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Smith County, TX Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | Probate is heard by the county's own courts. Smith County has no statutory probate court: the Smith County Court, the constitutional county court presided over by the elected County Judge, and the three county courts at law created by statute (County Court at Law of Smith County, County Court at Law No. 2 of Smith County and County Court at Law No. 3 of Smith County, which sit in Tyler, Government Code § 25.2141) have concurrent original probate jurisdiction (Texas Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)). In practice the county sends all of it to one court: "This court also handles the administration of Texas Probate Laws, hearing all the probate and guardianship matters filed in Smith County", with Judge Clay White presiding in County Court at Law No. 3 (verified July 2026). Where the county's site brands the docket the "Smith County Probate Court", it explains its own label in the next line, saying the court "is a Constitutional Court that operates under the jurisdiction of the Honorable Judge Clay White in the County Court at Law No. 3" |
| Filing office | The Smith County Clerk, Probate Division. The county puts it plainly: "The County Clerk serves as Clerk of the Court for the Smith County Probate Court", and "The Clerk's Probate Division issues citations, letters of guardianship, letters testamentary, notices, and other documents as required by law or requested by customers." That matches the Texas Constitution article V, § 20, which makes the County Clerk the clerk of the county court, and nothing in Smith County's own Government Code chapter 25 provisions moves probate to any other clerk. The Smith County District Clerk serves the district courts and does not open estates |
| Courthouse | Three addresses matter and they are not the same building. File and review files with the County Clerk, Probate Division, 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, Tyler, TX 75702; the court's own answer is that "All files are maintained in the Probate Division of the Smith County Clerk's office, on the third floor of the Smith County Annex Building at 200 E Ferguson St, Tyler." Uncontested probate and guardianship hearings are held downstairs in the same building, in the courtroom at 200 E Ferguson, Suite 100, the Smith County Courthouse Annex. County Court at Law No. 3 itself is at 100 N. Broadway, Room 303, Smith County Courthouse, Tyler, TX 75702 |
| Mailing address | None published. The Smith County Clerk publishes no separate post office box, so anything mailed goes to 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, Tyler, TX 75702. Call the Probate Department before mailing an original will |
| Phone | 903-590-4670 for the Smith County Clerk. For estates, call the clerk's Probate Department directly at 903-590-4677 or 903-590-4678, which is the number the court itself gives for filing-fee questions. County Court at Law No. 3 publishes "Probate Questions: 903-590-4611" and a main court line of 903-590-1690 |
| Fax | 903-590-1696 for County Court at Law No. 3. It is not a filing route: the court's own answer is "No, the Court does not accept fax filings." The County Clerk publishes no fax number for probate |
| [email protected], the shared mailbox the county publishes for probate copy requests ("Please email our Probate Deputy Clerks for copies of documents") | |
| Office hours | Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., per the County Clerk's own directory entry (verified July 2026). The same window is the one the county gives for viewing probate record images at the counter. No lunch closure is published. All county non-emergency offices close on the county holidays listed on the clerk's page |
| Filing fee | $404.00 to probate a will and have Letters Testamentary issued, or for letters of independent administration, per the county's own "Smith County Probate Court Fee Schedule Details", effective January 1, 2022. That figure is the statewide statutory base plus Smith's own service items: a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) plus a $137 state consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 133.151(a)(1)), which is $360 and is identical in every Texas county, both amounts in effect since January 1, 2022 when S.B. 41 set them, plus a $2.00 county judge order fee, a $2.00 oath fee and a $40.00 sheriff posting fee. The schedule prices other applications separately: $402.00 for a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257), $406.00 for a dependent or temporary administration, $524.00 for a determination of heirship with no administration and $568.00 with letters of administration, and $362.00 for a small estate affidavit. Confirm the current total with the Probate Department before you file |
| Local forms | Some, but not for the application. The court and the clerk say so themselves: "Neither the Court nor the County Clerk have forms for the application and other documents necessary to file a probate matter." Texas publishes no comprehensive set of probate procedure forms either. What Smith County does publish is a clerk's Request for Issuance of Citation form, the statewide Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, a private professional guardian packet, and County Court at Law No. 3's own forms library with administrative orders requiring the court's approved form for small estate affidavits, dependent administration annual accounts and guardianship annual reports |
