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Hays County, TX Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | The County Court at Law No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 of Hays County, which share original probate jurisdiction concurrently with the Hays County Court, the constitutional county court, under the Texas Estates Code (§ 32.002(b)) and Government Code § 25.0003(d). Government Code § 25.1071 names all three courts, and the county states that its County Courts at Law "have jurisdiction in probate, guardianship matters, and mental commitments". Hays County has no statutory probate court. The judges are Jimmy Alan Hall (No. 1), Chris Johnson (No. 2) and Elaine S. Brown (No. 3), verified July 2026 on the county's own directory; all three sign the court's published executor guides |
| Filing office | The Hays County Clerk, Courts Division, which the county describes as the office "where Criminal Misdemeanor, Civil, Guardianship, Probate, Mental Health, and Juvenile cases are filed" and as "the clerks for Hays County Court at Law #1, #2, #3". Government Code § 25.1072(e) puts it in statute: "The county clerk serves as clerk of a county court at law, except that the district clerk serves as clerk of the court in family law cases and proceedings." The elected clerk is Elaine H. Cárdenas (verified July 2026). The Hays County District Clerk serves the district courts and the family law docket and does not take probate filings |
| Courthouse | Hays County Government Center, 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos, TX 78666. The County Clerk's counter is Suite 2008; the County Courts at Law and the Probate and Guardianship Staff Attorney Office are in Suite 2292; the Hays County Law Library is in Suite 2026. Everyone entering the building passes through security, per the county's own law library page. The County Clerk's three substations, in Kyle, Wimberley and Dripping Springs, do NOT take probate filings: the county's services sheet lists their Courts Division service as accepting answers in civil cases only |
| Mailing address | Hays County Clerk's Office, Suite 2008, 712 South Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos, Texas 78666. No separate post office box is published. The county asks that a mailed payment include the cause number in the memo line, and the Courts Division states plainly that small estate affidavits cannot be mailed in |
| Phone | 512-393-7330 for the Hays County Clerk, including the Courts Division where probate is filed. 512-393-7625 for the County Courts at Law. 512-393-7648 for the Probate and Guardianship Staff Attorney Office, which reviews hearing requests. 512-393-7738 for payment questions |
| Fax | 512-393-7735 for the County Clerk, published on the clerk's own page. The County Courts at Law publish 512-393-7633. Neither is a filing channel: the county stopped accepting fax filing on July 1, 2018 |
| [email protected] for the County Clerk and [email protected] for the Courts Division, which is the address the clerk's own probate e-filing sheet gives for questions. The County Courts at Law publish [email protected]. These are departmental mailboxes, not individual staff addresses | |
| Office hours | Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the main office in San Marcos, per the County Clerk's own page (verified July 2026), with no lunch closure published there. The substations close for lunch from noon to 1 p.m., and the Dripping Springs substation is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only |
| Filing fee | $418.00 to open a probate case, per the Hays County Clerk's own "Probate and Guardianship Fees" schedule, Effective 01/01/2022. The county prints the arithmetic: a $223.00 local consolidated fee, a $137.00 state consolidated fee, and $58.00 for issuance of citation and service by publication or posting, for a "Total Fee $418.00". The first two are the statewide statutory base of $360 that every Texas county collects in the same amount (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1), amounts effective January 1, 2022 under S.B. 41 of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, and since amended), which is what the county's schedule itself cites. A later action within an existing case is $178.00 on the county's schedule ($120 statutory, § 135.102(a)(2) and § 133.151(a)(2), plus the $58.00 citation and service item) |
| Local forms | Yes, and one of them is mandatory. Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms, but Hays County publishes its own required Small Estate Affidavit form, an Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit, a six-page Small Estate Affidavit Checklist, a Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form that must be filed before any hearing date is given, a Citation Request Form, and court-issued guides for independent and dependent executors. The application to probate a will, the proof of death and other facts, the order and the oath are still drafted documents |
| E-filing | Mandatory for attorneys and available to everyone 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)); Hays County publishes no exception either way for probate, and its written probate filing guidance is addressed to attorneys, so a self-represented filer should call the Courts Division at 512-393-7330 before filing on paper. The county does state that small estate affidavits cannot be mailed in. Fax filing ended on July 1, 2018 |
| Case search | Hays County runs its own public case search, and the county's Courts Division tells readers to "Click either Criminal Case Records or Civil, Family and Probate Case Records" and to search by name and date of birth, or by case number. The portal the county links from its County Courts at Law page is hosted for the county by Tyler Technologies. Its own published coverage dates could not be read behind its verification screen, so confirm what is indexed with the Courts Division. E-filed documents may also appear in the statewide re:SearchTX portal, which requires free registration, charges for documents, and states that it provides an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian of the records |
| Remote appearance | Not published for probate. The county states that criminal hearings are held in person and publishes its criminal docket days, but it publishes no telephone or video rule for probate and guardianship. Hearing dates are set only after the Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form is filed and reviewed, so ask about appearance format when court staff contact you with dates, or call the staff attorney's office at 512-393-7648 |
| Website | https://www.hayscountytx.gov/166/County-Clerk (the Hays County Clerk), https://www.hayscountytx.gov/199/Courts-Division (the Courts Division, where probate is filed, with the forms and fee links), https://www.hayscountytx.gov/167/County-Courts-at-Law (the County Courts at Law) and https://www.hayscountytx.gov/206/Guardianship-Probate (the county's Guardianship and Probate page, with the hearing request procedure) |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you file anything in San Marcos, 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 your first filing matters more than usual in Hays County, because the county's own guidance says the single biggest reason filings are returned is missing fees, and because a small estate affidavit that does not fit the statute is denied rather than corrected. The county's checklist puts it bluntly: applicants "fill out a form without reading the statute", and "many SEAs are denied for problems that cannot be corrected, and the denied applicants lose their filing fees."
Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Hays 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 Hays County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time, and so that an affidavit that has to list every known asset and every known debt is complete when it is sworn.
Which court handles jurisdiction
The Hays County Government Center at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail in San Marcos is the single probate filing location for the whole county. The County Clerk's Courts Division takes estate filings in Suite 2008 and the county courts at law sit in Suite 2292 of the same building. The County Clerk also runs substations in Kyle, Wimberley and Dripping Springs, but they are not probate counters: the county's own services sheet lists their Courts Division service as accepting answers in civil cases, and everything else they offer is records and vital statistics. The courts serve every part of the county, including San Marcos, Kyle, Wimberley and Dripping Springs, where the county keeps offices, and the rural areas between them, and because attorneys file electronically through eFileTexas.gov most of an uncontested estate's paperwork never requires a trip to San Marcos.
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 Hays County, the case belongs here, even if they died in a hospital in Austin or San Antonio. 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)). Hays County applies that rule strictly in small estate matters: its checklist says an affidavit "should be filed in the county where Decedent resided", that if that is not Hays County the affidavit must add facts supporting venue here, and that "it is unusual for the Court to approve an SEA for a Decedent who did not have a fixed place of residence in Hays County."
Which court hears the case is the fact most often gotten wrong about a Texas county this size. Hays County has three county courts at law, created by Government Code § 25.1071 as the County Court at Law No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 of Hays County, and it has no statutory probate court. That makes it an Estates Code § 32.002(b) county: the county courts at law exercising original probate jurisdiction and the Hays County Court have CONCURRENT original jurisdiction of probate proceedings. The county courts at law get that jurisdiction from general law, because 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)), and Chapter 25 contains no probate carve-out for Hays. In practice all three courts hear estates: the county states that its County Courts at Law "have jurisdiction in probate, guardianship matters, and mental commitments", and the guides the court publishes for executors are issued jointly over the names of all three judges.
If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the route in a county court at law county is transfer, not assignment. Under 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 the judge of the county court may also transfer the entire proceeding to the county court at law. That is the Hays mechanism. The rules that apply in counties with no county court at law, where a county judge requests an assigned statutory probate court judge or transfers to a district court, do not apply here, and neither does the exclusive-jurisdiction rule that governs the twelve Texas counties with a statutory probate court. Estates are not opened in the Hays County district courts, and the District Clerk does not take probate filings: Government Code § 25.1072(e) gives the district clerk the county courts at law's family law docket only.
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. Hays County requires a death certificate with every probate application, including a small estate affidavit, accepts an easily readable copy, and asks that the social security number on the copy be crossed out.
- Draft the papers, and use the county's forms where it publishes them. Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms, so the application to probate a will, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order and the oath are drafted documents. Hays County does publish a required Small Estate Affidavit form, an Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit, a Citation Request Form and a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, all from the Courts Division and Guardianship and Probate pages.
- E-file the application through eFileTexas.gov, with each document as its own lead document. The clerk's probate staff publish this as the second most common reason a filing is returned: when "all the documents are filed into the same Lead Document as attachments", the office cannot separate them and the envelope goes back to be "resubmitted as two separate Lead documents". Attorneys must e-file in probate matters. An unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1); Hays publishes no exception either way, so call the Courts Division at 512-393-7330 before filing on paper.
- Get the fees right, or authorize the clerk to add them. The county's own sheet says the highest rejection reason is missing fees, and gives filers a way around it: "If you would like us to add the appropriate fees instead of returning it please include PAFIN, short for, 'please apply fees if necessary' in the comment section. This way we have authorization to add fees like, Judge's signature fees, citation and posting fees to the envelope." Budget $418.00 for an original probate case per the county's schedule.
- 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)). Hays County repeats it in its own words: "Wills are due 3 business days after they submit the application." Take or send the wet-ink original to the Hays County Clerk's Office, Suite 2008, 712 South Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos, Texas 78666.
- Have the citation issued and posted. The county's fee schedule bundles "Issuance of Citation & Service by Publication or Posting" at $58.00 into the $418.00 total, and the clerk's e-filing sheet sets the timing: "Citations are posted for 10 days then the next Monday they are able to be set for hearing." Nothing is heard until that period has run.
