Llano County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Llano, 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 Llano County for two local reasons. The county prices each route separately, from $448.00 for letters testamentary or a muniment of title to $536.00 for a determination of heirship, so the route you pick sets your bill. And the county's written court policy states that an applicant for letters or an heirship determination must be represented by a licensed attorney, so choosing the wrong route can also mean paying for legal work twice.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Llano 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 Llano County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

Llano County has one probate filing counter and one court. Applications, wills and every later filing in the estate go to the Llano County Clerk at 107 West Sandstone Street in the city of Llano, the county seat; there is no branch, satellite or annex counter for estates. The court that hears the case is the Llano County Court, and the County Judge sits at the Llano County Courthouse at 801 Ford Street. The court serves every part of the county, including the city of Llano, Kingsland, Buchanan Dam and Horseshoe Bay and the rural areas between them. Because attorneys file electronically through eFileTexas.gov, most of the paperwork in an uncontested estate never requires a trip to Llano; what requires a physical connection is the original will and the hearing.

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 Llano County, the case belongs in the Llano County Court, even if they died in a hospital in Austin, Marble Falls 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)).

Which court hears the case is the fact most often gotten wrong on a small Texas county page. Llano County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law: Government Code Chapter 25, which creates every one of them in Texas, contains no Llano provision at all. So the Llano County Court, the constitutional county court, has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(a)), the elected County Judge presides, and the county confirms it on its own pages with the line "Please be advised Llano County is a Constitutional County Court." The county describes the County Judge's judicial role as presiding over estates, heirships and guardianships alongside misdemeanor and small civil matters. The only other trial courts serving the county are the 33rd and 424th District Courts, which do not open estates, and the Justice of the Peace courts, which have nothing to do with probate.

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.

The district court that would receive such a transfer is the 33rd or the 424th, and both reach well beyond Llano County. Government Code § 24.135 provides that "The 33rd Judicial District is composed of Blanco, Burnet, Llano, and San Saba counties", with the terms of the 33rd District Court in Llano County beginning on the first Mondays in April and November (§ 24.135(b)(3)). Government Code § 24.568 creates the 424th Judicial District from the same four counties and provides that "The jurisdiction of the 424th District Court is concurrent with the jurisdiction of the 33rd District Court" and that it "has the same terms of court as the 33rd District Court" (§ 24.568(b), (c)). The county's own District Clerk page names 33rd District Judge J. Allan Garrett and 424th District Judge Evan Stubbs, both with offices at 1701 E. Polk in Burnet (verified July 2026). Appeals from the Llano County Court go to the Third Court of Appeals, which the county names on its court pages.

The county publishes a written policy requiring a licensed attorney for the main estate routes, and it is the single most important local fact on this page. Llano County's Court Policy Regarding "Pro Se" Applicants, dated July 17, 2020 and linked from the County Clerk's probate section, states: "individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, muniment of title and guardianships of the person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney." It explains the reasoning, that an executor represents the interests of beneficiaries and creditors rather than only themselves, and it draws the practical line plainly: "Although the clerk may accept documents for filing, the court will take no action on the documents unless there is an attorney of record in the case." It also answers the question families ask first: "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." The document is dated July 17, 2020 and signed by the County Judge then in office, and the county now names Rob T. Hardy as County Judge, but it remains the policy the county publishes on the clerk's probate section (verified July 2026), so treat it as the court's current position and plan for counsel; the court coordinator at 325-247-7733 can answer questions about how it is applied.

The pro se policy's list does not name a small estate affidavit, and the county prices one. The policy names letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, muniment of title and guardianships; the clerk's probate fee schedule separately prices a small estate affidavit at $450.00. Whether the county treats an affidavit under Estates Code chapter 205 as within the policy is not published, so ask the County Clerk at (325) 247-4455 rather than assuming. Note that the affidavit route is intestate only and is state law, not a Llano rule; the full conditions are on the Texas state page.

Filing and hearing happen in two different buildings. The Llano County Clerk's counter is at 107 West Sandstone Street, and mail goes to PO Box 40, Llano, Texas 78643. The County Judge who hears probate matters, and the County Court Coordinator, are at the Llano County Courthouse, 801 Ford Street, Room 101, 325-247-7730. The Llano County District Clerk is in a third building, 832 Ford Street, and serves the district courts: do not take an estate application there. Llano County publishes no hearing room number, no probate docket day and no docket time, so the county's own instruction applies: for a question about your case, call 325-247-7733.

The county says two different things about looking up records, and both are true of different things. Its court pages state: "As of July 28, 2025, Llano County Court Records may be searched online by visiting re:SearchTX." Its probate section states: "Our probate records are not online. Should you need assistance, please call and we will assist you with your records search", and prices that assistance at $5.00 per name searched. The safe reading is that documents e-filed in a Llano case may be reachable through the statewide portal, subject to its registration requirement, its per-document charges and its own warning that it supplies an unofficial copy, while the clerk remains the official custodian and the practical route for older or paper records. The county's online property records search, run by an outside vendor, indexes deeds and is not a probate case search.

There are local court rules, but they are published as a scan and are not quotable. Both the County Clerk's and the County Judge's pages link a Court Rules document on the Texas Judicial Branch local-rules server; it is a 31-page scanned image with no text layer, so no rule from it is cited on this page. What the county does publish in readable form is its Rules of Decorum for the Llano County Court, which sets out phone, weapon, food and dress rules, requires participants to be prompt, and tells you how to answer when the docket is called. If a local rule could affect your filing, ask the clerk or the court coordinator for the text.

One court, one counter, and the district courts appear only on a contest. Llano County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so there is no question of which court to choose: the Llano County Court hears the estate (Estates Code § 32.002(a)) and the County Clerk takes the filing. A district court reaches a Llano 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)). The district courts in question are the 33rd and the 424th, each composed of Blanco, Burnet, Llano and San Saba counties (Government Code §§ 24.135, 24.568), whose judges the county lists at 1701 E. Polk in Burnet, so a contest can mean traveling out of the county.

In Llano County this is not mainly a question of judgment, because the county has answered it in writing. Its published Court Policy Regarding "Pro Se" Applicants states that individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, muniment of title and guardianships of the person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney, and that although the clerk may accept documents for filing, the court will take no action on them unless there is an attorney of record. The policy is dated July 17, 2020 and is signed by the County Judge then in office, but it remains posted on the clerk's probate section as the court's published policy (verified July 2026), so plan on counsel for any application for letters or for an heirship determination. Beyond the policy, 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, or when a business or out-of-state property is involved. The contested-matter route is another reason: 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 a lawyer. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice, and the county says so on its own page. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Llano 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, Llano County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds, what estate settlement may involve and which route fits before anything is filed with the Llano County Clerk.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, captioned for the Llano County Court and priced against the county's own published probate fee schedule, ready to file at 107 West Sandstone Street or electronically through eFileTexas.gov.

Find a local probate attorney. Llano County's published court policy requires a licensed attorney for an application for letters or an heirship determination, so this step is not optional here for most estates. Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Llano 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).