| E-filing | Mandatory for attorneys, optional for everyone else, in the county's own words: "attorneys are now required to electronically file (e-file) documents in Probate cases in all Texas Counties. Unrepresented (pro se) parties and case participants who are not attorneys may e-file but are not required to do so." That matches the statewide rule (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)). Filing is through eFileTexas.gov. The court does not accept fax filings. Whether the clerk will take a paper filing over the counter or by mail from a self-represented filer is not published, so call the Probate Department at 903-590-4677 first |
| Case search | Yes, the county runs its own. The Smith County Judicial Search, a Tyler Odyssey Portal at portal.smith-county.com/Public, is what the county links as "Search Case Data", and the county publishes its own coverage: "Probate cases from 1992 to current." There is a limit worth knowing before you drive: "Indexes are available online, but images are available only at the County Clerk's office, Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm." Do not confuse it with the county's official public records search, which indexes deeds and other land records rather than estates |
| Remote appearance | Limited and conditional. County Court at Law No. 3 marks roughly one docket a month on its published probate calendar as a "Zoom Option" setting and states the condition: "In order to set a Zoom hearing, the applicant/witnesses must live outside this region. Zoom hearings will be held once a month, so be aware that there may be a delay in getting a setting. Please contact the Court for available dates." Everything else is in person |
| Website | https://www.smith-county.com/272/County-Clerk (the Smith County Clerk), https://www.smith-county.com/290/Probate (the clerk's Probate page) and https://www.smith-county.com/305/County-Court-at-Law-3 (County Court at Law No. 3, with the probate docket calendar and the court's orders). The probate fee schedule is at https://www.smith-county.com/DocumentCenter/View/1855 |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you file anything in Tyler, 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 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 here because Smith County prices each application separately on its own published schedule, from $362.00 for a small estate affidavit to $568.00 for a determination of heirship with letters of administration, and because County Court at Law No. 3 requires its own approved form for some filings. Choosing the wrong route means paying twice and waiting for a new setting.
Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Smith 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. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so that the application filed with the Smith County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.
Which court handles jurisdiction
Estates for the whole of Smith County are filed in Tyler, the county seat, with the Smith County Clerk's Probate Division on the third floor of the Smith County Annex Building at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300. The county publishes no branch or satellite counter for estate filings. Uncontested probate and guardianship hearings are held in the same building, in the first-floor courtroom at 200 E Ferguson, Suite 100, and County Court at Law No. 3 sits at 100 N. Broadway, Room 303, in the Smith County Courthouse. The court serves every community in the county, Tyler and the county's other incorporated cities and the rural areas alike.
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 Smith County, the case belongs here even if they died in a hospital elsewhere in East Texas. 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)).
Smith County has no statutory probate court. It has three statutory county courts, named by statute as the County Court at Law of Smith County, County Court at Law No. 2 of Smith County and County Court at Law No. 3 of Smith County, all of which sit in Tyler (Government Code § 25.2141). A statutory county court has, concurrent with the county court, the probate jurisdiction provided by general law for county courts (Government Code § 25.0003(d)), and the Estates Code says the same thing from the other direction: in a county with no statutory probate court but with a county court at law exercising original probate jurisdiction, the county court at law and the county court have concurrent original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (§ 32.002(b)). So the Smith County Court, presided over by the elected County Judge, and each of the three county courts at law can hear an estate. What the county does with that authority is a local fact rather than a statutory one: the county assigns probate to County Court at Law No. 3, whose page states that it "also handles the administration of Texas Probate Laws, hearing all the probate and guardianship matters filed in Smith County".