- File the Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form to get a date. Hays County does not let you self-schedule and does not set dates on request by phone. The county states: "To set a Probate or Guardianship Hearing please complete the Hays County Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form", that "Completed forms will need to be E-filed into the case in which the hearing is being requested", and that "All Probate / Guardianship hearings contested or uncontested will need the completed form filed before hearing dates can be provided." The form asks for the cause number, the case style, the amount of time required, the attorneys for all parties, any attorney ad litem, and the pleadings to be heard with their filing dates.
- Wait for court staff to come back with dates. The county states that "Forms will be reviewed by the Staff Attorney to assure all filings are up to date within the case and all requirements are met", and that "Court staff will reach out to the parties of the case with available dates and times after the form has been reviewed and approved." The Probate and Guardianship Staff Attorney Office is in Suite 2292 at 512-393-7648.
- Attend the hearing and qualify. 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). The court's own guide tells a new independent executor that the oath, if not taken at the hearing, "should be taken no later than 20 days from the date the Court signed the order appointing you", and that letters may be ordered once the oath is filed and any required bond approved. Letters cost $2.00 each on the county's schedule, 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. Notice to beneficiaries follows an order admitting a will (§ 308.002), published notice to creditors within one month of receiving letters (§ 308.051) and notice to secured creditors within two months (§ 308.053), and the inventory must be filed with the court clerk before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies unless the court grants longer (§ 309.051(a)). File them with the Hays County Clerk. The county adds a local wrinkle worth knowing: a notice to creditors or a publisher's affidavit must be filed with the newspaper tearsheet in the same envelope, and the county charges a late-inventory item if the inventory is not filed within 90 days of the order.
Executor duties
The statewide duties of a Texas personal representative are on the Texas state page. What is local here is that the Hays County courts at law hand every appointed executor a written guide, issued over the names of all three judges, and those guides state the court's own expectations. There are two: "A Guide for the Texas Independent Executor", revised 06/17/2025, and "A Guide for the Texas Dependent Executor", revised 06/18/2025. Read the one that matches your appointment, because the court's expectations differ sharply between them.
| Local expectation | What the Hays County courts publish |
|---|---|
| Qualify within 20 days | The independent executor guide says the oath, if not taken at the hearing, "should be taken no later than 20 days from the date the Court signed the order appointing you as Independent Executor", and that where a bond is required the court must approve it in the same 20 days. The dependent guide is firmer: file the oath and the bond within 20 days or you may be removed |
| Order letters only after you qualify | "You may order your letters testamentary after you have taken and filed the oath and have had your bond approved, if a bond is required. These letters will serve as the evidence of your appointment when dealing with third persons" |
| File the beneficiary notice proof as its own document | "The Court strongly prefers that you file the affidavit or certificate separately from any other document", and where it is combined, "the title of the document must include both 'Notice to Beneficiaries' as well as a reference to whatever else you have included in the same document." The court also notes that it may remove a representative who fails to file it on time |
| Sign the inventory properly | "You, your attorney, and any co-executor must all sign the inventory or the affidavit, and the attorney must include a signature block with his or her State Bar number and email address." File a supplemental inventory if more property turns up. The statutory deadline is before the 91st day after the representative qualifies (Estates Code § 309.051(a)) |
| Expect no court ratification in an independent administration | "Generally, all powers afforded to a dependent administrator under the Texas Estates Code are also available to an Independent Executor without the necessity of court approval, including the sale of real estate under Estates Code Section 356.251 et seq. This Court will not ratify or approve an Independent Executor's actions." That matches the statutory design of independent administration (Estates Code chapters 401 to 405) |
| Keep estate money separate | "Any cash that you receive should be maintained in a bank account separate from your personal funds. You should never co-mingle property belonging to the estate with your personal assets" |
| In a dependent administration, keep counsel throughout | "You are required to have the services of an attorney throughout the duration of this administration", and "Do not file anything without your attorney's signature." Attorney's fees are paid by the estate, must be approved by the executor and ordered paid by the court |
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Hays County
Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms. The Texas Judicial Branch forms page carries will forms, a transfer on death deed kit and civil forms, and the Supreme Court of Texas has not promulgated a small estate affidavit form or a muniment of title form even though Government Code § 22.020(b)(1) directs it to (Estates Code chapters 205 and 257). Counties fill that vacuum themselves, and Hays County fills more of it than most.
The most important thing to know is that one Hays County form is mandatory. The county's Small Estate Affidavit Checklist says: "Use the most recent SEA form on the Hays County Clerk's website. To increase the chances that an SEA will include all necessary information, the Court requires that applicants use the SEA form that is available on the Court's website." The form itself is headed "Hays County's Required Small Estate Affidavit form". A second county form, the Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form, is effectively mandatory too, because no hearing date is given until it is filed and approved.
The application to probate a will, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order admitting the will, the oath and the inventory are still drafted documents in Hays County, not fill-in forms. Two drafting rules the county publishes are worth following exactly: "Attorney Signature Blocks need signed and include: SBN, address, phone and email", and "Proposed Orders should not include blank spaces within the body of the document."
