Kerr County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Kerrville, 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 Kerr County, because the county's own small estate affidavit checklist warns what happens when people guess: "They pay a $460 filing fee and expect approval. But many SEAs are denied for problems that can't be fixed, and the applicants lose their filing fees." The county charges the full original-action fee again on a fresh application, so a wrong route is an expensive mistake here.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Kerr 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. Kerr County's checklist is blunt about the level of detail its court expects, requiring the value of each asset "as precisely as possible" and refusing any asset listed at "unknown" value. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that the application filed with the Kerr County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

Kerr County has one probate filing counter. Applications, wills and later filings go to the Kerr County Clerk, normally in Suite 122 on the first floor of the Historic Kerr County Courthouse at 700 Main Street in Kerrville, and currently at the county's temporary quarters in the Hill Country Youth Event Center at 3785 TX27 while the courthouse is closed for flood repairs. There is no branch probate counter: the county's West Kerr County Courthouse Annex at 510 College Street in Ingram houses other offices, not the estate counter. The same clerk and the same courts serve the whole county, including Kerrville, Ingram, Center Point, Hunt, Mountain Home and the ranch country between them.

Venue is straightforward for a Hill Country 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 Kerr County, the case belongs in Kerr County even if they died in a hospital in San Antonio or Fredericksburg. 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)). Kerr County applies the venue rule strictly on its own forms: its small estate affidavit checklist says an affidavit "should be filed in the county where decedent resided" 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 Kerr County".

Two Kerr County courts can hear a probate case, and naming the right one is the fact most often gotten wrong. Government Code § 25.1351 provides that "Kerr County has one statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Kerr County", and Chapter 25 creates no statutory probate court in Kerr County. So under Estates Code § 32.002(b) the County Court at Law of Kerr County and the Kerr County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings, the county court at law's grant coming from the general-law provision in Government Code § 25.0003(d). Neither court displaces the other. Kerr's own county court at law section, Government Code § 25.1352, adds family law jurisdiction and a separate grant covering court-ordered mental health and chemical dependency proceedings under the Health and Safety Code; it says nothing about decedents' estates, which is why the general-law grant is the one that matters here.

In practice the county runs estates through the county court, and it says so in its own materials. The county publishes a probate department page whose named judge is the County Judge, the Honorable Rob Kelly, and which tells readers, "For probate and guardianship questions, please contact the Kerr County Clerk's Office and ask for the Probate Deputy." The clerk's videoconferencing sheet is captioned for "Probates in the County Court of Kerr County, Texas". The county's Court Information page files the probate docket and the probate videoconferencing sheet under the heading "County Court". And the county's required small estate affidavit form is styled "IN THE COUNTY COURT OF KERR COUNTY, TEXAS". Where the county labels that work "Kerr County Probate Court", it is using the Estates Code's own vocabulary rather than naming a separate institution: § 22.007(b) provides that "The terms 'county court' and 'probate court' are synonymous", and § 22.007(c) confirms that a county court at law exercising probate jurisdiction is not a statutory probate court.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the mechanism is a transfer, and it keeps the case inside Kerr County. Under Estates Code § 32.004(a), in a county with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction and no statutory probate court, when a matter in a probate proceeding is contested the judge of the county court may, on the judge's own motion, or shall, on the motion of any party to the proceeding, transfer the contested matter to the county court at law, and the county judge may also transfer the entire proceeding. The County Court at Law of Kerr County lists exactly that work on its own page: "Contested probate and guardianship cases transferred from county court." Two follow-on details are in the statute. The county court at law may hear a transferred proceeding "as if originally filed in that court", and where only the contested matter was transferred, "on the resolution of the matter, the matter shall be returned to the county court for further proceedings not inconsistent with the orders of the county court at law" (§ 32.004(b)). Note what does not happen in a county like Kerr: there is no request for an assigned statutory probate court judge and no transfer to a district court, which is the route in counties with no county court at law. The district courts seated in Kerr County are the 198th, composed of Bandera and Kerr Counties, and the 216th, composed of Gillespie and Kerr counties (Government Code §§ 24.377, 24.275), and neither opens estates.

The courthouse is closed and the offices have moved, so check before you travel. The county announced on July 19, 2026 that flood damage on the lower level closed the Kerr County Courthouse at 700 Main Street to the public, and it published a chart of where each displaced office went: the County Clerk to the Hill Country Youth Event Center at 3785 TX27 in Kerrville, the County Court at Law to 3501 Legion Drive, and the Commissioners' Court and County Attorney to the old municipal court building at 301 McFarland. The clerk states that probate and guardianship hearings "will be held at 301 McFarland Dr., Kerrville, Texas 78028 until further notice". The county's own estimates were 1 to 2 weeks for first-floor offices, at least 2 months for the second floor and up to 1 year for the lower level, and it has published no return date, so treat every address here as one to confirm by phone at (830) 792-2261. Kerr County Court at Law hearings scheduled for July 23, 28 and 29, 2026 were postponed and are being reset.

