerk's policy is that an attorney prepares and electronically files the probate, which for a distant relative usually means engaging local counsel rather than filing yourself. Whether a court filing is needed at all depends on the assets and whether there is a will, and those routes are statewide. Two things still require a physical connection to Meridian: the original will must reach the County Clerk within three business days of the application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and the hearing is held at the County Court at Law at 401 S. Hill Street with no remote option published for probate. | Asset discovery to size the estate from out of state and confirm which route fits before anyone books a flight. Packet generation so the filing is accepted the first time. Attorney referral, since Bosque's own counter policy points a self-represented filer toward counsel. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | Selling real property means someone needs the authority document, so this goes through an administration filed with the Bosque County Clerk and heard in the County Court at Law. The parent applies, the clerk issues the citation, the constable posts it for the county's $30.00 posting fee and $8.00 issuance fee, and at the 10:00 a.m. Monday setting the court appoints the personal representative and grants Letters of Administration (Estates Code § 306.002), or Letters Testamentary if there is a will (§ 306.001). Order the letters at $2.00 each (Local Government Code § 118.061), because the title company will want a recent set. The inventory follows, filed with the County Clerk before the 91st day after the representative qualifies (§ 309.051(a)); Bosque charges $25.00 if it is late, and $25.00 for an application for sale of property inside an open case. | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, insurance and real property. Packet generation for the administration, the sale application and the inventory. Attorney referral where a sale, a mortgage payoff or a disagreement among heirs makes counsel worthwhile, which matters here because a contested matter is heard by the County Court at Law (Estates Code § 32.004; Government Code § 25.0202(a)). |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Bosque County Clerk (bosquecounty.gov), 254-435-2201 or 254-435-6606 | The filing office for estates in Bosque County: the 110 South Main, Room 110 address, the P.O. Box 617 mailing address, hours of Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the probate fee documents, the court information and orders section and the records links. Clerk staff can explain procedure and what the counter needs, but cannot give legal advice, and the clerk's policy is that probate information is not given over the phone |
| Bosque County Clerk 2026 filing, copies and search policies (bosquecounty.gov) | The clerk's current probate counter rules in the county's own words: an attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically, the original will must be sent to the court within three days of filing, record requests must be in writing, and the search and copy fees |
| Bosque County Probate and Civil Filing Fees (bosquecounty.gov) | The county's itemized probate fee spreadsheet with a printed effective date of January 1, 2023: the $223 local and $137 state consolidated fees, the $360 base, the $30 constable posting add-on and the $390 total |
| Bosque County Court at Law (bosquecounty.gov), 254-435-6601 | The court that Bosque's probate citations name, at 401 S. Hill Street in Meridian, with its judge and court administrator. The place to confirm a hearing date, the courtroom and whether any remote participation is allowed |
| Bosque County citations by posting (the County Clerk's own portal) | The citations currently posted in Bosque County cases, published online by the County Clerk. This is where a posted probate citation appears, with the court named and the hearing setting recited |
| Bosque County self-help and legal resources sheet (bosquecounty.gov) | A one-page list the county publishes of the Texas State Law Library, the Texas Judicial Branch self-help pages, the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Young Lawyers Association, TexasLawHelp and the Heart of Texas 2-1-1 information line, with the county's own reminder that court personnel are not allowed to give legal advice |
| eFileTexas.gov | Registration for the statewide electronic filing system, the list of certified electronic filing service providers and filing instructions. This is where a Bosque County probate application is filed |
| re:SearchTX (research.txcourts.gov) | The statewide court records portal, run by the Office of Court Administration with Tyler Technologies. Free registration is required, documents are charged for, and the portal states that it provides an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian. Coverage is set county by county, so confirm anything important with the Bosque County Clerk |
| Judicial Records Online Index, iDocket (online.idocket.com) | The case index the County Clerk links from its own page. It is run by a private company, requires an account, and its own county list shows Bosque County Clerk records including thousands of probate cases with no document images. Use it for a case number, then request documents from the clerk in writing |
| Texas State Law Library probate research guide (guides.sll.texas.gov), (844) 829-2843 toll free in Texas | The strongest government self-help source for Texas probate, from a state agency: general information, probating a will, when there is no will, executors, formal administration, informal methods and legal forms. The library's own caveat is that it cannot tell you what the law means for your situation |
| TexasCourtHelp.gov | General information and videos about making your way through the Texas court system. The Bosque County Clerk links this site from its own page under "Need help with a legal problem?" |
| TexasLawHelp.org, wills, estate planning and probate (texaslawhelp.org) | Plain-language Texas probate articles and self-help toolkits from the Texas Legal Services Center, a non-profit. The Bosque County Clerk links its small estate affidavit article. Useful for orientation; it is not a court site and its materials are not court-approved forms |