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Hays County's required Small Estate Affidavit form (hayscountytx.gov) | The county's mandatory affidavit, headed "Form updated for 9/1/2017". It tracks the statute clause by clause, including that more than 30 days have elapsed since the death, that the decedent died without a will, that no administration is pending or has been granted, and that the assets excluding homestead and exempt property do not exceed $75,000.00. Its caption still offers only County Court at Law No. 1 or No. 2 because the form predates the creation of Court No. 3 on October 1, 2018 |
| Hays County Small Estate Affidavit Checklist (hayscountytx.gov) | Six pages, Updated November 30 2023, and by some distance the most useful self-help document the county publishes: eighteen numbered requirements plus four descent and distribution charts keyed to Estates Code chapter 201. It carries the current $75,000 ceiling (Estates Code § 205.001(3)) and spells out the venue, no-will, minor-heir and disinterested-witness rules the court applies |
| Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit (hayscountytx.gov) | The proposed order, dated October 2017, filed with the affidavit. The county instructs that its style, meaning the header area, must match the affidavit |
| Hays County Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form (hayscountytx.gov) | The form that produces a hearing date. E-file it as a lead document into the existing case. It asks for the cause number, case style, amount of time required, attorneys for all parties, any attorney ad litem, and the pleadings to be heard with their filing dates |
| A Guide for the Texas Independent Executor (hayscountytx.gov) | Revised 06/17/2025, issued over the names of all three Hays county court at law judges. Four pages on qualification, letters, creditor and beneficiary notices, the inventory or the affidavit in lieu of it, claims, powers and closing |
| A Guide for the Texas Dependent Executor (hayscountytx.gov) | Revised 06/18/2025, also from all three judges. It opens with the local expectation that matters most: "You are required to have the services of an attorney throughout the duration of this administration" |
| eFiling probate cases in Hays County (hayscountytx.gov) | The Hays County Clerk's Probate Division sheet dated April 2025: the two leading reasons filings are returned, the PAFIN comment that authorizes the clerk to add missing fees, the service and posting figures, the ten-day citation posting rule, the three-business-day original will rule and the tearsheet requirement |
| Hays County probate and guardianship fee schedule (hayscountytx.gov) | The county's own itemized schedule, Effective 01/01/2022, with the $418.00 total for an original probate case and per-item figures for letters, inventories, accounts, claims, citations and safekeeping of wills |
| 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, which Hays County also republishes on its own Courts Division page. There is no statewide application, order, oath or inventory form |
Fees
Hays County publishes an itemized probate and guardianship fee schedule with a printed effective date, which is rarer in Texas than it should be, and its arithmetic is transparent: the county prints the two statutory consolidated fees separately and then adds its citation and service item. The base is not a Hays County figure. The $223 local consolidated fee and the $137 state consolidated fee are fixed by statute and collected in the same amount in every Texas county (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1)); both amounts took effect January 1, 2022 under S.B. 41 of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, which is exactly what the county's schedule cites, and both sections have since been amended without changing those amounts. Confirm the current total with the Courts Division at 512-393-7330 before you file.
| Item | Amount | Authority or source |
|---|---|---|
| Opening an original probate case | $418.00 | Hays County Clerk, "Probate and Guardianship Fees", Effective 01/01/2022: local consolidated fee $223.00, state consolidated fee $137.00, issuance of citation and service by publication or posting $58.00, "Total Fee $418.00" |
| Statewide statutory base inside that total | $360.00 | $223 under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) plus $137 under § 133.151(a)(1), the same in all 254 Texas counties, effective January 1, 2022. Hays County's schedule prints both lines and credits S.B. 41 of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session |
| Issuance of citation and service by publication or posting | $58.00 | Hays County's schedule, citing Local Government Code § 118.052(3)(F) and § 118.063. The clerk's April 2025 e-filing sheet breaks the same amount out as a $50 posting fee plus an $8 citation fee |
| Later action within an existing case | $178.00 | Hays County's schedule for a subsequent filing or action, including an adverse probate action, contest or suit: $75.00 local plus $45.00 state, which is the $120 statutory figure under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(2) and § 133.151(a)(2), plus the $58.00 citation and service item. The clerk's e-filing sheet states it as "a $120 fee to filing into an existing estate" before service |
| Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration | $2.00 each | Hays County's schedule, citing Local Government Code § 118.052(3)(D). Order enough sets for every institution the estate deals with |
| Inventory, appraisement and list of claims | $25.00 | Hays County's schedule for an inventory filed 90 days after qualification, citing Local Government Code § 118.052(2)(A)(i) and § 118.056(d). The clerk's April 2025 sheet calls it a $27 item because the $2 judge's signature fee is included, and warns that "Filing extensions for inventories does not remove the $27 inventory penalty fee" |
| Annual or final account | $25.00 | Hays County's schedule, citing Local Government Code § 118.052(2)(A)(iv) |
| Claim against the estate | $12.00 | Hays County's schedule: a $10.00 county clerk fee (Local Government Code § 118.052(2)(B) and § 118.058) plus a $2.00 judge's signature fee (§ 118.101), payable by the claimant |
| Depositing a will for safekeeping | $5.00 | Hays County's schedule, citing Local Government Code § 118.052(3)(D). The Courts Division accepts wills for safekeeping |
| Serving citations in probate and guardianship cases | $75.00 | The Hays County Clerk's Probate Division e-filing sheet, April 2025. Sheriff and constable service and posting fees are set by the commissioners court, which may not set them higher than is necessary to pay the expenses of providing the service (Local Government Code § 118.131). The county's separate 2025 sheriff and constable fee sheet is a scanned image with no machine-readable text, so its line items are not reproduced here |
| Paying by card | A convenience fee applies | The county's payment methods sheet says payments may be made by cash, money order, check or credit card, payable to the Hays County Clerk's Office, with online card payments made through the county's payment vendor under bureau code 6230101 for the Courts Division. The sheet states a 2.3 percent convenience fee while the Courts Division page states 3 percent, so confirm the rate at 512-393-7738 before paying |
| 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, which Hays County publishes on its own Courts Division page and instructs you to file "as a separate Lead Document (in eFile) or along with your application/petition". The court must waive the electronic filing fee for a person it determines is indigent (Government Code § 72.031(f)) |
One caution about comparing figures. The $360 statutory base is the same in every Texas county, so a Hays County total above it, like the $418.00 here, is the base plus local service items, not a different filing fee. Electronic filing also carries the filing service provider's own charge on top of the court costs above.
