Burnet County, TX Probate Information

Before anything is filed in Burnet, 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 the same in all 254 Texas counties; they are explained on the Texas state page. Doing this work first matters more in Burnet County than in most Texas counties, for one reason: the court requires a licensed attorney for every application that opens an estate, including muniment of title and a small estate affidavit, and it will take no action on documents filed without an attorney of record. Walking into a lawyer's office already knowing the asset picture is the difference between one engagement and three.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Burnet 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 Burnet 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 Burnet County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

The Burnet County Courthouse, the Courthouse on the Square at 220 S. Pierce Street in Burnet, is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch or annex counter for estates: the County Clerk takes filings in the courthouse and the County Court at Law sits in Room 206 of the same building. The courts serve every part of the county, including Burnet, Marble Falls, Bertram, Granite Shoals, Spicewood, Briggs and Oakalla and the Highland Lakes communities and rural areas between them. Two nearby county addresses are the wrong counter for an estate: the Courthouse Annex North at 1701 E. Polk Street, which houses the District Clerk and the 33rd and 424th District Courts, and the Justice of the Peace offices in Marble Falls.

Venue is straightforward for a Burnet 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 in Burnet County, the case belongs in Burnet, even if they died in a hospital in Austin, Georgetown or Temple. 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 county this size, and in Burnet County the answer has two layers. As a matter of law, two courts can hear the estate. Burnet has no statutory probate court, and it has one statutory county court: "Burnet County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Burnet County" (Government Code § 25.0291). In a county with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction and no statutory probate court, the county court at law and the county court have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(b)), and the county court at law takes that probate jurisdiction from general law rather than a county-specific grant (Government Code § 25.0003(d)). A county court at law is never a statutory probate court and does not have a statutory probate court's jurisdiction (§ 25.0003(f)). As a matter of practice, the county's own pages point in one direction: the County Court at Law states that "All Burnet County Probate matters are heard by Judge Henson", and the County Judge's own probate page sends both uncontested and contested probate setting requests to the County Court at Law's court staff. Burnet County publishes no written rule assigning estates between the two courts, so confirm the caption with the County Clerk before the application is styled.

The filing counter is the Burnet County Clerk, and the county's own statute says so. Government Code § 25.0292(d) provides that "The district clerk serves as clerk of a county court at law in matters of concurrent jurisdiction with the district court. The county clerk serves as clerk of a county court at law in all other cases." In Burnet County the county court at law's concurrent jurisdiction with the district court is family law and juvenile cases (§ 25.0292(a)), so probate falls in "all other cases" and goes to the County Clerk. This is worth being precise about locally, because the Burnet County District Clerk's page describes her office as maintaining the record of all court proceedings heard in the District Courts and the County Court at Law, then narrows it in the next breath to family actions in the county court at law. An estate is opened with the County Clerk at the Courthouse on the Square, not at the Courthouse Annex North.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the transfer route in a county like Burnet is the county court at law, not the district court. Estates Code § 32.004(a), verbatim: 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. In addition, the judge of the county court, on the judge's own motion or on the motion of a party to the proceeding, may transfer the entire proceeding to the county court at law." A county court at law that receives a transfer "may hear the proceeding as if originally filed in that court", and where only the contested matter moved, it returns to the county court once it is resolved (§ 32.004(b)). The practical effect in Burnet County is that a contest changes very little about where you go: the County Court at Law is already hearing the county's estates, and the County Judge's probate page directs contested and uncontested setting requests to the same place. The 33rd and 424th District Courts, which sit in Burnet and also serve Llano, Blanco and San Saba Counties, do not open estates.

The attorney requirement is the local rule that decides how a Burnet estate is handled. Effective September 1, 2025 the County Court at Law publishes a "Policy Regarding Pro Se 'self represented' Applicants in Probate Matters" stating that "Individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determination of heirship, muniment of title, small estate affidavit and guardianship of a person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney." The court grounds it in the rule that a self-represented person may act only for themselves and that only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third parties, including a probate estate, citing a 2006 Texas court of appeals decision. Two consequences are stated on the face of the policy. First, the clerk's counter is not the gate: "Although the Clerk may accept documents for filing, the Court will take no action on the documents unless there is an attorney of record in the case." A filing made without counsel can sit indefinitely. Second, the policy is broader than the equivalent policy in some larger Texas counties, which exempt muniment of title and the small estate affidavit; Burnet's names both inside the requirement.

