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Bowie County, TX Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | Two courts share original probate jurisdiction. Government Code § 25.0211 provides that "Bowie County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Bowie County", and because the county has no statutory probate court, that court and the Bowie County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings under the Texas Estates Code (§ 32.002(b)) and Government Code § 25.0003(d). Bowie's own provision says the same thing from the other direction: the county court at law has, concurrent with the district court, jurisdiction in "probate and guardianship matters" (Government Code § 25.0212(a)(4)). In practice the County Court at Law hears estates and schedules a recurring Wednesday probate docket on its published monthly calendars. Its judge is the Honorable Craig L. Henry and the County Judge is the Honorable Bobby Howell (both verified July 2026) |
| Filing office | The Bowie County Clerk, Tina Petty (verified July 2026). The county clerk is the clerk of the county court (Texas Constitution article V, § 20), and the clerk's own site runs a probate and guardianship section with the county's probate fee schedule, small estate affidavit packet and filing guidelines. The county's own small estate affidavit packet gives the counter location: file "on the first floor of the courthouse located at 710 James Bowie Drive in New Boston". The Bowie County District Clerk serves the 5th, 102nd and 202nd District Courts and the county court at law in matters it shares with those courts (Government Code § 25.0212(h)); estates are opened with the County Clerk |
| Courthouse | Bowie County Courthouse, 710 James Bowie Drive, New Boston, TX 75570. The County Clerk's counter is on the first floor, and the County Court at Law and the County Judge are in the same building. Bowie County keeps offices in Texarkana, including Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 in the Bi-State Justice Building at 100 North State Line and the tax office at 601 Main Street, but neither takes probate filings and no court there hears estates. Plan on New Boston |
| Mailing address | None published. The Bowie County Clerk publishes no separate post office box, so anything mailed goes to the Bowie County Clerk, 710 James Bowie Drive, New Boston, TX 75570. Call 903-628-6740 before mailing an original will |
| Phone | 903-628-6740 for the Bowie County Clerk, the filing counter for estates. For a hearing date after a filing is accepted, the county's own filing guidelines send you to the court coordinator: the County Court at Law coordinator is Chelcie May at 903-628-6781. The County Judge's office is at 903-628-6718 and the courthouse switchboard is 903-628-6700 |
| Fax | 903-628-6729 for the County Clerk. The County Court at Law publishes a separate fax, 903-628-2217, for its coordinator. Fax is not a filing method for probate |
| None published for the County Clerk. The only mailbox on the clerk's page belongs to the county's electronic recording vendor and is for land records, not probate, so use 903-628-6740 for probate questions. Email is not a filing method | |
| Office hours | Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., per the County Clerk's own page (verified July 2026). Two counter cutoffs are published: marriage, birth and death records are issued until 4:00 p.m., and debit and credit cards are accepted until 4:00 p.m. The clerk accepts cash, checks, Mastercard, Visa and Discover |
| Filing fee | $472.00 to open an estate with letters testamentary or letters of administration, from the county's own "Bowie County Probate Fees" schedule marked "EFFECTIVE 01/01/22". Inside that total is the statewide statutory base of $360: a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) plus a $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)). Both amounts were enacted by S.B. 41 effective January 1, 2022, which is the change the clerk's own page announces, and the sections have since been amended (S.B. 1612, effective January 1, 2024) without changing the amounts. The rest of Bowie's total is service items: a $100.00 sheriff fee, an $8.00 citation, a $2.00 oath and a $2.00 judge's fee. Other case types are priced separately: muniment of title $470.00, determination of heirship $478.00, and a small estate affidavit or an application to open a safe deposit box $362.00. See the fees section for the full schedule |
| Local forms | Yes, a small set, which is unusual. Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms, but the Bowie County Clerk publishes its own small estate affidavit packet (the affidavit, two affidavits of disinterested person and the order, revised March 4, 2019), a guardian's annual report, an annual accounting for a guardian of the estate, the probate fee schedule, written electronic filing guidelines and the court's pro se policy. There is no county application to probate a will, no county proof of death form, no county order and no county oath: those are drafted documents, and under the court's pro se policy most estate applications must be prepared and filed by a licensed attorney |
| E-filing | Mandatory for attorneys in probate cases, which has been the statewide rule in every Texas county since July 1, 2016 at the latest, and the county's own District Clerk publishes July 1, 2015 as the date state mandated civil electronic filing began in Bowie County. Filing goes 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)); the county publishes no exception either way, so a self-represented filer should call the County Clerk at 903-628-6740 before filing on paper. Bowie publishes its own filing specifications: word searchable PDF, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, 300 DPI, each document a separate and complete PDF, multiple pleadings filed as separate lead documents, and exhibits scanned into the pleading rather than attached |
| Case search | None for probate. The Bowie County Clerk publishes no online probate case search: the portal it links is labeled by the clerk as a real property, public record and marriage application search. The District Clerk's "Bowie County Case Records Search" covers the courts that office clerks, carries the county's own note "Does not allow for viewing of documents", and asked for a sign-in when checked. At the counter the county charges a $5.00 probate search fee per name when you cannot give a case number (Local Government Code § 118.052(3)(G)). Documents e-filed in a Bowie probate case may be visible through the statewide re:SearchTX portal, which requires free registration, charges for documents ($1.00 for a document of 1 to 10 pages and $0.10 per page after that, per its own FAQ), 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 Bowie's is not published, so ask the County Clerk |
| Remote appearance | Partly, and the court publishes it on its calendar rather than in a rule. The County Court at Law's monthly calendars for July through December 2026 each show one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom, on a Friday, alongside a 9:00 a.m. in-person probate docket scheduled on Wednesdays in the weeks court is in session. Both are scheduled settings, not guarantees: the same calendars mark whole holiday and no-court weeks. The county publishes no written remote-appearance policy and no instructions for requesting a Zoom setting, so ask the court coordinator at 903-628-6781 which docket your case will be set on |
| Website | https://www.co.bowie.tx.us/page/bowie.County.Clerk (the Bowie County Clerk, with the probate and guardianship documents) and https://www.co.bowie.tx.us/page/bowie.County.Court (the County Court at Law). The court's monthly calendars, including the probate docket, are posted at https://www.co.bowie.tx.us/page/bowie.District.Clerk |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you file anything in New Boston, 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 work the same way in all 254 Texas counties; they are explained on the Texas state page. Getting the answer first matters more than usual in Bowie County because the County Clerk prices each route differently on its own published schedule, from $362.00 for a small estate affidavit to $472.00 for an estate with letters and $478.00 for a determination of heirship, and because a hearing date is requested only after the clerk accepts the filing. A wrong route means paying again and starting over.
Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Bowie County or out-of-county real property, along with every debt, before you apply. 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 the 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 Bowie County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.
Which court handles jurisdiction
The Bowie County Courthouse at 710 James Bowie Drive in New Boston is the single probate filing location for the whole county, and this is the point most Bowie County families get wrong. Texarkana is the county's largest city and the county does keep offices there, including Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 in the Bi-State Justice Building at 100 North State Line and the tax office at 601 Main Street, but no probate filing counter and no court that hears estates. The County Clerk takes estate filings on the first floor in New Boston, and the County Court at Law sits in the same building. The court serves every part of the county, including Texarkana, New Boston, DeKalb, Hooks, Nash, Wake Village, Redwater, Maud and Simms and the rural areas between them.
Venue is straightforward for a Bowie County resident: 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 on the Texas side of Texarkana, or anywhere else in Bowie County, the case belongs in Bowie County even if they died in a hospital across the state line in Arkansas. 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 a generic page gets wrong. Bowie County has no statutory probate court. It has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Bowie County (Government Code § 25.0211), so that court and the Bowie County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, hold concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)), and Bowie's own provision gives the county court at law jurisdiction in probate and guardianship matters concurrent with the district court (§ 25.0212(a)(4)). What settles the practical question is the court's own calendar: the County Court at Law publishes monthly calendars, for July through December 2026, that schedule a 9:00 a.m. probate docket on Wednesdays in the weeks court is in session and one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month. So estates are heard in the County Court at Law, while the jurisdiction of both courts remains concurrent. The 5th, 102nd and 202nd District Courts also sit in New Boston, and they do not open estates.
If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the mechanism in a county with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction is Estates Code § 32.004. Under § 32.004(a), 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 same subsection lets the judge transfer the entire proceeding there. Under § 32.004(b) the county court at law may then hear the proceeding as if originally filed in that court, and where only the contested matter was transferred, the matter returns to the county court once it is resolved. In Bowie County that transfer is often academic, because the county court at law is already the court running the probate docket, and a contested estate stays with a judge who is a licensed attorney. Bowie has one further local wrinkle: in matters where the county court at law and a district court share jurisdiction, their judges may transfer cases between the two courts the way district judges may under Government Code § 24.003 (§ 25.0212(j)).
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.
- Draft the papers, and know when a lawyer is required. Bowie County publishes a small estate affidavit packet and guardianship forms, but there is no county application to probate a will, no county proof of death and other facts, no county order and no county oath, and Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms, so those documents are drafted from scratch. For most of them that means an attorney: the court's own written pro se policy, dated October 1, 2017, states that individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships "must be represented by a licensed attorney", because an applicant in those cases acts for beneficiaries and creditors, not only for themselves. The policy's stated exceptions are a muniment of title sought by a sole beneficiary where the only debts are secured by real estate liens, and a small estate affidavit filed by all of the heirs together. Follow the caption format on the county's own small estate affidavit packet, which styles a case as "In the Estate of [name], Deceased" with the court and county alongside it. Do not be thrown by the county's use of the words probate court on its forms and instructions: Bowie County has no statutory probate court, and the Estates Code treats the terms county court and probate court as synonymous (§ 22.007(b)), so those words refer to the county's court exercising probate jurisdiction.
- File with the Bowie County Clerk in New Boston. Attorneys must e-file in probate matters through eFileTexas.gov, and the county publishes its own specifications: documents in word searchable PDF format, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, 300 DPI, with each document in the envelope "a separate and complete document", multiple pleadings filed as separate lead documents, and, in the county's own words, "WE DO NOT ACCEPT ATTACHMENTS; exhibits and attachments that are to be included as part of the pleading should be scanned with the pleading as 1 PDF document." Party names and addresses must be typed "in ALL CAPS WITH NO PUNCTUATION". An unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1); the county publishes no exception, so call the County Clerk at 903-628-6740 before attempting a paper filing at the first-floor counter.