If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the route is the county-court-at-law route, not the small-county one. Under Estates Code § 32.004(a), in a county with a 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, transfer the contested matter to the county court at law, and under § 32.004(b) the judge may transfer the entire proceeding there. Nothing goes to a district court or to an assigned statutory probate court judge on that route, and Smith County's own list of what its courts at law handle names "Contested probate matters (County Court at Law 3)" as one of the categories. Because Smith already routes uncontested estates to County Court at Law No. 3, in practice a contest usually stays with the judge who has had the case from the start.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the route and gather the documents. Collect the original signed will if there is one, a certified copy of the death certificate, the names and addresses of the people who inherit, and a list of assets and debts with values. A person named in a will to settle the estate is an executor; a person appointed by the court where there is no will, or where no named executor qualifies, is an administrator; the Estates Code's umbrella term for either is personal representative.
- Draft the application. Neither Smith County office supplies one, and the court says so directly: "Neither the Court nor the County Clerk have forms for the application and other documents necessary to file a probate matter." Texas publishes no comprehensive set of probate procedure forms either, so the application, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order, the oath and the inventory are drafted documents. Check County Court at Law No. 3's forms library and administrative orders first, because the court requires its own approved form for a small estate affidavit, for dependent administration annual accounts and for guardianship annual reports.
- File with the Smith County Clerk, Probate Division, 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, Tyler, TX 75702. Attorneys must file electronically through eFileTexas.gov; in the county's words, "attorneys are now required to electronically file (e-file) documents in Probate cases in all Texas Counties. Unrepresented (pro se) parties and case participants who are not attorneys may e-file but are not required to do so", which matches Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1). The court does not accept fax filings. If you are filing without a lawyer and want to hand or mail papers to the counter, call the Probate Department at 903-590-4677 or 903-590-4678 first and ask what the office will take.
- Deliver the original will to the County Clerk within three business days. This is statewide and there is no electronic substitute: when a party electronically files an application to probate a document as an original will, the original will must be filed with the clerk within three business days after the application is filed (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). Take or send the wet-ink original to the Probate Division at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, Tyler, TX 75702, and call ahead if you are mailing it.
- Pay the fee for the application you actually filed. Smith County prices each one separately on its published schedule: $404.00 to probate a will and issue Letters Testamentary or letters of independent administration, $402.00 for a muniment of title, $406.00 for a dependent or temporary administration, $524.00 for a determination of heirship with no administration, $568.00 for heirship together with letters of administration, and $362.00 for a small estate affidavit. Each of those totals is built on the same statewide statutory base of $360 (a $223 local consolidated fee under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) plus a $137 state consolidated fee under § 133.151(a)(1)). The clerk takes credit and debit cards, cash, cashier's checks, personal checks with proper identification, and money orders. A filer who cannot afford the cost files a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, the statewide form required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145, which the county publishes on its own Probate page.
- Let the citation issue and be served. The county's published fee for most applications, though not the small estate affidavit, already includes one posted citation, and the clerk's own Request for Issuance of Citation form is where you ask for anything more, choosing personal service, posting, publication or certified mail. In a determination of heirship the published fee already covers one published citation with service on the newspaper, which the schedule notes is required. Nothing is heard until the citation period has run and the return is on file.
- Get a setting from County Court at Law No. 3. The court publishes its probate docket dates on its own page and answers the day question directly: "Probate matters and Guardianship matters: Monday afternoon", in the courtroom at 200 E Ferguson, Suite 100, in the Smith County Courthouse Annex. Call 903-590-4611 with probate questions about a setting. If the applicant and the witnesses live outside the region, ask about the court's monthly video setting, and expect to wait longer for one.
- Attend the hearing. Uncontested probate and guardianship hearings are held in person in the first-floor Annex courtroom unless the court has granted a video setting. The court notes that only contested matters and compliance cases are transcribed as a matter of course, and asks a party who wants the court reporter to take down an ordinary hearing to tell the Probate Administrator in advance.
- Collect the letters. On an admitted will the court grants Letters Testamentary to a qualifying executor (Estates Code § 306.001); where there is no will, or no named executor qualifies, it grants Letters of Administration (§ 306.002). Smith County charges $2.00 for each set (Local Government Code § 118.061), so order enough for every bank, transfer agent and title company the estate has to deal with.