Hearings are requested by email, not through a portal or a standing docket. The court's instruction is "Please email the Court at [email protected] to request a hearing date", and the County Judge's own probate page routes both uncontested and contested probate setting requests the same way. Burnet County publishes no probate docket day and no filing-to-hearing interval, and the court's online docket calendar carries a standing caveat that it is subject to change and that settings should be confirmed with the court directly. Ask for the next available date rather than assuming one.

Proposed documents are due 48 hours before the hearing, and they go to the County Clerk. Both the court and the County Judge publish the same line: "Efile all proposed documents with the County Clerk at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled hearing." This is the opposite of the practice in some Texas counties, which ask a filer to bring the proposed order to the hearing. In Burnet the proposed proof of death, order and oath should already be on file before anyone appears.

Remote appearance is possible but rationed by distance and by whether the matter is contested. The court states that it is Judge Henson's policy that all parties appear in person for all probate hearings, then publishes two exceptions: "For uncontested probate matters only, Judge Henson will allow parties who reside over 150 miles away to appear by phone", and "For uncontested heirship proceedings, Judge Henson will allow parties, including the required 2 disinterested witnesses, who reside over 150 miles away to appear by zoom." The request must be made when hearing dates are requested, and the court puts the burden on the attorney to raise it then. There is no published remote option for a contested matter.

An attorney ad litem appointment stops the case until a $500.00 base fee reaches the County Clerk. Judge Henson's written policy sets the base fee for court-appointed attorneys ad litem in probate matters at $500.00 and adds a procedural trap worth knowing in advance: "The base fee must be paid after filing but before requesting a setting. The e-filing system will not accept payment of this fee. Counsel must contact the County Clerk's Office directly to arrange payment. No hearing will be scheduled until the base fee has been paid." The same policy tells the ad litem when an appearance is unnecessary and requires every proposed order to contain language discharging the ad litem and ordering payment.

The counter closes at 4:00 p.m., and it is not the same counter as the District Clerk's. The Burnet County Clerk publishes hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, earlier than most Texas county clerks, while the County Court at Law keeps 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Estates go to the County Clerk at the Courthouse on the Square, 220 S. Pierce Street, because the county clerk serves as clerk of the county court at law in every case that is not a matter of concurrent jurisdiction with the district court (Government Code § 25.0292(d)) and in Burnet County that concurrency is family law and juvenile cases (§ 25.0292(a)). The District Clerk sits in a different building, the Courthouse Annex North at 1701 E. Polk Street.

In Burnet County the question is not whether an attorney is worth it but how quickly you find one. The County Court at Law publishes a written policy, effective September 1, 2025, stating that individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, a determination of heirship, muniment of title, a small estate affidavit or a guardianship "must be represented by a licensed attorney", and that "Although the Clerk may accept documents for filing, the Court will take no action on the documents unless there is an attorney of record in the case." The court's reasoning is that a self-represented person may act only for themselves and that only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third parties, including a probate estate, so an applicant asking to be appointed over an estate is not simply representing himself or herself. Practically, that means a Burnet County family should treat engaging counsel as step one, not as a fallback, and should expect the attorney to handle e-filing, the hearing request by email, the 48-hour proposed-documents deadline and any request to appear by phone or Zoom. Where the court appoints an attorney ad litem, budget the $500.00 base fee as well, because no hearing is set until it reaches the County Clerk. Counsel matters even more where a will or an appointment may be challenged, since a contested matter can be transferred between the Burnet County Court and the County Court at Law on a party's motion (Estates Code § 32.004). County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Burnet County and the Highland Lakes area.

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, Burnet County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before you retain counsel in Burnet.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork and the underlying asset and debt record for your route, ready for the attorney who will file it with the Burnet County Clerk, so the drafting starts from a complete picture rather than a guess.

Find a local probate attorney. Burnet County requires a licensed attorney on every application that opens an estate, and Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Burnet 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).