- Deliver the original will to the County 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)). Take or send the wet-ink original to the Bowie County Clerk, 710 James Bowie Drive, New Boston, TX 75570, and call first if you plan to mail it.
- Pay the fee for your case type. Bowie County's own probate fee schedule prices an application for letters testamentary or letters of administration at $472.00, a muniment of title at $470.00 (Estates Code chapter 257), a determination of heirship at $478.00 and a small estate affidavit at $362.00. Every one of those figures contains the statewide statutory base of $360 ($223 under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) plus $137 under § 133.151(a)(1)), and the difference is the county's itemized service charges. 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.
- Ask for a hearing date once the filing is accepted. Bowie County does not set the hearing for you and does not run a self-scheduling portal. Its filing guidelines state: "Upon receipt of confirmation that a submitted pleading has been accepted, the Filer should call the Court Administrator to schedule a hearing date and time." For the County Court at Law that is coordinator Chelcie May at 903-628-6781. The same guidelines ask you to allow 24 hours for an electronic filing to be processed, and to bring a courtesy copy if you are in court before then.
- Have the citation issued and posted. In Texas the clerk issues citation on an application to probate a will or for letters, and the sheriff posts it: that is what the $8.00 citation and $100.00 sheriff items on Bowie's schedule pay for. The county's filing guidelines add a local step: if you want issuance, "you must include a cover letter as the first page of your pleading PDF document" with the name and address of the party to be served, because "Citations will not be prepared until instructions are provided to the clerk." Nothing is heard until the posting period has run and the return is on file.
- Attend the hearing in New Boston. The County Court at Law's published calendars schedule the probate docket at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesdays in the weeks court is in session, with one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month on a Friday. Court is in session from 9:00 a.m. under the county's local rules for the district courts and the county court at law (Rule 1.4). Confirm your setting and the format with the coordinator at 903-628-6781 before you travel, especially if you are driving in from the Texarkana side of the county.
- 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). Bowie County charges $2.00 for each set (Local Government Code § 118.061), 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 Bowie County Clerk, and note the county's own late charge: an inventory, appraisement and list of claims filed after the 90th day of qualification costs $27.00. Where the estate runs 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 Bowie County
Bowie County publishes more probate paperwork than most Texas counties its size, and knowing exactly what exists saves a wasted trip. The County Clerk's site carries a probate and guardianship section with a small estate affidavit form packet, two guardianship accounting forms, the county's itemized probate fee schedule and written electronic filing guidelines. What it does not carry is the core estate paperwork: there is no county application to probate a will, no proof of death and other facts, no proposed order admitting a will, no oath and no inventory form.
Texas as a whole does not fill that gap either. The Texas Judicial Branch forms page publishes will forms, a transfer on death deed kit and civil forms such as the fee waiver, 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 the statute directs it to (Estates Code chapters 205 and 257). That is precisely why counties like Bowie publish their own. In practice the application, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order, the oath and the inventory in a Bowie County estate are drafted documents.
One county document deserves special attention. The clerk's probate section links a sheet labeled "PRO SE INFORMATION", which is the court's own written policy on self-represented applicants, issued on the letterhead of the Bowie County Probate Court at 710 James Bowie Drive and dated October 1, 2017. Its core rule, in the court's own words: individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person or estate "must be represented by a licensed attorney", because a personal representative acts for beneficiaries and creditors, and a non-lawyer drafting pleadings in that fiduciary role would be practicing law without a license. The policy names two routes a family can pursue without a lawyer: probating a will as a muniment of title where the applicant is the sole beneficiary and there are no debts other than those secured by liens on real estate, with every beneficiary joining and testifying, and a small estate affidavit in which all of the decedent's heirs work together, which is exactly what the county's own packet is for.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Bowie County Probate Fees (co.bowie.tx.us) | The county's own itemized probate fee schedule, marked "EFFECTIVE 01/01/22": totals of $472.00 for letters testamentary or administration, $470.00 for a muniment of title, $478.00 for a determination of heirship, $362.00 for a small estate affidavit or opening a safe deposit box, and line prices for letters, inventories, accounts, sales, claims, copies, certification and citation |
| Small estate affidavit packet (co.bowie.tx.us) | The county's own form packet, revised March 4, 2019: the small estate affidavit, two affidavits of disinterested person and the order, with step-by-step instructions, the notary requirement and the counter location on the first floor at 710 James Bowie Drive in New Boston |
| Pro se policy of the Bowie County Probate Court (co.bowie.tx.us) | The court's written policy on self-represented applicants, dated October 1, 2017: applications for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship and guardianships require a licensed attorney; a muniment of title sought by a sole beneficiary with no unsecured debts, and a small estate affidavit filed by all of the heirs, may proceed pro se. It also describes how will prove-up paperwork is submitted to the court before a hearing |
| Bowie County e-filing business processes (co.bowie.tx.us) | The county's written filing specifications: word searchable PDF, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, 300 DPI, separate and complete documents, separate lead documents, no attachments, cover letters for issuance and for proposed orders, and the instruction to call the court coordinator for a hearing date once a filing is accepted. Note the document is written from the District Clerk's side and gives that office's phone numbers, so confirm probate specifics with the County Clerk |
| Bowie County Clerk (co.bowie.tx.us) | The probate and guardianship document set, the office hours and payment methods, the guardian's annual report and annual accounting forms, and the clerk's court cost notice: "Pursuant to SB41 the County Clerk fee schedule has changed effective 1.1.2022" |
| 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
Bowie County publishes one of the clearest probate fee schedules in Texas, and it is worth understanding how it is built. The sheet is headed "BOWIE COUNTY PROBATE FEES" and marked "EFFECTIVE 01/01/22", the date the clerk's own page announces: "Pursuant to SB41 the County Clerk fee schedule has changed effective 1.1.2022." Rather than printing one line for the statutory filing fee, the county prints the twelve statutory funds that the $223 local consolidated fee is allocated across (Local Government Code § 135.102(b)), from a $40.00 clerk of the court share to a $35.00 county law library share, and those twelve lines add up to exactly $223. The state consolidated fee of $137 (§ 133.151(a)(1)) is a single line. Together they are the $360 statutory base that is the same in every Texas county, and the rest of each total below is a service charge. The amounts were set by S.B. 41 effective January 1, 2022 and still match the sections as amended, so this county schedule is current despite its date. Confirm before you file, because the sheriff and constable charge is set locally (§ 118.131).