| State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral and Information Service (texasbar.com), (800) 252-9690 | Referrals to Texas attorneys, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central, Spanish spoken. The initial consultation is capped at $20 for 30 minutes. It is a referral service, not a reduced-fee or pro bono program, and it is the practical starting point given the clerk's policy that an attorney prepares the probate |
| Lone Star Legal Aid, Waco office (lonestarlegal.org), (254) 756-7944, intake (800) 733-8394 | Free civil legal help for eligible low-income Texans. Lone Star Legal Aid's own offices pages list Bosque among the seven counties served by its Waco office at 900 Austin Avenue, 7th Floor, Waco, TX 76701. Decedents' estates are not a headline practice area for any of Texas's three regional legal aid programs, so confirm it can take an estate matter before relying on it |
| Texas Judicial Branch legal aid roster (txcourts.gov) and the TexasLawHelp legal aid directory | The state's own roster of the three regional legal aid programs, the lawyer referral service and TexasLawHelp, plus a searchable directory of legal aid providers, for anyone whose case Lone Star Legal Aid cannot take |
| Texas law libraries directory (guides.sll.texas.gov) | The Texas State Law Library's curated directory of law libraries. It lists no law library in Bosque County; the nearest listed is the McLennan County Law Library, 501 Washington Avenue, Waco, (254) 757-5191. The directory is curated rather than exhaustive, so contact a library directly about public access |
| Texas Estates Code (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) | The statute itself, including the court structure provisions in chapter 32, venue in chapter 33, citations and notices in chapters 51 and 308, letters in chapter 306 and the inventory in chapter 309 |
When to hire an attorney
Bosque County is one of the counties where the question of whether to hire a lawyer is largely answered by the county itself: the County Clerk's 2026 policies sheet states that an attorney must prepare all probates and file them electronically. The statewide rule is more permissive, in that an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)), so the two do not match, and the honest instruction is to call the County Clerk at 254-435-2201 and ask what the office will accept before you decide. Beyond that policy, counsel earns its keep here for the usual reasons: when a will or an appointment is likely to be challenged, when there is no will and the heirs have to be determined, when real property has to be sold or divided, when the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing, when a business or out-of-state property is involved, or when a guardianship has to run alongside the estate. Two local factors add to the case for an attorney. Bosque publishes no probate forms at all, so every document is drafted from scratch. And the contested-matter route runs through the County Court at Law, which holds concurrent original probate jurisdiction with the county court (Estates Code § 32.002(b)) and concurrent jurisdiction with the district court over contested probate matters (Government Code § 25.0202(a)), so a contest is litigated in a court of record with a lawyer judge. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice, and the county's own self-help sheet says so. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Bosque County and the surrounding Central Texas counties.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Bosque County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which route fits before anything is filed in Meridian.
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your estate settlement route, built for a Bosque County filing, including the court the county's own citations name, the fee and service items the county's schedule prices, and the three-business-day original will delivery to the County Clerk.
Find a local probate attorney. Bosque County's clerk publishes a policy that an attorney prepares the probate, so this step matters here: Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Bosque County.
Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file for probate in Bosque County?
With the Bosque County Clerk at 110 South Main, Room 110, Meridian, TX 76665, or by mail at P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665. Filings go to the County Clerk, not the District Clerk: the District Clerk serves the 220th Judicial District Court and the County Court at Law's civil, family and juvenile docket, while the County Clerk is the office that issues probate citations, publishes the probate fee schedule and keeps the probate records. File in Bosque County if the decedent lived here and had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas (Estates Code § 33.001(a)(1)).
Which court hears probate in Bosque County, the County Court at Law or the County Court?
Both can, and the county's own filings name the County Court at Law. Bosque County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Bosque County (Government Code § 25.0201), and no statutory probate court, so that court and the Bosque County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)). Every probate citation the County Clerk posted online in 2026 recites an application "filed in the County Court at Law of Bosque County, Texas", heard at the County Court at Law Judicial Annex in Meridian. Bosque publishes no rule allocating estates between the two courts, so confirm the caption with the County Clerk before you file.
Do I need a lawyer to file probate in Bosque County, and is e-filing required?
The County Clerk's published policy answers both together: its 2026 policies for filing, copies and search fees states, "An attorney must prepare all probates and file electronically thru Efile." Electronic filing by attorneys in probate cases is mandatory statewide in any event, by Supreme Court of Texas order (Misc. Docket No. 13-9164) and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1), and filing goes through eFileTexas.gov. The statewide rule is more permissive than the county's policy about who may file, because an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)). Bosque County publishes no county-specific mandate date and no local list of documents excluded from electronic filing. Call the County Clerk at 254-435-2201 before you draft or file anything without a lawyer, and ask about anything unusual you have to file, such as a bond or a citation return.