Timeline
- Application e-filed and accepted. Each document goes in as its own lead document, the fees have to be right or the envelope must carry the PAFIN comment authorizing the clerk to add them, and a copy of the will goes in with the application. The county's Probate Division sheet says missing fees and bundled attachments are the two leading reasons a filing is returned for correction.
- Original will delivered within three business days. "Wills are due 3 business days after they submit the application", which matches the statewide rule in Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12). The wet-ink original goes to the County Clerk's Office in Suite 2008.
- Citation issued and posted for ten days. The clerk's April 2025 sheet: "Citations are posted for 10 days then the next Monday they are able to be set for hearing." That is the county's own published gate between filing and a hearing date, and it is why the posting and citation charge is built into the $418.00 opening total.
- Hearing request form e-filed into the case. No date is offered before this: "All Probate / Guardianship hearings contested or uncontested will need the completed form filed before hearing dates can be provided."
- Staff attorney review. "Forms will be reviewed by the Staff Attorney to assure all filings are up to date within the case and all requirements are met." A case with a missing return, an unfiled original will or an outstanding requirement does not get a setting.
- Court staff offer dates. "Court staff will reach out to the parties of the case with available dates and times after the form has been reviewed and approved." Hays County publishes no probate docket day and no filing-to-hearing interval, so do not assume one; the staff attorney's office is at 512-393-7648.
- After the order, the deadlines are statutory rather than local: the oath the court's guide asks for within 20 days of the appointment order, notice to beneficiaries within 60 days of the order admitting a will (Estates Code § 308.002), published notice to creditors within one month of receiving letters (§ 308.051), notice to secured creditors within two months (§ 308.053), and the inventory before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies (§ 309.051(a)).
Local nuance
Hays County-specific considerations
Three courts, one counter, and no choice to make. Hays County has the County Court at Law No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 (Government Code § 25.1071), and all three hear estates concurrently with the Hays County Court (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)). You do not pick a court: you file with the Hays County Clerk's Courts Division and the case is docketed. Government Code § 25.1072(e) is the reason the counter is the county clerk's, because the district clerk serves the county courts at law only in family law cases and proceedings.
Everything is a lead document, and missing fees are the number one rejection. The Hays County Clerk's Probate Division publishes its own return statistics in plain language: "The highest rejection reason is for missing fees", and the second is that "all the documents are filed into the same Lead Document as attachments", which the office cannot separate. The county gives filers an unusual workaround for the first problem: put PAFIN in the envelope comment, short for "please apply fees if necessary", and the clerk is authorized to add the judge's signature, citation and posting fees rather than return the filing.
No hearing date without the hearing request form. Hays County will not give a setting on request. "All Probate / Guardianship hearings contested or uncontested will need the completed form filed before hearing dates can be provided", the form is e-filed as a lead document into the existing case, the staff attorney reviews it "to assure all filings are up to date within the case and all requirements are met", and only then does court staff contact the parties with dates. Build that review step into your timing, and expect the ten-day citation posting period first: "Citations are posted for 10 days then the next Monday they are able to be set for hearing."
Small filing habits the county publishes, and that get filings returned. A notice to creditors or a publisher's affidavit must go in with the newspaper tearsheet in the same envelope as proof of publication. An application to sell real property has to be posted, while an application to sell personal property does not. An amended application needs the posting and citation fees again if the application type or the applicant's name has changed. Proposed orders "should not include blank spaces within the body of the document". Attorney signature blocks need the State Bar number, address, phone and email. Questions go to the Courts Division at [email protected].