| Case or item | Bowie County total | What is inside it |
|---|---|---|
| Letters testamentary, letters of administration, or a guardianship under 12 years | $472.00 | The $360 statutory base ($223 local consolidated fee, Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1), plus $137 state consolidated fee, § 133.151(a)(1)) plus a $100.00 sheriff fee (§ 118.131), an $8.00 citation (§ 118.059), a $2.00 oath (§ 118.052(2)(A)(iii)) and a $2.00 judge's fee (§ 118.101). This is the number to budget for a standard Bowie County estate |
| Muniment of title | $470.00 | The same components without the oath, because no personal representative is appointed in a muniment proceeding (Estates Code chapter 257) |
| Determination of heirship | $478.00 | The base plus the sheriff fee and two citations at $8.00 each, for posting and publication. The county's sheet adds: "If we send Citation by Publication to newspaper add $100", and the newspaper's own publication charge is separate |
| Small estate affidavit, or an application to open a safe deposit box | $362.00 | The $360 base plus the $2.00 judge's fee, with no citation and no sheriff posting. This is the figure that circulates as Bowie's probate filing fee; it is real, but it is the small estate and safe deposit box price, not the cost of opening an estate with letters |
| Guardianship over 12 years | $480.00 | The base plus the sheriff fee, two citations for posting and personal service, the oath and the judge's fee. The county adds $100.00 if citation goes to the sheriff for personal service |
| Later contested or adverse probate action | $121.00 | The statutory amount is $120.00, being $75 under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(2) plus $45 under § 133.151(a)(2) for an action other than the original application. Bowie's sheet totals $121.00 by adding a $1.00 courthouse security line, and adds $108.00 if citation by posting is required. Confirm the current figure with the clerk |
| Inventory, appraisement and list of claims filed after the 90th day of qualification | $27.00 | A $25.00 filing fee (§ 118.052(2)(A)(i), § 118.056(d)) plus the $2.00 judge's fee. Filing on time avoids it: the inventory is due before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies (Estates Code § 309.051(a)) |
| Final account | $135.00 | A $25.00 filing fee, the $2.00 judge's fee, an $8.00 citation by posting and the $100.00 sheriff fee, per the county's schedule |
| Application to sell real property | $135.00 | A $25.00 filing fee (§ 118.052(2)(A)(v); the county's sheet cites the pre-2022 lettering), the $2.00 judge's fee, an $8.00 citation by posting and the $100.00 sheriff fee. An application to sell personal property is $27.00 |
| Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration | $2.00 each | The statutory per-document fee the county clerk collects (Local Government Code § 118.061). Order enough sets for every institution the estate deals with |
| Claim against the estate | $10.00 | Payable by the claimant when the claim is filed (Local Government Code § 118.058) |
| Will deposited for safekeeping | $16.00 | The $5.00 statutory deposit fee (Local Government Code § 118.062) plus $10.00 records management and $1.00 courthouse security on the county's sheet |
| Copies, certification and searches | $1.00, $5.00 and $5.00 | $1.00 per page for a plain copy, $5.00 for the clerk's certificate on a certified document plus $1.00 per page (§ 118.060), $7.00 for an authentication, and $5.00 per name for a probate search when you cannot give the case number (§ 118.052(3)(G)) |
| Electronic filing charges | Set by the vendor, not by Bowie 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. The $2.00 per envelope charge described in the county's filing guidelines is collected by the District Clerk's office on its own filings, not by the County Clerk on probate |
| 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 is fixed by statute and is the same in all 254 Texas counties, so a Bowie total above it is service and posting items, not a local filing fee. And the county's sheet cites one statute for its $1.00 adverse-action security line that is no longer in the Local Government Code, which is a sign the sheet has not been re-lettered since the 2022 consolidation even though its amounts are current. Confirm any load-bearing figure with the Bowie County Clerk at 903-628-6740.
