Refugio County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Refugio, know what is actually in the estate and what it owes. Which Texas route fits, and whether a court 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 before your first filing matters more here than in a metro county, because Refugio's local rules make a complete file the price of admission to the docket: "The Court must receive all documents required for an uncontested docket hearing before a setting date may be provided." A thin or wrongly chosen filing does not just get corrected at the hearing; it delays the hearing from being set at all.

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

The Refugio County Courthouse at 808 Commerce Street in Refugio is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch, satellite or annex counter for estates: the County Clerk takes the filing at the courthouse, and the county's local rules place probate hearings in the Commissioner's courtroom in the same building. The court serves every part of the county, including the town of Refugio and the communities of Woodsboro, Bayside and Austwell and the ranch country and coastal marshland between them.

Venue is straightforward for a Coastal Bend 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 Refugio County, the case belongs in the Refugio County Court even if they died in a hospital in Victoria, Corpus Christi or San Antonio. 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)).

Refugio County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so the Refugio 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 says so in its own documents: the local rules may be recited as the "Refugio County Local Rules of the Constitutional County Court" and record that they were "adopted, by the Constitutional County Court of Refugio County", and the county's website lists probate matters among the County Judge's judicial duties. The district courts that sit in Refugio County, the 24th, 135th and 267th, do not open estates.

Which office takes the filing is worth a sentence of its own here, because Refugio is small enough that Texas law contemplates combining the two clerkships. Government Code § 51.501(a) provides that a county with a population of less than 8,000 shall elect a single clerk to perform the duties of the district clerk and the county clerk, and § 51.501(b) allows the offices to remain separate if the county's voters vote to keep them separate. Refugio County publishes a County Clerk and a District Clerk as two separate offices with two different officers, two different post office boxes and two different phone numbers. Estates go to the County Clerk. The District Clerk serves the district courts.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the case does not necessarily stay with the County Judge, whatever the ordinary practice is. 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. Refugio's own local rules describe the default rather than the mechanism, stating that "Contested and uncontested probate cases are handled in Refugio County Court by the County Judge", and that is accurate as far as it goes: absent a motion, the matter stays put. Three details decide what happens when someone does move. A party's motion for the 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 comes back to the county court when it is resolved.

The county court publishes real local rules, and they were written recently. Most Texas counties this size publish nothing about probate practice at all. Refugio's county court adopted its Local Rules of Practice on March 6, 2024, effective May 1, 2024, signed by County Judge Jhiela "Gigi" Poynter, and they expressly supersede any prior local rules or practice. They are short, they are enforceable, and one of them, Rule 1.8, is devoted to probate. Read them before you file.

You do not get a hearing date until the file is complete. This is the single most useful local fact on this page and it reverses the order most filers assume. The probate rule states: "The Court must receive all documents required for an uncontested docket hearing before a setting date may be provided. Compliance with this rule allows the Court to review the file and contact the attorney should any deficiencies be present." So the sequence in Refugio is file everything, let the court review it, then get a date. Matters heard on regular non-jury days are set with the Court's Coordinator, and a non-jury setting requires at least ten days' notice to opposing counsel or parties unless a statute or the court provides otherwise. The county publishes no filing-to-hearing interval, so ask the County Clerk what the next available date looks like rather than assuming one.

Probate is heard in the Commissioner's courtroom, not the district courtroom. The local rules split the building: "Court for criminal and civil cases shall be held at the Refugio County Courthouse in the District courtroom or other places as designated", while "Court for probate cases shall be held at the Refugio County Courthouse in the Commissioner's courtroom or other places as designated." The county's published 2026 docket calendar likewise marks at least one setting as held in the Commissioner's courtroom. Both rooms are in the courthouse at 808 Commerce Street.

Remote appearance is possible but it is a motion, not a link. The local rules provide that "Requests for remote access to probate hearings shall be in writing, duly filed with the County Clerk, accompanied by an order, and will be considered on a case-by-case basis." That is more generous than a flat in-person rule and stricter than a standing video docket: you have to file the request and a proposed order, and the court decides. Plan on travelling to Refugio unless and until the request is granted.

Bring the death certificate to the hearing, and expect it back. The probate rule says that "A death certificate should be brought to the hearing to be reviewed for accuracy and will be returned at the hearing." That is a small point that saves a reset, and it is the kind of thing that is usually unwritten in a small county.

A proposed order has to arrive the right way. Rule 1.9 provides that, except in response to a ruling or order already entered, no order shall be filed without an accompanying motion clearly setting forth the relief sought and the specific grounds, plus a notice of hearing where applicable, and that the attorney submitting an order signs it approving it as to form and must give every opposing counsel and self-represented party a copy of the order bearing the clerk's file stamp. The rules also apply to a person handling their own case: Rule 2.4 provides that the terms counsel, lawyer and attorney of record "shall apply to an individual litigant in the event a party appears pro se."

One court, one counter, and two clerks that are easy to confuse. Refugio County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so there is no question of which court to choose: the Refugio County Court hears the estate (Estates Code § 32.002(a)) and the County Clerk takes the filing. Refugio is also small enough that Government Code § 51.501(a) would have it elect a single clerk for both roles, but it has not: the county publishes a County Clerk and a District Clerk as separate offices with separate post office boxes and phone numbers, and only the County Clerk opens estates. The district courts seated in the county, the 24th, 135th and 267th, reach a Refugio probate matter only if the County Judge transfers a contested matter under Estates Code § 32.003(a)(2), and even then the county court keeps the management of the rest of the estate (§ 32.003(g)).

Do not price a probate filing from the county's published court cost sheet. The only fee document on the county site is "Refugio County Civil Court Costs for January 1, 2024", posted by the District Clerk, and it is a district court civil schedule: it prices a new civil case at $350, built from a $137 state consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 133.151(a)(1)) and a $213 local consolidated fee under a different section, § 135.101(a)(1), which covers civil cases other than probate, guardianship and mental health cases. A probate application filed with the County Clerk carries the county court figures instead: $223 under § 135.102(a)(1) plus $137 under § 133.151(a)(1), for a $360 base. Refugio County publishes no probate fee schedule at all, so confirm the citation, posting and service add-ons with the County Clerk.

Plenty of uncontested Refugio County estates are handled without a lawyer, and the county's local rules expressly contemplate a party appearing without one. 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. Two local factors weigh in favor of an attorney more than they would in a metro county. First, Refugio County publishes no probate forms at all, so every document is drafted from scratch, and the court will not give you a setting date until the file is complete. Second, 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 Refugio County and the surrounding Coastal Bend.

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, Refugio 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 Refugio.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route as a complete set, which is what Refugio County's local rules require before the court will give you a setting date, ready to file with the Refugio 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 Refugio 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).