Comanche County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Comanche, 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. Getting the answer before the first filing matters more than usual here, because Comanche County publishes a written position that filing an application to probate a will without an attorney "will not be allowed by the Court", and because the county publishes no probate docket schedule, so a wrong route means starting over on a timetable you cannot see.

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

Comanche County has one probate filing counter and one courtroom, and right now they are in different buildings. Applications go to the Comanche County Clerk at the temporary county office building, 204 E. Oak Avenue in Comanche; hearings before the Comanche County Court are held at the Comanche Courthouse Annex, the old Ranger College building, at 215 N. Houston Street. The historic Comanche County Courthouse at 101 W. Central Avenue, the address still printed in most directories and on some of the county's own older documents, is closed for a full restoration and is not where you file or appear. The court serves the whole county, including Comanche, De Leon, Gustine, Proctor and Sidney and the rural areas between them; the county's own vote center list names those communities.

Venue is straightforward for a Comanche 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 Comanche County, the case belongs in the Comanche County Court, even if they died in a hospital in Brownwood, Stephenville, Abilene 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 small Texas county. Comanche County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so the Comanche County Court, the constitutional county court, has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(a)), and the elected County Judge presides. The county's own court appointment reports, which every clerk in Texas must prepare (Government Code § 36.004), show exactly that: they list the County Court and the County Judge against Comanche County probate case numbers, which carry a PR prefix, and guardianship numbers, which carry GUA. The only other trial court of general jurisdiction seated in the county is the 220th District Court, which is composed of Bosque, Comanche and Hamilton Counties (Government Code § 24.398) and which does not open estates.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the case does not stay with the County Judge by default. Under Estates Code § 32.003(a), in a county with no statutory probate court and no 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, either request the assignment of a statutory probate court judge to hear the contested matter (Government Code § 25.0022) or transfer the contested matter to the district court, which may then hear it as if originally filed there. Three details matter in practice. A party's motion for assignment of a statutory probate court judge beats a transfer: if it is filed before the county judge transfers the matter, the county judge shall grant it and may not transfer the case unless the motion is withdrawn (§ 32.003(b)). A party may file that motion before anything becomes contested, and it takes effect if the matter later does (§ 32.003(c)). And the county court keeps the rest of the case: if only the contested matter is assigned out or transferred, the county court continues to exercise jurisdiction over the management of the estate until the contested matter is finally disposed of (§ 32.003(g)), and the matter returns to the county court when it is resolved. In Comanche County the district court in that sentence is the 220th.

The filing counter and the courtroom are in different buildings, and neither is the courthouse. This is the single most practical thing to know about probate in Comanche County right now. The historic WPA-built courthouse at 101 W. Central Avenue is closed for a full restoration funded in part and monitored by the Texas Historical Commission. The County Clerk, who takes the filing, works from what the county's own notices call "the temporary county office building" at 204 E. Oak Avenue. The Comanche County Court, which hears the case, sits at the Comanche Courthouse Annex, the old Ranger College building, at 215 N. Houston Street, along with the 220th District Court, the District Clerk and the Justice of the Peace. Older county documents, the clerk's land records site and several state directories still print 101 W. Central Avenue, so check the address on anything you are about to rely on.

The county publishes a written position on filing without a lawyer, and it is restrictive. In its own words: "Only a licensed attorney may represent a third person or entity in a judicial proceeding in the State of Texas. In most probate and guardianship cases, an individual applicant is not truly representing only himself, rather he or she is attempting to represent another person or persons such as beneficiaries, heirs, or the estate itself. Unless the applicant is a licensed attorney, filing an application to probate a will without an attorney constitutes the unauthorized practice of law and will not be allowed by the Court. In certain limited circumstances a person may act without an attorney." A companion answer adds that "To receive letters testamentary, an application must be filled by attorney." Two things to hold in mind. This is published guidance on the county clerk's question and answer page, not a signed standing order, and Comanche County publishes no local probate rules; and the county does not say which "limited circumstances" it means. If you intend to file without counsel, call the County Clerk at 325-356-2655 and ask before you draft anything.

There is no published probate docket, so there is nothing to plan around except a phone call. Comanche County publishes County Court criminal docket lists on the clerk's page, but no probate docket, no docket start time, no hearing day of the week and no filing-to-hearing interval. It also publishes no remote appearance rule for the County Court. The only remote-hearing document on the county site is the 220th District Court's, it is dated March 2020, and it addresses the COVID-19 disaster declarations; it is a district court document and it is not the probate court's practice. Ask the County Clerk for your setting and assume you are appearing in person at 215 N. Houston Street.

Probate lookups here are done by a person, not a portal, and they are charged for. Comanche County publishes no online probate case search. The clerk's own records site indexes land records. The Tyler Odyssey portal linked from the District Clerk's page is the statewide unified case management public portal, and its own location filter offers only Colorado County and Upshur County, so it will not find a Comanche County case. What the clerk does offer is a manual name search: "Yes, but name searches are not done over the phone, unless you pre-pay by credit card. Searches are $5 per name, and a date or starting point is required. Without a date, the search will be done from 1992 through the present." The county says its probate records reach back to 1856. Comanche County probate case numbers carry a PR prefix and guardianships a GUA prefix, which is visible in the court appointment reports the clerk publishes (Government Code § 36.004); having the number makes any request faster.

Payment is easy but the card surcharge is real, and the mailing address is not. The clerk accepts "Credit/Debit cards, cash, cashier's checks, or money orders made payable to Comanche County Clerk", with "a service fee of 3.50% of the payment amount ... on all credit card payments". There is no published post office box for the County Clerk, and the mailing address the county prints for probate name-search requests, and the one on the clerk's land records site for certified copies, is still the closed courthouse at 101 West Central Avenue. Call before you post anything, and hand-deliver an original will if you possibly can.

One court, one counter, and the district court only enters the picture on a contest. Comanche County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so there is no question of which court to choose: the Comanche County Court hears the estate (Estates Code § 32.002(a)) and the County Clerk takes the filing. The 220th District Court, composed of Bosque, Comanche and Hamilton Counties (Government Code § 24.398), sits in the same annex but does not open estates; it reaches a Comanche County probate matter only if the County Judge transfers a contested matter to it under § 32.003(a)(2), and even then the county court keeps the management of the rest of the estate (§ 32.003(g)).

Comanche County is one of the counties where the question of whether to hire a lawyer is largely answered for you. The County Clerk publishes the county's position in plain terms: unless the applicant is a licensed attorney, filing an application to probate a will without an attorney "constitutes the unauthorized practice of law and will not be allowed by the Court", and "To receive letters testamentary, an application must be filled by attorney." The county allows that "In certain limited circumstances a person may act without an attorney" but does not say which, so anyone hoping to proceed alone should call the County Clerk at 325-356-2655 first. Beyond that, counsel earns its keep 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 guardianship has to run alongside the estate. The contested-matter route is also a timing trap worth counsel: if a matter becomes contested, the County Judge may on the judge's own motion, and shall on the motion of any party, request the assignment of a statutory probate court judge or transfer the contested matter to the district court (Estates Code § 32.003(a)), and a motion for assignment filed before a transfer must be granted (§ 32.003(b)). County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Comanche County and the surrounding Central Texas counties.

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, Comanche County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed with the County Clerk.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted for a county that publishes no probate forms of its own, and organized so that your attorney or the Comanche County Clerk is not waiting on missing asset and beneficiary information.

Find a local probate attorney. Comanche County expects an attorney on an application to probate a will, and Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Comanche 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).