Timeline
- File, then allow processing time. The county's filing guidelines ask filers to "allow 24 hours for the eFiling to be processed", and warn that if you are appearing in court before that, you must bring a courtesy copy of the filing for the court.
- Get the original will to the clerk within three business days of e-filing the application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). No hearing should be expected before the will the court has to inspect is on file.
- Call for a setting after the filing is accepted. The county's guidelines put the scheduling step on the filer: "Upon receipt of confirmation that a submitted pleading has been accepted, the Filer should call the Court Administrator to schedule a hearing date and time." The County Court at Law's coordinator is at 903-628-6781.
- Allow for citation and posting. The clerk issues citation and the sheriff posts it, which the county's $8.00 citation and $100.00 sheriff items pay for, and issuance is not prepared until you have given the clerk the cover letter with service instructions. The statutory posting period must run and the return must be on file before the matter is heard.
- Expect a Wednesday setting, in a week the court sits. The County Court at Law's published calendars for July through December 2026 schedule a 9:00 a.m. probate docket on Wednesdays, plus one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month on a Friday. Under the county's local rules for the district courts and the county court at law, court is in session Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until recess or adjournment (Rule 1.4). The docket is scheduled, not guaranteed: the same calendars mark whole holiday and no-court weeks, including around the July 4, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and late December holidays, so check the current month before planning on a particular Wednesday.
- Do not assume a filing-to-hearing interval. Bowie County publishes the docket day and time but no waiting period, and no counter wait. Ask the coordinator at 903-628-6781 what the next available probate date looks like.
- Diary the inventory. The inventory, appraisement and list of claims is due before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies (Estates Code § 309.051(a)), and Bowie County charges $27.00 to file it after the 90th day.
Local nuance
Bowie County-specific considerations
The courthouse is in New Boston, not Texarkana. Bowie County's population center is Texarkana, on the Arkansas line, and the county keeps offices there, including Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 in the Bi-State Justice Building at 100 North State Line and the tax office at 601 Main Street. Neither takes probate filings. Estates are filed with the County Clerk on the first floor of the Bowie County Courthouse at 710 James Bowie Drive in New Boston, about 25 miles west, and that is also where the County Court at Law sits. Build the drive into your plan for the Wednesday morning docket.
The county court at law runs the probate docket, and it publishes it. Jurisdiction is concurrent between the County Court at Law of Bowie County and the constitutional Bowie County Court (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code §§ 25.0003(d), 25.0211, 25.0212(a)(4)), but the practical answer is on the court's own monthly calendars: a 9:00 a.m. probate docket scheduled on Wednesdays in the weeks court is in session and one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month, published for July through December 2026. That means a contested Bowie County estate usually stays with a judge who is a licensed attorney, and it also means the county's local rules are worth reading in the right spirit: the Local Rules of Administration, Practice and Procedure for the 5th, 102nd and 202nd District Courts and the County Court at Law do not mention probate at all, so do not go looking for a local probate rule that does not exist.
Everything must be its own complete PDF, and nothing may be attached. This is the Bowie rule that most often causes a rejected envelope. The county's filing guidelines state: "Each document submitted in an envelope must be a separate and complete document. Multiple documents cannot be submitted together as 1 PDF. Multiple pleadings in the same envelope must be separate PDF documents and filed as separate lead documents. WE DO NOT ACCEPT ATTACHMENTS; exhibits and attachments that are to be included as part of the pleading should be scanned with the pleading as 1 PDF document." Documents must be word searchable PDFs, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, at 300 DPI, and party names and addresses must be typed "in ALL CAPS WITH NO PUNCTUATION".
Issuance and proposed orders each need a cover letter. Two more local mechanics come from the same guidelines. If you want citation issued, "you must include a cover letter as the first page of your pleading PDF document" naming the party to be served, with any special instructions, because "Citations will not be prepared until instructions are provided to the clerk"; and a proposed order is filed in its own envelope with a cover letter as page one carrying the filer's contact information, after which the court forwards the signed order to the clerk for filing. The same document notes that no certified copies can be emailed.
Read the county's fee sheet by case type, not as a single fee. Bowie prices each route separately, and the differences are real money: $472.00 for letters, $470.00 for a muniment of title, $478.00 for a determination of heirship, $362.00 for a small estate affidavit or a safe deposit box application, plus $100.00 more if the clerk sends citation by publication to a newspaper. Each of those totals contains the same $360 statutory base ($223 under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and $137 under § 133.151(a)(1)); the county cannot and does not set the filing fee itself.
Two clerks, two sets of instructions. Bowie's county court at law is clerked by the District Clerk in matters it shares with the district courts and by the County Clerk in everything else (Government Code § 25.0212(h)), and estates sit on the County Clerk's side. The overlap shows up in the paperwork: the electronic filing guidelines the County Clerk links are written from the District Clerk's side and give that office's numbers and its own $2.00 per envelope charge, and the court's monthly calendars are posted on the District Clerk's page. Use the filer-facing rules, and take probate questions to the County Clerk at 903-628-6740.