Two courts, one counter, and the county points estates at the county court. Kerr County has a county court at law, so both it and the constitutional county court have concurrent original probate jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b)), but everything the county publishes about estates, from the probate department page naming the County Judge to the case style on its own small estate affidavit form, runs through the county court, and the County Court at Law lists "Contested probate and guardianship cases transferred from county court" as its probate work (§ 32.004). Either way the filing goes to the Kerr County Clerk. Do not follow the county court at law's civil filing instruction, which routes its civil cases to the District Clerk's Office; an estate is not one of those.

Unrepresented filers have a written exemption here, and it is in the clerk's own notice. Many Texas counties publish a mandatory e-filing notice with no word about people without lawyers. Kerr County's says: "This mandate does not apply to individuals who are not represented by attorneys", "Mailed documents will only be accepted by Pro-Se filers as they do not fall under the Mandate issued by the Supreme Court", and "Paper documents brought into the County Clerk's Office will only be accepted by Pro-se filers, Original Orders from the Judge, or paper documents that were accepted as Bench Filings." An attorney's mailed filing "will be returned unfiled", and "NO FAX filings will be accepted by this office." Be aware that the county also still publishes an older set of local electronic filing rules that call e-filing "wholly optional" and name the statewide system by a working title it no longer uses; those local rules are superseded by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f) and by the clerk's own 2016 notice.

Videoconference hearings are available but have to be earned and prepared for. The county's rule is that hearings are in person "unless needed for Applicant and/or Witness(s)", with good cause shown by motion and order. If one is granted, the County Judge creates the videoconference and emails the invitation, typically on the day of the hearing, and only to the attorney of record or a party who has appeared and asked for notice, so forwarding it to your own witnesses is your job. Everything you intend to hand up has to be e-filed at least three business days beforehand as a no-fee document, and if the proposed executor or administrator will not appear, a notarized proof of death and other facts goes in on the same deadline, with the oath e-filed after the hearing.

The small estate affidavit is a county procedure in all but name. Kerr County requires its own form, publishes a seven-page checklist with descent and distribution charts, will not approve an affidavit where any heir is a minor, checks the real property records before approving one, and usually decides them without a hearing. That is more published local policy on one route than most Texas counties publish on probate altogether, and it is worth reading before you spend the $460.00.

Small operational details the county publishes that catch people out. There is a $5.00 charge for searching the records when you cannot give the case number, and the clerk tells you to try its own case search first. Copies from a probate file take time: "Once we have received your request, please allow 72 hours for your request to be Reviewed & Processed." Personal checks are not accepted for most transactions, although the clerk will take one from a title company, bank or law firm, and card payments carry a third-party convenience charge of 3 percent with a $2 minimum. And the refund rule is absolute: "No refunds. All sales are final."

Plenty of uncontested Kerr County estates are handled without a lawyer, and the county is unusually accommodating of filers who do it themselves: the clerk's e-filing notice exempts people who are not represented by attorneys, it accepts their mailed and counter filings, and it publishes a pro se version of its small estate affidavit form. Counsel still earns its keep in the situations the county itself flags. Its explainer for an estate with no will says it is "highly recommended that you speak to an attorney experienced in the matters of probate before proceeding", and its small estate affidavit checklist states that "an applicant for determination of heirship must be represented by an attorney" and that an attorney's advice "may prevent wasted time and money if a small estate affidavit is not appropriate". Beyond that, counsel is worth it where a will or an appointment is likely to be challenged, where real property has to be sold or divided, where the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing, where a business or out-of-state property is involved, or where a guardianship has to run alongside the estate. The contested-matter route is also a timing point that is easy to miss: if a matter becomes contested, the county judge may on the judge's own motion, and shall on the motion of any party, transfer it to the County Court at Law of Kerr County, and may transfer the entire proceeding there (Estates Code § 32.004). County Clerk staff can explain procedure but say themselves that they cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Kerr County and the surrounding Hill Country.

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, Kerr County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in Kerrville. That matters here because the county's own form refuses an asset listed at unknown value.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted to Kerr County's own requirements, including the case style the county uses, its required small estate affidavit form where that is the route, and the documents the county wants e-filed before a videoconference hearing, ready to file with the Kerr County Clerk.

Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested, when heirship has to be determined, or when the county's own materials call for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Kerr 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).