Roberts County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Miami, 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 the first filing matters more than usual in a county this small, because Roberts County publishes no probate instructions, no forms and no docket calendar, so there is no local sheet to correct a wrong start. Every document is drafted, and a filing made on the wrong route means starting over.

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

The Roberts County Courthouse at 300 E. Commercial Street in Miami is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch, annex or satellite counter for estates: the County Clerk takes filings in Suite 104 and the County Judge sits in Suite 101 of the same building. The court serves every part of Roberts County, the town of Miami and the ranch country around it. Because attorneys file electronically through eFileTexas.gov, most of the paperwork in an uncontested estate never requires a trip to Miami, but two things still have a physical dimension: the original will has to reach the clerk's counter, and the courthouse keeps a short week, closing at noon on Friday.

Venue is straightforward for a Panhandle 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 Roberts County, the case belongs in the Roberts County Court, even if they died in a hospital in Pampa, Amarillo or Borger. 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. Roberts County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so the Roberts County Court, the constitutional county court, has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(a)), and the elected County Judge presides. Government Code Chapter 25 contains no Roberts County entry at all, and the Office of Court Administration's 2025 county clerk offices directory shows the county court taking probate cases with no county court at law listed. The only other trial courts connected with the county are the 31st District Court and the Justice of the Peace court, neither of which opens estates.

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 in that sentence is a specific one, and it is worth knowing its shape before a dispute starts. Government Code § 24.133(a) composes the 31st Judicial District of Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Roberts and Wheeler counties, and § 24.133(b)(4) sets the terms of the 31st District Court in Roberts County to begin on the second Monday in March and the fourth Monday in August, so a transferred contested matter is still heard in Roberts County, by a judge whose office the county publishes at 401 Main Street, P.O. Box 766, Wheeler, Texas 79096, (806) 826-5501, and who covers five counties on a statutory term calendar. An appeal from a Roberts County probate order goes to the Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo, whose district includes Roberts County (Government Code § 22.201(h)).

One officer, two offices, one counter. Roberts County heads the office as the County and District Clerk, its District Clerk page gives the officeholder the single title "County/District Clerk", and the Office of Court Administration's directory notes it as a combo clerk. Government Code § 51.501(a) is the authority: a county with a population of less than 8,000 elects a single clerk to perform the duties of the district clerk and the county clerk, unless a majority of the county's voters choose to keep the offices separate (§ 51.501(b)). The practical effect for a family settling an estate is that the person who takes a district court filing also takes the probate application, at the same window and the same phone number, and uses the county court seal for the county court side of the job (§ 51.502). It also means you should be specific when you call or write: say the filing is a probate matter for the county court, so it is not docketed on the district court side.

The courthouse keeps a four-and-a-half day week and does not close for lunch. The county publishes courthouse hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with its own note that the building is open during the noon hour, and 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Friday. That is the reverse of the pattern in most Texas counties, where the counter shuts at midday and opens five full days. It matters most for the original will: the wet-ink original must be filed with the clerk within three business days after an electronically filed application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and a Friday afternoon is not a filing window here. Roberts County posts no separate clerk-counter hours and no filing cutoff, so call (806) 868-2341 before you drive.

The district court that would take a contested matter is based in another county but holds terms in this one. Government Code § 24.133(a) composes the 31st Judicial District of Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Roberts and Wheeler counties, and the county publishes the 31st District Judge's office at 401 Main Street, P.O. Box 766, Wheeler, Texas 79096, (806) 826-5501. The statute also fixes when that court sits here: the terms of the 31st District Court in Roberts County begin on the second Monday in March and the fourth Monday in August (§ 24.133(b)(4)). None of that is a probate docket, and no estate is opened in the district court, but it is the court that hears a contested matter the County Judge transfers under Estates Code § 32.003(a)(2): the hearing stays in Roberts County, before a judge based in Wheeler who covers five counties on a statutory term calendar, which is a practical reason to raise a dispute early rather than late. The alternative route, and the one a party can force by filing first, is assignment of a statutory probate court judge to hear the contested matter (§ 32.003(b); Government Code § 25.0022).

Bring photo identification to the recording counter. The clerk publishes a dated notice: "NEW PROCEDURE FOR RECORDING EFFECTIVE 12-14-2025. ALL PERSONS PRESENTING A DOCUMENT FOR FILING (IN PERSON) INTO THE REAL PROPERTY RECORDS OF ROBERTS COUNTY, ARE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE A PHOTO ID TO THE CLERK", citing Government Code § 191.010 and Property Code § 12.001(b)(2). This is the deed records counter, not the probate counter, but estate work reaches it more often than people expect: a deed out of the estate, an affidavit of heirship, and the affidavit that transfers a homestead under Estates Code § 205.006, which must be recorded in the deed records of a county in which the homestead is located, all pass through it. Take identification if you are handing a document across the counter in person.

Plenty of uncontested Texas estates are handled without a lawyer, and nothing in Roberts County requires counsel for a straightforward application. 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, Roberts County publishes no probate forms, no instruction sheet, no checklist and no docket information at all, so a filer without a lawyer is drafting every document from the statute and confirming procedure by telephone. Second, the contested-matter route matters and is easy to get wrong on timing: 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)), a motion for assignment filed before a transfer must be granted (§ 32.003(b)), and the district court in question is the 31st District Court, whose judge is based in Wheeler and holds terms here on a five-county calendar. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Roberts County and the surrounding Panhandle.

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

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted from the statute because Roberts County publishes no probate forms of its own, and captioned for the Roberts County Court, ready to file with the Roberts 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 Roberts 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).