What do I do with the original will in Bosque County?
You e-file the application with a copy of the will, then get the wet-ink original to the clerk. The statewide rule is that when a party electronically files an application to probate a document as an original will, the original will must be filed with the clerk within three business days after the application is filed (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). Bosque County states its own version on the clerk's policies sheet, "Original will must be sent to the court within three days of filing", and the rule's three business days is the safer reading. Deliver or send it to the Bosque County Clerk, 110 South Main, Room 110, Meridian, TX 76665, or P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665. There is no electronic way to satisfy this.
When will my Bosque County probate hearing be set, and can I appear remotely?
The citation drives the date. Every probate citation the County Clerk posts recites that the application will be heard "no earlier than 10:00 am on the first Monday next after the expiration of ten days, from the date of posting this citation", at the County Court at Law Judicial Annex in Meridian, which is 401 S. Hill Street. That tracks the statutory 10-day posting period (Estates Code § 51.053(b)) and the first-Monday return day for a citation issued by a county clerk (§ 51.104). Bosque publishes no probate docket list and no filing-to-hearing estimate, and the only county statement on remote participation is the County Court at Law's September 1, 2022 letter to attorneys, which rests on a COVID-era emergency order that has since expired. Plan on appearing in person and confirm both the setting and any remote option with the court at 254-435-6601.
How much does it cost to file probate in Bosque County?
$360.00 to open the case, or $390.00 with the county's constable posting fee. The $360.00 is the statewide statutory base fee, the same in every Texas county: a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) plus a $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)), amounts enacted by S.B. 41 effective January 1, 2022 and later amended by S.B. 1612 effective January 1, 2024. Bosque County's own spreadsheet, effective January 1, 2023, prints both components, a $360 base, a $30 constable posting add-on and a $390 total. On top of that the county charges $8.00 to issue a citation, $2.00 for each proposed order and $2.00 for each set of letters, with $90.00 for personal service or certified mail and $75.00 for publication if either is needed. A later contested or adverse probate action is $120.00. If you cannot afford the cost, file a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145).
Are there local probate forms in Bosque County?
No. Bosque County publishes no probate application, order, oath, inventory, cover sheet or small estate affidavit template, and Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms either, so those documents are drafted. What the county does publish is its Probate Fee Schedule, its Probate and Civil Filing Fees spreadsheet effective January 1, 2023, and the County Clerk's 2026 filing, copies and search policies sheet, which is the document to read before you file. The clerk's small estate affidavit link points to a TexasLawHelp article rather than to a county form.
How do I look up a Bosque County probate case or get a copy of a probate record?
In writing, to the County Clerk. The clerk's 2026 policies sheet states that no information will be given over the phone regarding probates, that a request must be made in writing, and that a search costs $5.00 per name, copies are $1.00 per page and a certified copy adds $5.00. The clerk does link a Judicial Records Online Index run by iDocket, a private vendor, which requires an account and carries no document images for Bosque, and the county publishes its currently posted citations online. Documents e-filed in a Bosque case may also appear in the statewide re:SearchTX portal, which requires free registration, charges for documents, and states that it provides an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian. Coverage there is set county by county and Bosque's is not published, so the clerk is the reliable answer.
What happens if someone contests the will in Bosque County?
The contest is heard by the County Court at Law. In a county with no statutory probate court but with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, when a matter in a probate proceeding is contested the judge of the county court may, on the judge's own motion, or shall, on the motion of any party, transfer the contested matter to the county court at law, and may also transfer the entire proceeding (Estates Code § 32.004(a)). The county court at law hears it as if it had been originally filed there, and a transferred contested matter returns to the county court once it is resolved (§ 32.004(b)). In Bosque this is mostly academic, because estates are already being filed in the County Court at Law, and that court also has concurrent jurisdiction with the district court over contested probate matters (Government Code § 25.0202(a)). The 220th Judicial District Court does not open estates.
Do I have to travel to Meridian to settle an estate in Bosque County?
For the hearing, plan on it. Bosque County publishes no remote option for probate, and its hearings are held at the County Court at Law at 401 S. Hill Street in Meridian. The original will also has to reach the County Clerk at 110 South Main, Room 110 within three business days of the application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). The rest can largely be handled at a distance: applications are e-filed through eFileTexas.gov, the County Clerk accepts online card payments through the county's payment page and asks you to call the office for a reference number first, and record requests are made in writing to P.O. Box 617, Meridian, TX 76665. The clerk's counter is open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Shaped by the families we've helped
Thank you to the thousands of families who have trusted Sunset to help settle their loved ones' estates. This page is shaped by the questions they actually asked and the obstacles they actually hit — and that hard-won experience is what keeps it accurate, current, and genuinely useful to the families who come next.