Karnes County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Karnes City, know what is 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 first matters more than usual in Karnes County, because the County Judge has signed a Local Order stating that individuals applying for Letters Testamentary, Letters of Administration, determinations of heirship and guardianships must be represented by a licensed attorney, while a sole beneficiary with no unsecured debts may proceed alone to probate a will as a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257). Which side of that line your estate falls on decides whether your first call is to the clerk or to a lawyer.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, mineral interest, vehicle and parcel of Karnes 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. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that the application filed with the Karnes County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time and carries the details the county asks for.

Karnes County has one probate filing counter and one courtroom, and they are in different buildings in Karnes City. Applications go to the Karnes County Clerk at 210 W. Calvert, Suite 100. County Court is held at the Karnes County Historic Courtroom at 101 N. Panna Maria Avenue, Suite 200, unless a court notice says otherwise, and the County Judge's office is in the same building at Suite 101. The court serves the whole county, including Karnes City, Kenedy, Runge, Falls City and the rural areas between them. One point of confusion worth clearing up: Kenedy is a city inside Karnes County, where the county's Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 sits, and it is not Kenedy County, which is a separate Texas county far to the south with its own courthouse and its own clerk. An estate of a Kenedy resident who lived in Karnes County belongs in the Karnes County Court.

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 Karnes County, the case belongs here even if they died in a hospital in San Antonio, Victoria or Corpus Christi. 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, and Karnes states its own answer plainly. Government Code Chapter 25, which creates every statutory probate court and every county court at law in Texas, contains no Karnes County entry, so the Karnes 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 Clerk's page says the same thing twice, in its probate and its civil sections: the county court is a constitutional county court and is not a court at law. The other trial courts seated in the county are the 81st and 218th District Courts, each composed of Atascosa, Frio, Karnes, LaSalle and Wilson counties (Government Code §§ 24.183, 24.396), and neither opens estates. Appeals from the county court go to the Fourth Court of Appeals, which the County Clerk's page names as the court of appeals serving Karnes County.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the case does not stay with the County Judge by default. Under Estates Code § 32.003(a), in a county with no statutory probate court and no county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, when a matter in a probate proceeding is contested the judge of the county court may, on the judge's own motion, or shall, on the motion of any party to the proceeding, either request the assignment of a statutory probate court judge to hear the contested matter (Government Code § 25.0022) or transfer the contested matter to the district court, which may then hear it as if originally filed there. Three details matter in practice. A party's motion for assignment of a statutory probate court judge beats a transfer: if it is filed before the county judge transfers the matter, the county judge shall grant it and may not transfer the case unless the motion is withdrawn (§ 32.003(b)). A party may file that motion before anything becomes contested, and it takes effect if the matter later does (§ 32.003(c)). And the county court keeps the rest of the case: if only the contested matter is assigned out or transferred, the county court continues to exercise jurisdiction over the management of the estate until the contested matter is finally disposed of (§ 32.003(g)), and the matter returns to the county court when it is resolved. A transfer here would go to the 81st or the 218th District Court, and Karnes County has its own district court terms: the 81st District Court's terms in Karnes County begin on the first Mondays in May and November (Government Code § 24.183(b)(3)).

The county has a written policy on filing without an attorney, and it is restrictive. Karnes County publishes a Local Order signed by the County Judge, "Court Policy Regarding 'Pro Se' Applicants (Applicants without an Attorney)", which reasons from Texas law that only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third-party individuals or entities, including probate estates, citing Steele v. McDonald, 202 S.W.3d 926 (Tex. App. Waco 2006). Its operative sentence: "individuals applying for Letters Testamentary, Letters of Administration, Determinations of Heirship, and Guardianships of the Person or Estate must be represented by a licensed attorney. The only time a pro se applicant may proceed in court is when truly representing only himself or herself." The order adds that "One need not be a lawyer to serve as an executor, administrator, or guardian. However, the executor, administrator, or guardian must be represented by counsel." Its stated carve-out is a will probated as a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257) where the applicant is the sole beneficiary under the will and there are no debts against the estate other than those secured by liens against real estate, and even there the order sets conditions: every beneficiary under the will must be an applicant, all beneficiaries must testify at the hearing, and the will offered must be the signed original. The order carries no printed date, so confirm with the County Clerk that it is current before relying on it either way.

