Fisher County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Roby, 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 before your first filing matters here for a practical reason: Fisher County is a small county whose clerk publishes no application, order or inventory forms and no counter hours, so every trip and every phone call counts, and the fee for an application to probate a will is $493.00 including one citation on the clerk's schedule effective January 1, 2024.

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

Roby is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch or annex counter for estates. The courts serve every part of Fisher County, including Roby and Rotan, the two cities the county maps on its own public information page, and the farm and ranch country around them.

Venue is straightforward for a Fisher 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 Fisher County, the case belongs in Fisher County even if they died in a hospital in Abilene, Sweetwater or Lubbock. 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 what a generic page gets wrong here, because Fisher County has two courts with probate jurisdiction and neither of them is a statutory probate court. The Fisher County Court is the constitutional county court, presided over by the elected County Judge, and the county's own description of that office lists probate matters among its judicial duties. The 1st Multicounty Court at Law is a statutory county court composed of three counties: Government Code § 25.2701 reads, "Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan Counties have a multicounty statutory county court composed of those counties, the 1st Multicounty Court at Law", added effective September 1, 2013, and § 25.2702(c-1) adds that "Nolan County is the administrative county for the 1st Multicounty Court at Law". Because there is no statutory probate court in the county but there is a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, the two courts have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(b)), and the county court at law's probate jurisdiction comes from general law rather than a special act: a statutory county court "has, concurrent with the county court, the probate jurisdiction provided by general law for county courts" (Government Code § 25.0003(d)). Neither the county nor the state publishes any allocation of estates between the two courts, so ask the County Clerk which court your case is set in rather than assuming.

Sharing a judge with Mitchell and Nolan Counties does not change where you file, and that is the point most often gotten wrong about these six Texas counties. The clerk of the county court at law in a probate matter is the county clerk, not the district clerk: "The district clerk serves as clerk of the county court at law in matters of concurrent jurisdiction with the district court, and the county clerk serves as clerk of the county court at law in all other cases" (Government Code § 25.2702(e)). A probate application is not a matter of concurrent district-court jurisdiction at the filing stage, so it goes to the county clerk. For a Fisher County estate that is the Fisher County Clerk in Roby. Nolan County is the administrative county for the shared court, which is a budgeting and administration arrangement between the three commissioners courts (§ 25.2702(d-1)), not a filing instruction: do not send a Fisher County estate to Sweetwater because Nolan is the administrative county.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, Fisher County uses the county-court-at-law route, not the assignment or district-court route that applies in counties with only a constitutional county court. Under Estates Code § 32.004(a), in a county with no statutory probate court but with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, when a matter in a probate proceeding is contested the judge of the county court may, on the judge's own motion, or shall, on the motion of any party to the proceeding, transfer the contested matter to the county court at law, and the county judge may also transfer the entire proceeding there. The county court at law may then hear what is transferred as if it had been filed in that court originally, and if only the contested matter was transferred, the matter returns to the county court once it is resolved, for further proceedings consistent with the county court at law's orders (§ 32.004(b)). In Fisher County the destination of that transfer is the 1st Multicounty Court at Law, whose judge is barred from private law practice (Government Code § 25.2702(c)).

Two courts, one counter in Roby, and no published allocation between them. This is the Fisher County fact worth understanding before you file. The Fisher County Court, the constitutional county court under the elected County Judge, and the 1st Multicounty Court at Law, the statutory county court shared with Mitchell and Nolan Counties, have concurrent original probate jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)). Neither the county nor the state publishes a rule assigning estates to one court or the other. The filing office is the same whichever court hears it, so file with the Fisher County Clerk and ask at the counter which court your case is set in.

Nolan County is the administrative county, and that is not a filing instruction. Government Code § 25.2702(c-1) makes Nolan County the administrative county for the 1st Multicounty Court at Law, and § 25.2702(d-1) requires Fisher, Mitchell and Nolan Counties to enter an interlocal agreement allocating each county's financial obligations for the court. Those are arrangements between three commissioners courts about budget and staff. They do not move your paperwork. A Fisher County estate is filed with the Fisher County Clerk in Roby, because the county clerk serves as clerk of the county court at law in all cases other than matters of concurrent jurisdiction with the district court (§ 25.2702(e)). Do not drive to Sweetwater with a Fisher County application.

The post office does not deliver to the clerk's street address. The Fisher County Clerk's page states this in capitals and tells filers to use the post office box for United States mail: PO Box 368, Roby, TX 79543. That matters most for the original will, which has to reach the clerk within three business days of an electronic application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). The clerk also asks that a self addressed stamped envelope be enclosed so originals can be returned to you. If you are sending anything by a courier that will not deliver to a post office box, call 325-776-2401 first.

The clerk's probate page says electronic filing only, which is stricter than the statewide rule. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1) requires attorneys to e-file and permits, but does not require, an unrepresented party to do so. The Fisher County Clerk's Probate Civil page nonetheless heads its probate section "E-FILING ONLY". This page does not try to resolve the conflict: if you are settling an estate without a lawyer, call the clerk and ask what the office will accept on paper before you rely on the statewide rule.

Fisher County publishes its court settings, and the probate docket is on the same page as the criminal docket. The county's court dockets page lists dated 2026 probate settings, several with start times of 10:00 a.m. or 10:30 a.m., alongside a monthly criminal docket of which several 2026 settings are marked cancelled. Treat it as a schedule to check rather than as a promise: the county publishes no interval between filing and setting, and no rule about which of the two courts takes a given estate.

Two clerks, and only one of them opens estates. Government Code § 51.501(a) provides that the smallest Texas counties elect a single clerk to perform the duties of both the district clerk and the county clerk, unless the voters keep the offices separate (§ 51.501(b)). Fisher County publishes two separate offices today: the County Clerk, who takes probate, guardianships, marriage licenses and land records, and the District Clerk, who serves the district courts from 112 N Concho Street with its own post office box. They are different counters with different mailing addresses, so address an estate filing to the County Clerk at PO Box 368 rather than to the courthouse generally.

Guardianship is the one route Fisher County supports with its own paperwork. The clerk publishes a court notice to guardian letter, an annual report of guardianship of the person and an annual account, and links the statewide guardianship registration system run by the Judicial Branch Certification Commission. Nothing comparable exists on the county's site for a decedent's estate, which is why an application, order, oath and inventory here are all drafted documents.

Plenty of uncontested Texas estates are handled without a lawyer, but Fisher County gives a self-represented filer less to work with than most. 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 or a mineral interest has to be sold or divided, when the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing, when a business or out-of-county property is involved, or when a guardianship has to run alongside the estate. Four local factors weigh in favor of getting advice earlier than you might elsewhere. First, the county publishes no application, order, oath or inventory form, so every document in a decedent's estate is drafted from scratch. Second, the clerk's probate page says probate filing is electronic only, which is stricter than the statewide rule and is a real obstacle for someone filing alone. Third, the county's own fee figures disagree with each other, so the cost of a misstep is not fully predictable from the website. Fourth, the contested-matter route runs to a court shared with two other counties: on the judge's own motion or on any party's motion the County Judge transfers a contested matter, and may transfer the entire proceeding, to the county court at law (Estates Code § 32.004), which here is the 1st Multicounty Court at Law. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Fisher County and the surrounding Rolling Plains.

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, Fisher County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in Roby.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, ready to file with the Fisher County Clerk, which matters here because the county publishes no application, order or inventory forms of its own.

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 Fisher 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).