Falls County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Marlin, know what is actually in the estate and what it owes. Which Texas route fits, and whether a court 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. Two Falls County documents are worth reading before you draft anything: the clerk's fee schedule, which prices each probate application separately, and the clerk's small estate affidavit instructions, which walk through whether that cheaper route is even open to you. Then call 254-883-1408 and ask the guardianships and probates desk what the counter needs, before you file rather than after it bounces.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle, mineral interest and parcel of Falls 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. Farm and ranch land, leases and mineral or royalty interests deserve a specific look in this part of Central Texas, because they are easy to miss and they are the assets most likely to keep an estate open. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that the application filed with the Falls County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

The county clerk's office in Room 202 of the courthouse at 125 Bridge Street in Marlin is the single probate filing location for the whole of Falls County. There is no branch, satellite or annex counter for estates anywhere else in the county, and the court serves the entire county, including Marlin, Rosebud, Lott, Chilton, Westphalia and the rural communities between them. Estates are filed with the County Clerk. The District Clerk is a separate elected office in the same courthouse, in Room 301, and serves the district court; an estate opened there is in the wrong place.

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 Falls County, the case belongs in the Falls County Court, even if they died in a hospital in Waco, Temple or Dallas, because the place of death does not move venue for a Texas resident. 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 page. Falls County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so the Falls County Court, the constitutional county court, has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(a)), and the elected County Judge presides. Government Code Chapter 25, which is where every statutory county court and every statutory probate court in Texas is created, contains no Falls County entry, so there is no second court in the county with concurrent original probate jurisdiction and no choice of forum to make. Do not caption a Falls County application to a probate court or to a county court at law; the county has neither. The county's own fee schedule captions its estates section "Probate Court Fees" as a description of the subject matter, and prices a "county judge order fee" on every probate application, which is the county saying in its own way that the County Judge signs these orders.

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.

The district court that would take a transferred contest is shared with one neighbouring county and sits in terms. Government Code § 24.184 provides that the 82nd Judicial District is composed of Falls and Robertson counties, and that the terms of the 82nd District Court begin on the first Mondays in January and July. The county office directory puts the District Judge in Room 310 of the same courthouse, 254-883-1421. Because a single district judge divides the year between two county seats, a party who wants a contested matter heard promptly should understand the § 32.003(a)(1) route, assignment of a statutory probate court judge, before defaulting to the transfer route in § 32.003(a)(2).

The published fee schedule is the single most useful thing this county does, and it is worth reading before you draft. The Falls County Clerk's schedule carries a printed effective date, January 1, 2024, and an itemized probate section that prices a will probate with letters at $418.00, a muniment of title application at $418.00 (Estates Code chapter 257), letters of administration at $418.00, a small estates affidavit at $364.00 and a cross action at $124.00, each broken into its state consolidated fee, its local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) for the $223 component) and the county's posting, citation and order charges. Most Texas counties of this size publish no probate fee schedule at all, let alone one with a printed effective date. Read it as a scan, then confirm the total at 254-883-1408.

There is a small estate affidavit packet with instructions, and it is the county telling you which route it expects. The clerk publishes the affidavit, an order approving it and three pages of guidance whose first question is whether the person died leaving a valid will, because the route closes if they did (Estates Code § 205.001). Its second is what you are trying to transfer, because the affidavit reaches real property only through the homestead. If your estate is small and there is no will, start there rather than with a full administration. If there is a will, the county's own schedule shows the two paths it prices instead, a muniment of title application (chapter 257) and a will probate with letters, at the same $418.00.

The clerk's office runs a guardianships and probates desk and publishes an offer to help with e-filing. The office lists three deputy clerk positions by subject, one of them assigned to guardianships and probates, all reachable at 254-883-1408 and [email protected], and the clerk's own words invite filers to call or email for assistance setting up e-filing. That is unusually concrete for a rural Texas clerk, and it is the practical answer for a self-represented filer who is not required to e-file but may (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)). The clerk also publishes, in Spanish, that a member of staff speaks Spanish.

Watch the counter hours, because they are not the building's hours. The County Clerk is open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., closing for an hour at noon from Monday to Thursday and an hour early on Friday. The County Judge's office, in Room 203 of the same courthouse, keeps 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. If you are hand delivering an original will against the three business day deadline (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), a Friday afternoon drive to Marlin can miss the counter even though the courthouse is open.

The district court that would take a contested matter is shared with Robertson County and sits in terms. Government Code § 24.184 composes the 82nd Judicial District of Falls and Robertson counties and begins its terms on the first Mondays in January and July, and the county office directory puts the District Judge in Room 310 of the same courthouse. That is a practical argument for understanding the other route out of a contest before you need it: under Estates Code § 32.003(a)(1) a party may move for the assignment of a statutory probate court judge, that motion beats a transfer to the district court if it is filed first (§ 32.003(b)), and it may be filed before anything is contested at all (§ 32.003(c)).

Do not treat the county's records search as a case search. The only online search the Falls County Clerk publishes is texaslandrecords.com, described by the county as property records from September 23, 1970 to current. Probate files are looked up at the counter, where the clerk keeps public computer terminals and indexes, or through the statewide re:SearchTX portal for documents that were electronically filed. A record search performed for you by the clerk or a deputy costs $5.00 per person, which the county attributes to Government Code 51.318.

Plenty of uncontested Texas estates are handled without a lawyer, and nothing Falls County publishes requires counsel. The county's small estate affidavit packet is written for people doing it themselves, and the clerk will help you get set up to e-file. Counsel earns its keep here 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, farm or ranch land or mineral interests have 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 weigh in favor of an attorney more than they would in a metro county. First, beyond the small estate affidavit packet, Falls County publishes no probate forms and no instruction sheet, so the application, the order, the oath and the inventory are drafted from scratch. Second, the contested-matter route has a timing trap in it: 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)). The district court in question is the 82nd, shared with Robertson County and sitting in terms that begin in January and July (Government Code § 24.184), so the choice of route can change how long a dispute takes. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Falls 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, Falls County real property, mineral and royalty interests and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in Marlin.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, captioned to the Falls County Court, the constitutional county court, and ready to file with the Falls County Clerk through eFileTexas.gov. Where the county publishes its own document, such as the small estates affidavit and its order, the county's version is the one to use.

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 Falls 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).