- Administer the estate and file what the statute requires, with the Smith County Clerk. The steps that follow, including notice to beneficiaries after an order admitting a will (§ 308.002), the published notice to creditors within one month of receiving letters (§ 308.051), notice to secured creditors within two months (§ 308.053), and the inventory, which must be filed with the court clerk before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies unless the court grants longer (§ 309.051(a)), are set by state statute and apply the same way in every Texas county. The county's own answer matches: asked when the inventory is due, the court says "It is due 90 days from date of qualification." Where the estate runs as an independent administration, the court's involvement after the appointment order and the inventory is deliberately minimal (Estates Code chapters 401 to 405).
Executor duties
The duties of a personal representative are set by the Estates Code and are the same across Texas: give the beneficiaries notice within 60 days of the order admitting the will (§ 308.002), publish notice to creditors within one month of receiving letters (§ 308.051), notify secured creditors within two months (§ 308.053), and file the inventory before the 91st day after qualifying unless the court grants longer (§ 309.051(a)). Smith County adds a small number of local requirements on top of those, and they are worth knowing before you qualify.
File the inventory on time or pay for it. The county's fee schedule carries a line for a late inventory, filed after 90 days from the date of qualification or after an extended deadline, at $27.00. A timely inventory, or an affidavit in lieu of it in an independent administration, costs nothing at the counter.
Use the court's form for a dependent administration annual account. County Court at Law No. 3 publishes an Administrative Order Requiring the Use of the Court's Approved Form for Dependent Administration Annual Accounts, and the court's own answer confirms that it supplies the template: "The Court has a sample form to use when filing annual accounts in guardianship estates and dependent administrations." On timing, the court's answer for an administration is that the annual account is due "Upon the expiration of twelve months from the date of qualification." The county prices an annual account at $27.00 and a final account at $27.00, and a claim against the estate at $10.00.
Stay in good standing, and expect to be called if you do not. The court publishes a standing order on the requirement of good standing in probate and guardianship matters and a Standing Order of Instruction Relating to Suspended Probate and Guardianship Cases, and sets aside Friday compliance and status dockets on its published calendar for cases with something outstanding.
In an independent administration, most of this happens without going back to court. Once the order appointing the independent executor is entered and the inventory or the affidavit in lieu of it is filed, further action in the court is limited to what the statute specifically provides for (Estates Code chapters 401 to 405). Filings that are required still go to the Smith County Clerk's Probate Division.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Smith County
There is no application form in Smith County, and the county says so in its own answer: "Neither the Court nor the County Clerk have forms for the application and other documents necessary to file a probate matter." Texas as a whole publishes no comprehensive set of probate procedure forms either. The Texas Judicial Branch forms page carries will forms, a transfer on death deed kit and civil forms in this area, and the Supreme Court of Texas has not promulgated a small estate affidavit form or a muniment of title form under Government Code § 22.020(b)(1), even though the Legislature directed it to (Estates Code chapters 205 and 257). So the application, the proof of death and other facts, the proposed order, the oath and the inventory in a Smith County estate are drafted documents.
What Smith County does publish is a set of local documents around the application, and two of them are mandatory in the sense that the court has ordered its own version to be used. County Court at Law No. 3 publishes an Administrative Order Requiring the Use of the Court's Approved Form for Small Estate Affidavits, an Administrative Order Requiring the Use of the Court's Approved Form for Dependent Administration Annual Accounts and an Administrative Order Requiring the Use of the Court's Approved Form for Guardianship Annual Reports, alongside an Administrative Order Regarding All Probate and Guardianship Proceedings, an Administrative Order Authorizing $500 Fee to be Collected by the County Clerk for Attorney Ad Litem Appointments, a Standing Order of Instruction Relating to Application to Determine Heirship, a Standing Order of Instruction Relating to Suspended Probate and Guardianship Cases and a standing order on the requirement of good standing in probate and guardianship matters. Read the ones that touch your filing on the court's own page before you draft, and ask the court if you cannot open one.