The substations are not probate counters, and the affidavit cannot be mailed. The County Clerk runs offices in Kyle, Wimberley and Dripping Springs, but the county's services sheet lists their Courts Division service as accepting answers in civil cases only; everything else there is records and vital statistics. Estates are filed electronically or at Suite 2008 in San Marcos, and the Courts Division states that small estate affidavits cannot be mailed in.
A contest moves the case, and the mechanism is transfer. Because Hays has county courts at law, a contested matter is handled under Estates Code § 32.004: 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. Nothing goes to a district court on a contest in a county built this way, and Hays has no statutory probate court whose jurisdiction would be exclusive.
Small-estate Alternatives
The small estate affidavit is a statewide route under Estates Code chapter 205, and the state page covers who can use it. What is genuinely local is that Hays County has built more procedure around it than almost any Texas county, and a filer who ignores that procedure loses the filing fee. The county requires its own form: "the Court requires that applicants use the SEA form that is available on the Court's website", and the form is headed "Hays County's Required Small Estate Affidavit form". A proposed Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit is filed with it, styled to match. The affidavit cannot be mailed in, which the Courts Division states in a standalone note.
Four more Hays County requirements come from the county's own six-page checklist. A death certificate must be filed with every probate application, including a small estate affidavit, with the social security number crossed out. Where an heir is a minor, "The Hays County Court at Law will not approve an SEA with a minor heir unless all estate assets the minor heir(s) will inherit can be placed in the registry of the Court until the heir turns 18." A hearing is usually not held, and you must not create one: "The Court usually does not require a hearing on SEA applications ... Do not set a hearing unless the Court has asked you to do so." And two routes are closed to a self-represented filer altogether, because where a distributee is missing the county says you must file an application to determine heirship instead, and "an Applicant for determination of heirship must be represented by an attorney."
Measure the estate against the statute before you swear to anything. The ceiling is $75,000, on the value of the estate assets on the date of the affidavit and excluding homestead and exempt property (Estates Code § 205.001(3)), and the county's materials are consistent about it: the required form swears that the value of the assets, not including homestead and exempt property, "does not exceed $75,000.00", the checklist, Updated November 30 2023, instructs that the SEA "must show that the total estate assets are $75,000 or less", and the county's Guardianship and Probate page carries the same figure. The checklist's four descent and distribution charts, keyed to Estates Code chapter 201, are how the county expects you to work out each distributee's share before signing.
Recent updates
| Change | What it means in Hays County |
|---|---|
| Executor guides reissued, revised June 17 and 18, 2025 | The county courts at law reissued "A Guide for the Texas Independent Executor" (revised 06/17/2025) and "A Guide for the Texas Dependent Executor" (revised 06/18/2025), both over the names of all three judges. They set the court's own expectations on qualifying within 20 days, filing the beneficiary notice proof separately, signing the inventory, and keeping counsel in a dependent administration |
| Clerk's probate e-filing guidance dated April 2025 | The Hays County Clerk's Probate Division published "eFiling Probate Cases in Hays County information", which names missing fees and bundled attachments as the two leading reasons filings are returned, introduces the PAFIN envelope comment authorizing the clerk to add missing fees, and publishes the ten-day citation posting rule |
| Hearing request form required for every probate setting | The county's Guardianship and Probate page states that "All Probate / Guardianship hearings contested or uncontested will need the completed form filed before hearing dates can be provided", with staff attorney review before dates are offered. No date is given on request by phone |
| County Court at Law No. 3 created October 1, 2018 | S.B. 1329 of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, amended Government Code § 25.1071 to add the third court, providing that "The County Court at Law No. 3 of Hays County is created on October 1, 2018." All three courts hear probate. The county's required small estate affidavit form still carries a caption offering only Court No. 1 or No. 2, because the form predates the change |
| Fax filing ended July 1, 2018 | The County Courts at Law state: "As of July 1, 2018 we are no longer accepting fax filing." Filing is electronic through eFileTexas.gov, or in person at the County Clerk's counter in Suite 2008 |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Hays County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the San Marcos or Kyle 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 Hays County Clerk's Courts Division: the application and a copy of the will go in as separate lead documents through eFileTexas.gov, the wet-ink original will follows to Suite 2008 within three business days (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), citation is posted for ten days, and the hearing request form is e-filed to get a date. Budget $418.00, the county's published total for an original probate case, which is the $360 statutory base (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1)) plus the county's $58.00 citation and service item. | Asset discovery to establish how the home and the accounts are titled and what actually has to reach the court. Packet generation for the Hays County filing, drafted to the county's separate lead-document rule and its fee expectations. A vetted attorney referral if title or a claim turns out to be disputed. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | Most of this can be done from a distance, but not all. Attorneys must e-file, and an unrepresented party may e-file but is not required to under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1); Hays publishes no exception either way, so call the Courts Division at 512-393-7330 before filing on paper. If the estate is small and there is no will, the small estate affidavit route may fit, and Hays requires its own form, a matching proposed order, a death certificate, and signatures sworn before a notary by every distributee with capacity and by two disinterested witnesses. The county says the affidavit cannot be mailed in, and that it usually decides these without a hearing. If there is a will, the original will still has to reach Suite 2008 within three business days of the application. | 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, including the county's required affidavit form where that is the right route. Attorney referral where an heirship determination turns out to be necessary, which Hays County says requires counsel. |