Small-estate Alternatives
Bowie County publishes its own small estate affidavit packet, which is rare in Texas and is the most useful local document here for a family with a modest estate and no will. The packet contains three things, in the county's own list: the small estate affidavit, two affidavits of disinterested person, and the order for the judge to sign. It was revised March 4, 2019, and it carries the county's own instructions, which are worth following literally: each distributee signs the affidavit in front of a notary and, in the county's words, "DO NOT sign the Affidavit UNTIL you are in front of the Notary"; you need two disinterested people, whom the county defines as anyone at least 18 years old who is not related to the decedent and not interested in the outcome; and you file the affidavit and both affidavits of disinterested person with the clerk "on the first floor of the courthouse located at 710 James Bowie Drive in New Boston", giving the clerk the order for the judge to sign. The county also states that handwriting on the forms is acceptable.
Three practical points. The county's fee schedule prices a small estate affidavit, and an application to open a safe deposit box, at $362.00, which is the lowest-cost probate filing in Bowie County and is the figure often quoted as the county's probate filing fee. The small estate affidavit is also one of only two routes the Bowie County Probate Court's written pro se policy allows a family to pursue without a licensed attorney, provided all of the decedent's heirs act together. And the packet carries the clerk's own limit on what counter staff can do, verbatim: "By law, no member of the County Clerk's staff may give any patron legal advice. Accordingly, staff may not interpret legal materials for patrons, advise them as to how the law might apply to their particular situation, or assist them in preparing and filling out legal forms of any kind." The packet's own header repeats it: "These forms are not a substitute for legal advice." Whether the small estate affidavit route is available at all is a matter of state law, not county practice, and the conditions are set out on the Texas state page (Estates Code chapter 205).
Recent updates
| Change | What it means in Bowie County |
|---|---|
| County Clerk probate fee schedule effective January 1, 2022 | The clerk's page states: "Pursuant to SB41 the County Clerk fee schedule has changed effective 1.1.2022. Please see the new fee schedule HERE. This includes court costs and copy fees." The resulting sheet, "Bowie County Probate Fees", is the county's current pricing: $472.00 for letters, $470.00 for a muniment of title, $478.00 for a determination of heirship and $362.00 for a small estate affidavit. Its date is not a sign of staleness, because the $223 and $137 consolidated fee amounts inside it were enacted by S.B. 41 effective January 1, 2022 and still match Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1) as amended |
| Government Code § 25.0212 amended effective December 4, 2025 | H.B. 16 (89th Legislature, 2nd Called Session) reworked the Bowie County Court at Law's provisions: the civil ceiling in subsection (b)(5) now tracks the amount in Government Code § 25.0003 instead of a printed figure, the judge's salary subsection (d) was repealed (H.B. 16, section 2.18(a)), and the jury and transfer provisions were added as subsections (i) and (j) (section 2.09). The court's probate and guardianship jurisdiction in subsection (a)(4) was carried forward, so nothing changes for an estate filed in Bowie County |
| District Clerk filing fees changed effective January 1, 2026 | The Bowie County District Clerk publishes a new fee schedule from that date. It covers the civil and criminal filings that office clerks, not probate: probate court costs are collected by the County Clerk under the probate fee schedule above. The two offices are in the same courthouse, which is why the schedules are easy to confuse |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Bowie County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the Texarkana or New Boston 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 no court is involved in the house itself. Where other assets stood in the decedent's sole name, the spouse applies through the Bowie County Clerk in New Boston: the application and a copy of the will are e-filed as separate lead documents in one eFileTexas.gov envelope, the wet-ink original will follows to the first-floor counter at 710 James Bowie Drive within three business days (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and the case is heard in the County Court at Law on its scheduled 9:00 a.m. Wednesday probate docket. The court's pro se policy requires an applicant for letters testamentary to be represented by a licensed attorney, so plan on counsel filing. Budget $472.00 from the county's own schedule, which includes the $360 statutory base (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1)) plus the $100.00 sheriff fee, $8.00 citation, $2.00 oath and $2.00 judge's 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 Bowie County filing, drafted to the county's separate-lead-document and no-attachment rules. A vetted attorney referral if title or a claim turns out to be disputed. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | Much of this can be done from out of state. Attorneys must e-file through eFileTexas.gov, and an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1); call the County Clerk at 903-628-6740 before trying to file on paper. If there is no will and the estate is small, Bowie County's own small estate affidavit packet is the cheapest route on its schedule at $362.00, it is one of the two routes the court's pro se policy allows without a lawyer when all of the heirs join, and it needs two disinterested witnesses and a notary before anything is filed. Two things still tie the case to New Boston: an original will must reach the County Clerk within three business days of the application, and the probate docket is heard at the courthouse, although the court's calendars show one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month. | 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 where an in-person Wednesday setting makes local counsel the practical answer. |
| 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 in the County Court at Law, and under the court's pro se policy an application for letters of administration must be filed by a licensed attorney. The parent applies through the Bowie County Clerk, pays the county's $472.00, gives the clerk the cover letter with service instructions so citation is issued and posted, and appears on the 9:00 a.m. Wednesday probate docket, where 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, due before the 91st day after the representative qualifies (§ 309.051(a)), and a court-approved sale of real property is another $135.00 on the county's schedule. | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, insurance and real property. Packet generation for the administration, the inventory and the sale application. Attorney referral where a sale, a mortgage payoff or a disagreement among heirs makes counsel worthwhile, which matters here because a contested matter can be transferred to the county court at law (Estates Code § 32.004). |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Bowie County Clerk (co.bowie.tx.us), 903-628-6740 | The filing office for estates: the New Boston address, the first-floor probate counter, the 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. hours with the noon to 1:00 p.m. closure, the payment methods and card cutoff, the probate fee schedule, the small estate affidavit packet, the guardianship forms and the filing guidelines. Clerk staff can explain procedure and what the counter needs, but by the county's own statement may not give legal advice or help fill out forms |