One more local rule sits inside the fee schedule rather than in an order: "Per Smith County Local Order signed March 17, 2011 'All Applications to Determine Heirship shall contain the date of birth of each heir listed in the application'." If you are filing an heirship application in Smith County, put every heir's date of birth in it.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| County Court at Law No. 3, probate page (smith-county.com) | The court that hears Smith County estates: its published probate docket calendar, the monthly video-hearing settings and their condition, and the full list of its administrative and standing orders on probate and guardianship |
| County Court at Law No. 3 forms library (smith-county.com) | The court's own forms collection, including the approved forms its administrative orders require for small estate affidavits, dependent administration annual accounts and guardianship annual reports |
| Request for Issuance of Citation (smith-county.com) | The Smith County Clerk's own form for asking the clerk to issue a citation beyond the one included in the filing fee, with a choice of personal service, posting, publication or certified mail |
| Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (smith-county.com) | The statewide fee-waiver form required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145, published by the county on its own Probate page. The clerk must accept the filing |
| Smith County probate fee schedule (smith-county.com) | The county's itemized probate and guardianship fee schedule, effective January 1, 2022: the total for each type of application, what each total includes, the price of additional citations and service, and the March 17, 2011 local order on heirship applications |
| Texas Judicial Branch court forms (txcourts.gov) | The statewide forms that do exist, including the Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs and the Supreme Court of Texas will forms. There is no statewide application, order, oath or inventory form |
Fees
Smith County publishes one of the more detailed probate fee schedules in Texas, "Smith County Probate Court Fee Schedule Details", effective January 1, 2022 and issued over the County Clerk's name. It prices each type of application as an all-in total and prints the authority for every component, and the components reconcile exactly to the statewide statutory base: the twelve local fund lines it lists add up to the $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)), and it prints the $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)) as a line of its own. Those two make the $360 base that is the same in every Texas county and that has been in effect since January 1, 2022, when S.B. 41 set the amounts. Smith then adds a $2.00 county judge order fee, a $2.00 oath fee where an oath is taken, and a $40.00 sheriff posting fee, which is what produces the totals below. Confirm the current figures with the Probate Department at 903-590-4677 before you file.
| Filing | Total in Smith County | What the total is made of |
|---|---|---|
| Probate of a will with Letters Testamentary, or letters of independent administration | $404.00 | The $360 statutory base ($223 local consolidated fee, Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1), plus $137 state consolidated fee, § 133.151(a)(1)), plus a $2.00 county judge order fee (§ 118.101), a $2.00 oath fee and a $40.00 sheriff posting fee (§ 118.131). The county's schedule notes the fee includes one posted citation |
| Probate of a will as a muniment of title (Estates Code chapter 257) | $402.00 | The same components without the oath fee, because no personal representative is appointed and no oath is taken. Includes one posted citation, per the county's schedule |
| Dependent administration, or temporary administration | $406.00 | As for a will probate, with a $4.00 county judge order fee in place of $2.00, per the county's schedule. Includes one posted citation |
| Determination of heirship with no administration | $524.00 | The statutory base plus a $4.00 county judge order fee, a $40.00 sheriff posting fee, a $40.00 citation by publication posting fee and an $80.00 published citation, per the county's schedule. It notes the fee includes one published citation with service on the newspaper, which is required |
| Determination of heirship together with letters of administration | $568.00 | The heirship components plus the administration's own posting and oath items, per the county's schedule. It includes posted citations for both parts and the required published citation |
| Small estate affidavit (Estates Code chapter 205), and several other listed applications | $362.00 | The $360 statutory base plus the $2.00 county judge order fee (§ 118.101). The county's schedule prices a foreign will, an examination of a safety deposit box, a community property survivorship agreement, a petition for declaratory judgment after probate and a bill of review at the same figure |
| Later contested or adverse action, contest, counterclaim or motion for new trial | $120.00 | $75 under Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(2) plus $45 under § 133.151(a)(2), the statewide amount for an action other than the original application. The county's schedule prints the same total and notes that citation fees are not included |
| Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration | $2.00 each | The statutory per-document fee the county clerk collects (Local Government Code § 118.061). Order enough sets for every institution the estate deals with |
| Depositing a will for safekeeping before death | $5.00 | Estates Code § 252.001 and Local Government Code § 118.062. The county's Probate page confirms the $5 fee and notes: "Safekeeping a will does not make it a public record" |
| Service of a citation by the sheriff or constable, or by certified mail through the clerk | $80.00 each | The county's schedule and its Request for Issuance of Citation form. Sheriff and constable fees are set by the commissioners court, which may not set them higher than is necessary to pay the expenses of providing the service (Local Government Code § 118.131). Certified mail service adds current postage |
| Inventory filed late | $27.00 | The county's schedule lists a late inventory, filed after 90 days from the date of qualification or after an extended deadline, at $25.00 plus a $2.00 county judge fee. A timely inventory or affidavit in lieu of it carries no clerk fee, and the statutory deadline is before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies (Estates Code § 309.051(a)) |
| If you cannot afford the fee | No cost | File a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, the statewide form required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145, which Smith County publishes on its own Probate page. The court must waive the electronic filing fee for a person it determines is indigent (Government Code § 72.031(f)) |
Three cautions. The base $360 is fixed by statute and is identical in all 254 Texas counties, so what differs in Smith County is the service, posting, publication and ad litem items layered on top, not the filing fee itself. Additional citations are $8.00 each on the county's schedule, matching the statutory issuing-document fee (Local Government Code § 118.059), but the clerk's own citation request form prints a different amount, so ask the Probate Department what it will charge before you order extras. And County Court at Law No. 3 publishes an Administrative Order Authorizing $500 Fee to be Collected by the County Clerk for Attorney Ad Litem Appointments, so budget for that where the court has to appoint an attorney ad litem, which is routine in an heirship.
Timeline
- Ask County Court at Law No. 3 for a setting once the application is on file. Probate questions go to 903-590-4611. The court publishes the dates it has set on its own page, so check the calendar there before you book travel.
- Expect a Monday. Asked what days of the week it holds hearings, the court answers: "Probate matters and Guardianship matters: Monday afternoon", at 200 E Ferguson, Suite 100, in the Smith County Courthouse Annex. The published calendar is almost entirely Mondays.
- Watch for the Friday compliance settings. Several Fridays on the court's published calendar are marked "Compliance / Status", which is where cases with an outstanding requirement are called.
- Ask about the monthly video setting only if you qualify. The court marks roughly one docket a month as a "Zoom Option" and states the condition: "In order to set a Zoom hearing, the applicant/witnesses must live outside this region. Zoom hearings will be held once a month, so be aware that there may be a delay in getting a setting. Please contact the Court for available dates."
- Tell the court in advance if you want a record. Only contested matters and compliance cases are transcribed as a matter of course; a party who wants the court reporter to take down an ordinary hearing is asked to advise the Probate Administrator.
- Do not plan around a filing-to-hearing interval. Smith County publishes its docket dates and its hearing day but no waiting time, and the only duration it does publish is for guardianships, where the court says it takes approximately four to six weeks to put one in place. Ask the court what the next available probate date looks like rather than assuming.
Local nuance
Smith County-specific considerations
One bench hears everything, and it is a county court at law. Smith County has no statutory probate court, and although the Smith County Court and all three county courts at law hold concurrent original probate jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.0003(d)), the county sends the work to one place: County Court at Law No. 3, whose page states that it "also handles the administration of Texas Probate Laws, hearing all the probate and guardianship matters filed in Smith County", with Judge Clay White presiding. The county's own list of what its courts at law do names "Contested probate matters (County Court at Law 3)" as well, so a contest that would be transferred under § 32.004 in another county generally stays with the same judge here.
The county's "Probate Court" label is a description of that docket, not a separate court. The clerk's Probate page says "The County Clerk serves as Clerk of the Court for the Smith County Probate Court" and then explains itself: the court "is a Constitutional Court that operates under the jurisdiction of the Honorable Judge Clay White in the County Court at Law No. 3." Read that as the county naming its own docket. Smith County is not one of the twelve Texas counties with a statutory probate court, and Government Code § 25.2141 lists its three courts as county courts at law.