| 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 a Hays county court at law. The parent applies through the County Clerk's Courts Division, citation is posted for ten days, the hearing request form is filed and reviewed by the staff attorney, and at the hearing 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). Letters are $2.00 each on the county's schedule, and a title company will want a recent set. The oath follows within 20 days per the court's own guide, and the inventory is filed before the 91st day after qualification (§ 309.051(a)). If the administration is dependent rather than independent, an application to sell real property must be posted, and the court's dependent executor guide requires an attorney throughout. | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, insurance and real property. Packet generation for the administration and the inventory. Attorney referral where a sale, a mortgage payoff or a disagreement among heirs makes counsel worthwhile, which matters more here because a contested matter is transferred to the county court at law (Estates Code § 32.004). |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Hays County Clerk, Courts Division (hayscountytx.gov), 512-393-7330, [email protected] | The filing office for estates: the probate and guardianship forms, the fee schedule, the e-filing guidance sheet, payment options and the case search links. Clerk staff can explain procedure and what the counter needs, but cannot give legal advice |
| Hays County Guardianship and Probate page (hayscountytx.gov), 512-393-7648 | The County Courts at Law page for estates and guardianships: the executor guides, the required small estate affidavit and its checklist, and the hearing request procedure, with the Probate and Guardianship Staff Attorney Office in Suite 2292 |
| eFiling probate cases in Hays County (hayscountytx.gov) | The Hays County Clerk's Probate Division sheet dated April 2025, which is the single most useful local document for a filer here: why filings are returned, the PAFIN comment, service and posting figures, the ten-day posting rule and the tearsheet requirement |
| Hays County Law Library (hayscountytx.gov), 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2026, San Marcos, (512) 393-7709 | A public law library in the same building as the clerk and the courts, open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (the library's own page adds Friday mornings and warns that a single part-time librarian means hours can change). It provides legal research materials, public computers, workstations for drafting legal forms and electronic filing access. It is also listed in the Texas State Law Library's directory of Texas law libraries |
| Hays County public case search (portal-txhays.tylertech.cloud) | The county's own online case search, which the Courts Division describes as offering Criminal Case Records and Civil, Family and Probate Case Records, searchable by name and date of birth or by case number. Its published coverage dates could not be read behind its verification screen, so confirm what is indexed with the Courts Division |
| eFileTexas.gov | Registration for the statewide electronic filing system, the list of certified electronic filing service providers, and filing instructions. This is where a Hays County probate application is filed |
| 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 of the records |
| 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 |
| Texas law libraries directory (guides.sll.texas.gov) | The Texas State Law Library's curated directory, which lists the Hays County Law Library at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2026, San Marcos, (512) 393-7709. The directory is curated rather than exhaustive, so contact a library directly about public access |
| TexasCourtHelp.gov | General information and videos about making your way through the Texas court system, from 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 that the Hays County Courts Division links from its own page. Useful for orientation; it is not a court site and its materials are not court-approved forms |
| Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (trla.org), (956) 996-8752 or toll free (833) 329-8752 | Free civil legal help for eligible low-income residents. TRLA names Hays in its own 68-county service list and the Hays County Courts Division links it; the nearest office is at 4920 North I-35 in Austin. Phone lines are open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central. 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, and the Hays County Courts Division links it as well |
| 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, the inventory in chapter 309 and the small estate affidavit in chapter 205 |
When to hire an attorney
Hays County is more explicit than most Texas counties about when a lawyer is not optional, and its statements are worth taking at face value. The court's guide for a dependent executor opens with it: "You are required to have the services of an attorney throughout the duration of this administration", and adds "Do not file anything without your attorney's signature." The county's small estate affidavit checklist says that where a distributee cannot be found you must file an application to determine heirship instead, and that "an Applicant for determination of heirship must be represented by an attorney." The same checklist warns that the Estates Code "poses many pitfalls for non-lawyers, and even some lawyers", and that a badly prepared affidavit is denied rather than fixed, costing the filing fee. Beyond those, 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, when a business or out-of-state property is involved, or when a guardianship has to run alongside the estate. A local factor weighs in as well: if a matter becomes contested it is transferred to a county court at law (Estates Code § 32.004), and the hearing request form the county requires is drafted for an attorney to sign. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Hays County and the central Texas corridor.
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, Hays County real property and unclaimed property, so during estate settlement you know what the estate holds and which route fits before anything is filed in San Marcos.
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted to Hays County's own requirements, including the separate lead documents its clerk requires in the eFileTexas.gov envelope and the county's required small estate affidavit form where that is the right route, ready to file with the Hays County Clerk's Courts Division.
Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested, when heirship has to be determined, or when the administration is dependent and the court requires counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Hays 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 Hays County?