| Bowie County Court at Law (co.bowie.tx.us), coordinator 903-628-6781 | The court that hears estates in Bowie County: the judge, the court coordinator and bailiffs, the local rules and the link to the court's monthly dockets and calendars. This is the number to call for a hearing date once your filing is accepted |
| Bowie County court calendars (co.bowie.tx.us) | Where the County Court at Law's monthly calendars are posted, showing the 9:00 a.m. Wednesday probate docket and the monthly 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom, along with the county's local rules and its electronic filing information |
| Bowie County probate fee schedule (co.bowie.tx.us) | The county's own itemized probate costs by case type, marked effective January 1, 2022, which is the document to price a filing from rather than a secondhand figure |
| eFileTexas.gov | Registration for the statewide electronic filing system, the list of certified electronic filing service providers, and filing instructions. This is where a Bowie County probate application is filed |
| eFileTexas self-represented filing portal (selfhelp.efiletexas.gov) | The statewide guided interview and filing portal for people without a lawyer, which the county's own District Clerk page links as the option for filers who do not have an attorney. It does not replace drafting the probate application |
| 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 Bowie County Clerk |
| 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, published by the Texas Judicial Branch |
| 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. Useful for orientation; it is not a court site and its materials are not court-approved forms |
| Lone Star Legal Aid (lonestarlegal.org), intake (800) 733-8394 | Free civil legal help for eligible low-income residents. Lone Star Legal Aid lists Bowie County under its Texarkana office, which serves Bowie and Cass Counties. Confirm it can take a decedent's estate matter before relying on it |
| 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 |
| Texas law libraries directory (guides.sll.texas.gov) | The Texas State Law Library's curated directory of law libraries. It lists none in Bowie County or in Texarkana; the nearest listed in the region are the Gregg County Law Library in Longview, (903) 236-8460, and the Smith County Law Library in Tyler, (903) 590-1750. 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, letters in chapter 306, notices in chapter 308 and the inventory in chapter 309 |
When to hire an attorney
In Bowie County the starting point is the court's own written answer, not a rule of thumb. The Bowie County Probate Court publishes a pro se policy, dated October 1, 2017, stating that individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person or estate "must be represented by a licensed attorney", because an executor or administrator acts for beneficiaries and creditors, and a non-lawyer drafting pleadings in that fiduciary role would be engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The policy leaves two routes open to a family without counsel: a muniment of title where the applicant is the sole beneficiary under the will and the estate owes nothing beyond debts secured by real estate liens, and the small estate affidavit, filed by all of the heirs together on the county's own packet. So for most Bowie County estates the question is not whether to hire a lawyer but when: early counsel matters most 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, or when a business or property in Arkansas or another state is involved. Local mechanics raise the stakes: the county publishes no application, order, oath or inventory form, filings must follow the county's separate-lead-document and no-attachment rules, and if a matter becomes contested it is transferred to the county court at law (Estates Code § 32.004), which in Bowie County is already the court hearing the estate. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but, in the county's own words, may not give legal advice or help fill out forms. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Bowie County and the Texarkana area.
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, Bowie County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in New Boston.
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted to Bowie County's own requirements, including the separate lead documents and the cover letters the county's filing guidelines require, ready to file with the Bowie County Clerk.
Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested or otherwise calls for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Bowie 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 Bowie County?
With the Bowie County Clerk on the first floor of the Bowie County Courthouse, 710 James Bowie Drive, New Boston, TX 75570. The county's own small estate affidavit packet gives that location in its instructions. Bowie County has no statutory probate court: the County Court at Law of Bowie County (Government Code § 25.0211) and the Bowie County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, have concurrent original probate jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)), and the county court at law is the court that publishes and hears the probate docket. Note the geography: the courthouse is in New Boston, roughly 25 miles west of Texarkana, and the county's Texarkana offices take no probate filings. File in Bowie County if the decedent lived here and had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas (§ 33.001(a)(1)).
Which court hears probate in Bowie County, and when is the docket?
The County Court at Law of Bowie County. Its published monthly calendars for July through December 2026 schedule a 9:00 a.m. probate docket on Wednesdays, plus one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month on a Friday. The docket is scheduled rather than guaranteed: the same calendars mark whole holiday and no-court weeks, so a given Wednesday may have no probate docket at all. Jurisdiction is shared with the constitutional Bowie County Court (Estates Code § 32.002(b)), and Bowie's own statute gives the county court at law jurisdiction in probate and guardianship matters (Government Code § 25.0212(a)(4)). You do not pick the date: the county's filing guidelines tell you to call the court coordinator at 903-628-6781 once your filing is accepted. The county publishes no filing-to-hearing interval, so ask.