Everything goes in as a separate lead document. This is the Karnes rule most likely to get an envelope rejected, and the clerk states it plainly: "We ask that each document within an e-file envelope be submitted as a separate Lead Document, no 'attachments'. If a document is to have an exhibit, please submit the document & exhibit together as 1 pdf." A filer used to attaching the will to the application should upload them as separate lead documents in one envelope instead.

The application has to carry specific identifying details. Karnes County publishes its own requirements: the last three digits of both the applicant's and the decedent's driver license and Social Security numbers, the decedent's date of death, and the decedent's date of birth, residence address and age at the time of passing, which the county says may be supplied either in the application or in the e-filing notes and comments and which it uses for preparation of the abstract. Missing details mean a call from the clerk and a delay.

The original will is due in 72 hours, not three business days, if you follow the county. The statewide rule is three business days after the application is filed (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and that is what controls. But the county's County Court page states: "All Last Will & Testament documents must filed with the County Clerk within 72 hours of the Application being on file." Treat 72 hours as the practical deadline and deliver the wet-ink original to the County Clerk at 210 W. Calvert, Suite 100.

Settings come from the County Judge's office, and the counter is in a different building from the courtroom. For probate cases the county states that "All settings must be obtained through the County Judge's Office, (830) 780 - 3732", which is at 101 N. Panna Maria Avenue, Suite 101. County Court is held at the Karnes County Historic Courtroom in the same building at Suite 200, unless a notice says otherwise, while filings and letters requests go to the County Clerk at 210 W. Calvert, Suite 100. Two buildings, two phone numbers: the clerk at (830) 780-3938 for filings, the County Judge's office at (830) 780-3732 for dates.

The counter closes before the office does. The clerk's dated hours notice, marked effective May 1, 2026, sets office hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with a closure from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. for lunch, and adds that "the registers and office doors will close promptly at 4:45 p.m. each day". If you are hand-delivering an original will on the third day, do not arrive at 4:50 p.m.

Heirship cases here should expect a court-appointed attorney ad litem. The county publishes a Verified Application for Attorney Ad Litem Appointments stating that under Government Code Chapter 37 the County Court of Karnes County maintains a list of attorneys qualified to receive ad litem appointments in heirship and guardianship cases, renewable by December 31 each year. That is a cost and a scheduling factor to plan for in an intestate estate where the heirs have to be determined.

Read the county's court pages with an eye on dates. The County Court page carries the current probate settings and original will instructions alongside pandemic-era courtroom guidance that has not been removed, and the clerk's fee schedule is a public records schedule under a former clerk's name. The phone numbers and the probate instructions are confirmed by the clerk's own page and by the county's staff directory, but confirm anything time-sensitive by calling (830) 780-3938.

Karnes County is one of the few small Texas counties that answers this question in writing, and its answer leans toward counsel. The County Judge's Local Order on applicants without an attorney states that individuals applying for Letters Testamentary, Letters of Administration, determinations of heirship and guardianships of the person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney, because an executor or administrator represents the interests of beneficiaries and creditors rather than only themselves, and it adds that a person need not be a lawyer to serve as executor, administrator or guardian but must be represented by counsel in that role. The order's carve-out is narrow: a sole beneficiary with no unsecured debts may apply to probate a will as a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257), and even then every beneficiary must be an applicant, all must testify at the hearing, and the will must be the signed original. Beyond the order, counsel earns its keep here when a will or an appointment may be challenged, when there is no will and the heirs have to be determined, when real property or mineral interests have to be sold or divided, when the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing, or when a matter may become contested, in which case 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 a district court (Estates Code § 32.003(a)), with a timing rule that favors whoever moves first (§ 32.003(b)). County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice, and the county posts that limit on its own page (Government Code § 81.101). Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Karnes County and the surrounding South Texas counties.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Karnes 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 Karnes City.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, built to Karnes County's own requirements, including the separate lead documents its clerk asks for in the eFileTexas.gov envelope and the applicant and decedent details the county requires in the application, ready to file with the Karnes County Clerk.

Find a local probate attorney. Karnes County's own court policy requires a licensed attorney for most estate applications, so Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Karnes 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).