With the Hays County Clerk's Courts Division at the Hays County Government Center, 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2008, San Marcos, TX 78666, or electronically through eFileTexas.gov. The case is heard by one of the county's three courts at law, the County Court at Law No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 of Hays County (Government Code § 25.1071), which share original probate jurisdiction concurrently with the Hays County Court (Estates Code § 32.002(b)). File in Hays County if the decedent lived here and had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas (§ 33.001(a)(1)). The clerk's substations in Kyle, Wimberley and Dripping Springs do not take probate filings.
Which Hays County court hears probate cases?
All three county courts at law do. The county states that its County Courts at Law "have jurisdiction in probate, guardianship matters, and mental commitments", and both of the guides the court publishes for executors are issued over the names of all three judges, Jimmy Alan Hall of Court No. 1, Chris Johnson of Court No. 2 and Elaine S. Brown of Court No. 3 (verified July 2026). Hays County has no statutory probate court. Under Estates Code § 32.002(b) the courts at law and the Hays County Court have concurrent original jurisdiction, so you do not choose a court: you file with the County Clerk and the case is docketed.
How much does it cost to file probate in Hays County?
$418.00 to open an original probate case, per the Hays County Clerk's own Probate and Guardianship Fees schedule, Effective 01/01/2022. The county prints the parts: a $223.00 local consolidated fee, a $137.00 state consolidated fee and $58.00 for issuance of citation and service by publication or posting. The first two are the statewide statutory base of $360 collected in the same amount in every Texas county (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1), effective January 1, 2022). Letters are $2.00 each, an inventory is $25.00, and a later action inside an existing case is $178.00 on the county's schedule, of which $120 is statutory. If you cannot afford the cost, file a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145).
Is e-filing required for probate in Hays County?
For attorneys, yes, and 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)). Hays County publishes no carve-out either way for probate and its written filing guidance is addressed to attorneys, so if you are filing without a lawyer, call the Courts Division at 512-393-7330 and ask what the office will accept. Two county rules matter whichever way you file: each document must go in as its own lead document, because the office cannot separate attachments, and the county will not accept a small estate affidavit by mail. Fax filing ended on July 1, 2018.
What do I do with the original will in Hays 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)), and Hays County repeats it: "Wills are due 3 business days after they submit the application." Deliver or send it to the Hays County Clerk's Office, Suite 2008, 712 South Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos, Texas 78666. There is no electronic way to satisfy this.
How do I get a probate hearing date in Hays County?
You file the county's hearing request form. Hays County states: "To set a Probate or Guardianship Hearing please complete the Hays County Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form", that completed forms "will need to be E-filed into the case in which the hearing is being requested", and that "All Probate / Guardianship hearings contested or uncontested will need the completed form filed before hearing dates can be provided." A staff attorney then reviews the case to confirm all filings are up to date, and court staff contact the parties with available dates. Expect the citation to be posted first: the clerk's own sheet says "Citations are posted for 10 days then the next Monday they are able to be set for hearing." The county publishes no docket day and no filing-to-hearing interval, so ask rather than assume; the staff attorney's office is at 512-393-7648.
Can I appear remotely for a probate hearing in Hays County?
Hays County publishes nothing about telephone or video appearances in probate and guardianship matters. It does publish that criminal hearings are held in person, but that statement is about the criminal docket and should not be read across to estates. Because dates are offered by court staff after the hearing request form is reviewed, the practical answer is to ask about the appearance format at that point, or to call the Probate and Guardianship Staff Attorney Office at 512-393-7648. Everyone entering the Hays County Government Center passes through security.
Are there local probate forms in Hays County?
Yes, and one is mandatory. Texas has no comprehensive statewide set of probate procedure forms, but Hays County publishes a required Small Estate Affidavit form, a matching Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit, a six-page Small Estate Affidavit Checklist, a Probate and Guardianship Hearing Request Form, a Citation Request Form, and guides for independent and dependent executors issued by all three county court at law judges. The county's checklist says the court "requires that applicants use the SEA form that is available on the Court's website." The application to probate a will, the proof of death and other facts, the order, the oath and the inventory are still drafted documents.
How do I look up a Hays County probate case online?
Hays County runs its own public case search, which the Courts Division describes as offering Criminal Case Records and Civil, Family and Probate Case Records, searchable by name and date of birth or by case number. The county links it from its County Courts at Law page. Its own coverage dates are not published where they can be read without going through the portal's verification screen, so confirm what is indexed with the Courts Division at 512-393-7330 or [email protected]. Documents e-filed in a Hays County probate case may also 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 of the records.
What happens if someone contests the will in Hays County?
The contested matter is transferred to a county court at law. Under 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 the judge may also transfer the entire proceeding there. Because Hays County's estates are already handled by its three courts at law, that route is short. Nothing goes to a district court on a contest in a county built this way, and Hays has no statutory probate court whose jurisdiction would be exclusive. A contested or adverse action inside an existing case carries its own fee, $178.00 on the county's schedule, of which $120 is statutory (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(2) and § 133.151(a)(2)). The county also requires the hearing request form for a contested setting, the same as for an uncontested one.
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.