Do I need a lawyer to probate an estate in Bowie County?
Usually, and the court says so in writing. The Bowie County Probate Court's published pro se policy, dated October 1, 2017, states that individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person or estate "must be represented by a licensed attorney", because an executor or administrator acts for the estate's beneficiaries and creditors, not only for themselves. The policy names the two exceptions it recognizes: probating a will as a muniment of title where the applicant is the sole beneficiary and there are no debts other than those secured by liens on real estate, with all beneficiaries joining and testifying at the hearing, and a small estate affidavit in which all of the decedent's heirs act together, using the county's own packet. Court and clerk staff cannot advise you which route fits; that is a legal question.
Is e-filing required for probate in Bowie County?
For attorneys, yes. Attorney electronic filing in probate cases has been mandatory in every Texas county since July 1, 2016 at the latest, and Bowie County's own District Clerk publishes July 1, 2015 as the date state mandated civil electronic filing began here. Filing goes 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)); Bowie publishes no exception either way, so call the County Clerk at 903-628-6740 and ask what the office will accept. Note the county's own specifications too: word searchable PDFs, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, 300 DPI, each document a separate and complete PDF filed as its own lead document, and no attachments.
What do I do with the original will in Bowie County?
You e-file a copy of the will with the application, then get the wet-ink original to the County 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)). Deliver or send it to the Bowie County Clerk, 710 James Bowie Drive, New Boston, TX 75570, and call 903-628-6740 first if you plan to mail it. There is no electronic way to satisfy this.
How much does it cost to file probate in Bowie County?
It depends on the route, and the county publishes each price. From Bowie's own probate fee schedule: $472.00 for letters testamentary or letters of administration, $470.00 for a muniment of title, $478.00 for a determination of heirship, and $362.00 for a small estate affidavit or an application to open a safe deposit box. Every one of those totals contains the same statewide statutory base of $360, being a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) plus a $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)); the rest is the county's sheriff, citation, oath and judge's fee items. Letters cost $2.00 each (§ 118.061) and a later contested or adverse action is $120.00 by statute, priced at $121.00 on the county's sheet. 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 Bowie County?
Some, which is unusual for Texas. The Bowie County Clerk publishes a small estate affidavit packet, revised March 4, 2019, containing the affidavit, two affidavits of disinterested person and the order, plus a guardian's annual report, an annual accounting for a guardian of the estate, the probate fee schedule and written filing guidelines. There is no county application to probate a will, no proof of death and other facts, no order admitting a will and no oath, and Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms, so those are drafted documents. The clerk's "Pro Se Information" link is not a forms packet: it is the court's written policy on self-represented applicants, which requires a licensed attorney for applications for letters, heirship determinations and guardianships, and allows a sole beneficiary's muniment of title application and an all-heirs small estate affidavit to proceed without one.
How do I look up a Bowie County probate case online?
Bowie County publishes no online probate case search. The portal the County Clerk links is labeled by the clerk as a real property, public record and marriage application search, and the District Clerk's "Bowie County Case Records Search" covers the courts that office clerks, states that it does not allow viewing of documents, and asked for a sign-in when checked. Documents e-filed in a Bowie probate case may be reachable through the statewide re:SearchTX portal, which requires free registration, charges for documents, and states that it supplies an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian. At the counter, the county charges a $5.00 probate search fee per name when you cannot give the case number, so call the County Clerk at 903-628-6740 with the case number if you have it.
What happens if someone contests the will in Bowie County?
In a county with a county court at law, the mechanism is Estates Code § 32.004: 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 may transfer the entire proceeding there. In Bowie County that is a short trip, because the County Court at Law is already the court hearing estates, and its judge is a licensed attorney. Bowie also allows transfers between the county court at law and a district court in matters where they share jurisdiction (Government Code § 25.0212(j)). The district courts seated in New Boston are the 5th, 102nd and 202nd.
Do I have to travel to New Boston for a Bowie County probate case, or can I appear by Zoom?
For the hearing, usually yes. The County Court at Law's own calendars schedule one 2:30 p.m. probate setting by Zoom each month, on a Friday, alongside the in-person 9:00 a.m. Wednesday probate docket; both are scheduled settings on a calendar that also marks holiday and no-court weeks, and the county publishes no written remote-appearance policy and no instructions for requesting a Zoom setting, so ask the court coordinator at 903-628-6781 which docket your case is set on before you make travel plans. Do not go to Texarkana instead: the county's offices there, including Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 in the Bi-State Justice Building and the tax office on Main Street, take no probate filings, and no court there hears estates. The rest can largely be handled at a distance: applications are filed electronically through eFileTexas.gov, hearing dates are arranged by phone with the court coordinator at 903-628-6781, and probate questions go to the County Clerk at 903-628-6740. The one other physical requirement is the original will, which must reach the County Clerk within three business days of the application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). The counter is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 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.