Hockley County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Levelland, 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. Knowing the answer first matters more than usual in Hockley County, because the county clerk's published fee schedule prices each route differently: $432.00 for letters or a muniment of title, $440.00 where a determination of heirship is bundled in, and $422.00 for a small estate. Filing the wrong application means paying twice.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, mineral interest, vehicle and parcel of Hockley 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. Mineral and royalty interests deserve a deliberate look in an oil and gas county like this one, because they are easy to miss and hard to add later. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that the application filed with the Hockley County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

The Hockley County Courthouse at 802 Houston Street in Levelland is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch, satellite or annex counter for estates. The County Clerk takes filings in Suite 213 and the County Judge hears the case from Suite 101 in the same building. The court serves every part of the county, including Levelland, Anton, Ropesville and Sundown and the farming and oilfield country between them. Because attorneys file electronically and the county holds probate hearings by Zoom, an uncontested Hockley County estate can often be completed without anyone standing at the counter, with one hard exception: the original will has to arrive physically.

Venue is straightforward for a South Plains 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 Hockley County, the case belongs in the Hockley County Court, even if they died in a hospital in 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 the fact most often gotten wrong on a small Texas county page. Hockley County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so the Hockley 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 confirms it in two places of its own: its Contact page lists the County Judge as handling "Misdemeanor Court and Probates", and its own court forms caption the case "IN THE COUNTY COURT OF HOCKLEY COUNTY, TEXAS". The other trial court seated in the courthouse is the 286th District Court, which by statute "is composed of Cochran and Hockley counties" (Government Code § 24.463); it 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. In Hockley County that district court is the 286th, which sits in Suite 315 of the same courthouse. 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 probate hearing is on Zoom, and the County Judge publishes written instructions for it. This is the most distinctive thing about probate in Hockley County and it is unusual for a county this size, where the norm is an in-person docket. The sheet, on the County Judge's letterhead, runs to six numbered items: have the email address of every person who will attend ready when you schedule, so the Zoom invite can be sent; "Your client must appear via Zoom, a telephone appearance will not suffice"; "The Proof of Death and Oath will be signed during the Zoom hearing with the Oath signed before a Notary"; and "Once the hearing is done, please e-file all documents including the Order." Line up a notary before the hearing, not after it. The sheet carries no printed revision date, so confirm the current practice with the county court coordinator at 806-894-6856, extension 100.

Two offices, two phone numbers, one courthouse. The County Clerk in Suite 213 at 806-894-3185 takes the filing and the money. The County Judge in Suite 101 at 806-894-6856 hears the case and sets the Zoom hearing through the court coordinator at extension 100. Calling the clerk about a hearing date, or the judge's office about a filing fee, is the most common way to lose a day here. The District Clerk in Suite 316 handles the 286th District Court and has nothing to do with opening an estate.

The counter keeps later hours than most Texas clerks. The Hockley County Clerk publishes office hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Most Texas county clerks open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 4:30 p.m., so a filer who drives to Levelland early will find the door shut, and one who plans on a 4:30 p.m. cutoff has an extra half hour. No lunch closure is published.

The county judge's instructions name two statutes the court expects you to comply with, and both are easy to overlook. The first is Estates Code § 308.004, the sworn proof that the notice to beneficiaries required after an order admitting a will was actually given, which must be filed with the clerk by the 90th day after the order. The second is § 202.057, the affidavit of service of citation in a proceeding to declare heirship, and the statute is blunt about the consequence: the court "may not enter an order in the proceeding to declare heirship" until that affidavit or the attorney's certificate is filed. In a county that runs its hearings by Zoom, a missing affidavit is a wasted setting.

Price the matter type before you draft it. Hockley's published schedule does not quote one probate fee; it quotes five, and the differences are real: $432.00 for letters or a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257), $440.00 where a determination of heirship is bundled in, $422.00 for a small estate, $360.00 for a foreign will, and $362.00 to open a safe deposit box under an existing case. The gap between them is the county's posting, issuing, oath and judge's signature items, not a different filing fee, and the base $223.00 plus $137.00 is fixed by statute statewide (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1)).

There is no online probate case lookup, and the portals that exist will mislead you. The County Clerk links two records searches, and both are real property indexes: the search screen itself limits you to the Real Property department. The county also posts County Court dockets online, which looks promising until you open them, because every posted docket is a criminal arraignment or status docket. For the status of a probate case, call the County Clerk at 806-894-3185 or the court coordinator at 806-894-6856, extension 100.

One court, one counter, and the district court only enters on a contest. Hockley County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so there is no question of which court to choose: the Hockley County Court hears the estate (Estates Code § 32.002(a)) and the County Clerk takes the filing. The 286th District Court, which by statute is composed of Cochran and Hockley counties (Government Code § 24.463), reaches a Hockley 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)).

Plenty of uncontested Hockley County estates are handled without a lawyer, and the county's published fee schedule and hearing instructions make the mechanics unusually transparent for a filer working alone. 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-state property is involved, or when a guardianship has to run alongside the estate. Three local factors weigh in favor of an attorney more than they would in a metro county. Hockley County publishes no application, order, oath or inventory form, so every opening document is drafted from scratch. The County Judge's hearing instructions are written to a filer who has a client, and they require the person appearing to be on Zoom with a notary available at the right moment. And the contested-matter route matters: 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)), which is a timing point that is easy to miss without counsel. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Hockley County and the South 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, Hockley County real property and mineral interests, and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in Levelland.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, captioned the way the Hockley County Court's own forms are captioned and priced against the county clerk's published probate fee schedule, ready to file with the Hockley County Clerk.

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 Hockley 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).