Hood County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Granbury, work out which route the estate needs and which court will hear it. 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. What is specific to Hood County is that the County Judge publishes written court instructions organized by route, one for an independent executor or independent administrator, one for a dependent executor or dependent administrator, and one for a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257), so the county itself expects you to know which of those you are asking for before you file. The county also publishes a signed policy on applicants who come without an attorney; ask the County Judge's office for it at (817) 579-3200 before you decide to file alone, because it is the court's own statement of what it will and will not let a non-lawyer do.

Then know what is actually in the estate and what it owes. Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Hood 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. Getting this right before the first filing also decides what you pay, because Hood County prices citation and service separately from the $360 filing fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) and an heirship added to an administration takes the county's published total to $660.00. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that what is filed with the Hood County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

Hood County has one probate filing counter. The Hood County Clerk's court records office at the Justice Center, 1200 W. Pearl Street in Granbury, takes applications for the whole county, and mailed filings go to P.O. Box 339, Granbury, Texas 76048. Do not confuse that counter with the clerk's vital records office at 201 W. Bridge Street, which issues birth, death and marriage records, or with 100 E. Pearl Street, which is the county's main address and the County Judge's office. The same clerk and the same court serve every part of Hood County.

Venue is straightforward for a Hood 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 Hood County, the case belongs here even if they died in a hospital in Fort Worth, Cleburne or Weatherford. 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 Hood County court hears the estate is the fact most often gotten wrong, and the usual Texas answer is wrong here. Government Code § 25.1131 provides that "Hood County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law No. 1 of Hood County", and in almost every Texas county that would mean the county court at law and the constitutional county court share original probate jurisdiction. The Legislature excluded Hood. Government Code § 25.1132(e) provides that "a county court at law does not have probate jurisdiction", and § 25.1132(c)(2) leaves it with only this: concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in "contested probate matters under Section 32.003(a), Estates Code". Because there is no county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction in Hood County, and no statutory probate court, the Hood County Court has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings under Estates Code § 32.002(a), and the elected County Judge presides.

The county's own pages line up with the statute from three directions. The County Judge's page lists "Constitutional Court hearings for guardianship, probate, juvenile cases, and mentally ill for admittance for care" among the office's duties and "Conducting hearings for all probate matters" among its responsibilities. The County Court at Law's page describes a court of misdemeanor criminal, protective order, family law and civil business, with no original probate in its list. And the 355th District Court's page lists "Contested probate" among the matters within its original jurisdiction, which is exactly the role Estates Code § 32.003 gives a district court.

So if a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the route is Estates Code § 32.003, and Hood County has a local addition to it. Under § 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. The Hood addition is that Government Code § 25.1132(c)(2) gives the County Court at Law No. 1 of Hood County concurrent jurisdiction with the district court over exactly those contested probate matters, so a contest can stay inside the Granbury Justice Center rather than travelling to an assigned judge. 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 county court at law does not hear your estate, and Hood is one of only a handful of Texas counties where that is true. Government Code § 25.1131 gives Hood County one statutory county court, the County Court at Law No. 1 of Hood County, and § 25.1132(e) then provides that "a county court at law does not have probate jurisdiction". The practical consequences are concrete: style your case in the Hood County Court, do not send an original application to the county court at law, and ignore the widespread Texas advice that a county with a county court at law gives you a choice of two courts. Here the Hood County Court, the constitutional county court, has original probate jurisdiction under Estates Code § 32.002(a) and the County Judge presides.

A contest can still land in the county court at law, which is the flip side of the same statute. Government Code § 25.1132(c)(2) gives the county court at law concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in "contested probate matters under Section 32.003(a), Estates Code", so when the County Judge transfers a contested matter out under Estates Code § 32.003(a)(2) it can go to the County Court at Law No. 1 or to the 355th District Court, both of which sit at the same Justice Center at 1200 W. Pearl Street. The 355th District Court's own page lists "Contested probate" among the matters within its original jurisdiction. The alternative route under § 32.003(a)(1), requesting the assignment of a statutory probate court judge, remains available and takes priority if a party moves for it first (§ 32.003(b)).

Two Pearl Streets and three county addresses. Probate filings go to the County Clerk's court records office at the Hood County Justice Center, 1200 W. Pearl Street. The County Judge, who hears the case, is at 100 E. Pearl Street, which is also the county's main switchboard address. The clerk's vital records office, where you get the death certificate, is a third location at 201 W. Bridge Street. Mail goes to P.O. Box 339. Anyone hand-delivering an original will inside the three business day deadline should confirm the destination first rather than guess between them (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)).

The clerk's counter and the court that hears estates keep different hours. The County Clerk's court records office is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The County Judge's office publishes 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday but closes at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. If you are driving in for a hearing question or a signature on a Friday afternoon, that last hour is the difference.

The county tells you how to code the e-filing, which is rarer than it sounds. Hood County's fee page walks through the most common combined probate filing step by step: "When filing administration and heirship together, select 'Probate' under category and 'Independent Administration' under type ($360.00)", then add the application for administration and click "Add Another Filing" to add the heirship application, and add the optional services the heirship needs, publication service, two in-county services, three citations and three judge's signatures. Following that sequence is what produces the county's published $660.00 total in one envelope instead of a rejected filing or a surprise later bill.

The county's probate paperwork lives with the County Judge, not the clerk. Most Texas counties that publish anything about probate publish it on the county clerk's pages. In Hood County the written court instructions by route, the signed policy on applicants without an attorney and the descent and distribution explainer are all published by the County Judge, while the clerk publishes the fees, the records portal and the filing counter details. Ask the right office for each.

The county changed websites in 2026 and some links have not caught up. Hood County now publishes at hoodcounty.texas.gov and says so on its own home page, telling visitors it "moved to a brand new website and URL" and that the site "may take a little bit more polish". The old county clerk address no longer resolves at all, and in August 2026 several document links, including the County Judge's probate instructions and the County Judge court docket link, were returning errors. Treat a broken link as a reason to call rather than as evidence that the document does not exist.

A guardianship-only change worth knowing if the estate is paired with one. The County Clerk states that a new guardianship or temporary guardianship application requires a fingerprint-based criminal history record check if the liquid assets of the proposed ward's estate exceed $50,000.00 or the proposed guardian is not a Texas resident, and that "Hood County now has its own ORI (Originating Agency Identifier) number", so fingerprints are booked through IdentoGO with a Hood County service code and results go straight to the clerk. The clerk adds that anyone who used the older FBI personal review route "will need to be re-fingerprinted". None of this applies to a decedent's estate.

Plenty of uncontested Hood County estates are handled without a lawyer, and the county's own written instructions by route are clearly meant to help a family that is doing it alone. Before you decide, ask the County Judge's office at (817) 579-3200 for the court's signed policy on applicants without an attorney, because that document is the court's own statement of what it expects from a self-represented applicant and it could not be read from outside in August 2026. 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 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. Two Hood County factors weigh in favor of counsel more than they would elsewhere. First, the county publishes no fill-in probate forms, so every document is drafted from scratch and has to be styled in the right court, which in Hood County is the county court and not the county court at law (Government Code § 25.1132(e)). Second, the contested-matter route is unusual: a contest can be assigned to a statutory probate court judge or transferred to the County Court at Law No. 1 or the 355th District Court, and a party's motion for assignment filed before a transfer must be granted (Estates Code § 32.003(a) and (b)), which is a timing point that is easy to miss without a lawyer. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Hood County and the Granbury area.

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

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted for a filing in the Hood County Court and priced against the county's own fee schedule, ready to e-file with the Hood 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 Hood 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).