Three buildings, three purposes, and it is easy to go to the wrong one. Filings and file review happen at the County Clerk's Probate Division, third floor, 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300. Uncontested probate and guardianship hearings happen downstairs in the same building, in the first-floor courtroom at 200 E Ferguson, Suite 100, the Smith County Courthouse Annex. County Court at Law No. 3's own courtroom and chambers are across at 100 N. Broadway, Room 303, in the Smith County Courthouse. The clerk's other counters are elsewhere again: official public records sit in the basement of the Annex.
The court publishes its own orders and expects you to have read them. County Court at Law No. 3 posts an Administrative Order Regarding All Probate and Guardianship Proceedings, administrative orders requiring the court's approved form for small estate affidavits, dependent administration annual accounts and guardianship annual reports, a standing order of instruction on applications to determine heirship, a standing order on suspended probate and guardianship cases, and a standing order on the requirement of good standing in probate and guardianship matters. A filer who drafts from a generic Texas template and ignores them is the filer whose case ends up on a Friday compliance setting.
Heirship applications must carry dates of birth. The county's fee schedule reproduces the requirement: "Per Smith County Local Order signed March 17, 2011 'All Applications to Determine Heirship shall contain the date of birth of each heir listed in the application'." Heirship is also the most expensive route on the county's schedule, at $524.00 without an administration and $568.00 with letters of administration, because it carries both posted and published citations.
Case indexes are online but images are not. The county runs its own Smith County Judicial Search and publishes its coverage as "Probate cases from 1992 to current", then adds the catch: "Indexes are available online, but images are available only at the County Clerk's office, Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm." For copies without a trip, the county points to a shared mailbox, [email protected].
Small-estate Alternatives
Smith County is one of the counties where the small estate affidavit route comes with a local form requirement. County Court at Law No. 3 publishes an Administrative Order Requiring the Use of the Court's Approved Form for Small Estate Affidavits, so before you draft anything, open the court's forms library and use its version. Texas has no statewide small estate affidavit form to fall back on: the Legislature directed the Supreme Court of Texas to promulgate one (Government Code § 22.020(b)(1)(A)) and it has not, which is exactly why individual courts publish their own.
The county clerk prices a small estate affidavit at $362.00 on its published probate fee schedule, effective January 1, 2022, which is the statewide statutory base of $360 (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1) and § 133.151(a)(1)) plus the county's $2.00 county judge order fee (§ 118.101). Who may use the route, what the affidavit must contain and what it can and cannot transfer are set by state statute (Estates Code chapter 205) and are covered on the Texas state page; the judge's approval of an affidavit is discretionary, so a form that does not meet the chapter's requirements will not be approved. If you are unsure whether the route fits, call the Probate Department at 903-590-4677 before you pay the fee.
Recent updates
| Change | What it means in Smith County |
|---|---|
| Probate fee schedule effective January 1, 2022 | The Smith County Clerk publishes an itemized probate and guardianship fee schedule dated effective January 1, 2022, which prices each application as a total and prints the authority for every component. Its amounts still match the statutory consolidated fees in force, so the date does not make it stale, but the county asks that current figures be confirmed with the Probate Department |
| Local order signed March 17, 2011 on heirship applications | Reproduced on the county's fee schedule: "All Applications to Determine Heirship shall contain the date of birth of each heir listed in the application". An heirship application filed without the dates of birth does not comply |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Smith County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the Tyler-area home was held with a right of survivorship or passed under a recorded transfer on death deed, it goes to the survivor outside the estate and the court is not involved in the house itself. Where other assets stood in the decedent's sole name, the spouse applies through the Smith County Clerk's Probate Division at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, the case goes to County Court at Law No. 3, and the wet-ink original will has to reach the clerk within three business days of an electronically filed application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). Budget $404.00, the county's published total for probating a will and issuing Letters Testamentary, and expect a Monday afternoon setting in the first-floor Annex courtroom. | Asset discovery to establish how the home and the accounts are titled and what actually has to reach the court. Packet generation for the Smith County filing, drafted to the court's own orders and approved forms. A vetted attorney referral if title or a claim turns out to be disputed. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | This is the situation Smith County's video setting exists for. Attorneys must e-file through eFileTexas.gov, and the county states that unrepresented parties "may e-file but are not required to do so", so most of the paperwork can be handled from a distance. County Court at Law No. 3 marks roughly one docket a month as a video option and states the condition: the applicant and witnesses must live outside the region, and there may be a delay in getting that setting. Two things still tie the case to Tyler: the original will must reach the County Clerk within three business days of the application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and record images can be viewed only at the clerk's counter, although copies can be requested by email. If the estate qualifies for the small estate affidavit route, use the court's approved form, which the fee schedule prices at $362.00. | Asset discovery to size the estate from out of state and confirm which route fits before anyone books a flight. Packet generation so the filing is accepted the first time. Attorney referral where a video setting is not available and local counsel is the practical answer. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | Selling real property means someone needs the authority document, so this goes through an administration in County Court at Law No. 3. If there is no will, the heirs usually have to be established first, and Smith County prices that combination at $568.00 for a determination of heirship together with letters of administration, a total that already includes the posted citations and the required published citation; the county's March 17, 2011 local order also requires every heir's date of birth in the application, and the court publishes a standing order of instruction on heirship applications. Expect the court to appoint an attorney ad litem, for which it has authorized a $500 fee collected by the County Clerk. Order Letters of Administration at $2.00 each (Estates Code § 306.002; Local Government Code § 118.061), because the title company will want a recent set, and file the inventory with the clerk before the 91st day after qualifying (§ 309.051(a)). | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, insurance and real property. Packet generation for the heirship and administration filings and the inventory. Attorney referral where a sale, a mortgage payoff or a disagreement among heirs makes counsel worthwhile, which matters here because a contested matter is handled by the same county court at law (Estates Code § 32.004). |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Smith County Clerk, Probate page (smith-county.com), 903-590-4677 or 903-590-4678 | The filing office for estates: the Probate Division's role, the e-filing statement, the county's fee schedule, the will-safekeeping fee, the case-data search link and the shared mailbox for copy requests. The county is explicit that clerks cannot give legal advice, so bring procedure questions, not legal ones |
| Smith County Clerk (smith-county.com), 903-590-4670 | The clerk's main page and directory entry: the Suite 300 address, hours of Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which departments sit on which floor, and the county holiday closures |
| County Court at Law No. 3 (smith-county.com), 903-590-4611 for probate questions | The court that hears Smith County estates: the published probate docket calendar, the monthly video-hearing option and its condition, and the court's administrative and standing orders on probate and guardianship |
| Smith County probate and guardianship questions (smith-county.com) | The court's own answers on hearing days, where files are kept, whether it takes fax filings, when the inventory and annual accounts are due, and the fact that neither the court nor the clerk supplies an application form |
| Smith County probate fee schedule (smith-county.com) | The itemized total for each type of probate and guardianship application, effective January 1, 2022, with the authority for every component and the price of extra citations and service |
| Smith County Judicial Search (portal.smith-county.com) | The county's own case search, covering probate cases from 1992 to the present. Indexes are online; document images are available only at the County Clerk's office during counter hours |
| eFileTexas.gov | Registration for the statewide electronic filing system, the list of certified electronic filing service providers, and filing instructions. This is where a Smith County probate application is filed |
| re:SearchTX (research.txcourts.gov) | The statewide court records portal, run by the Office of Court Administration with Tyler Technologies. Free registration is required, documents are charged for, and the portal states that it provides an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian. For Smith County matters the county's own search is the better starting point |
| Texas State Law Library probate research guide (guides.sll.texas.gov), (844) 829-2843 toll free in Texas | The strongest government self-help source for Texas probate, from a state agency: general information, probating a will, when there is no will, executors, formal administration, informal methods and legal forms. The library's own caveat is that it cannot tell you what the law means for your situation |
| Smith County Law Library, in the Texas law libraries directory (guides.sll.texas.gov), 100 North Broadway, Tyler, (903) 590-1750 | A county law library open to the public, listed in the Texas State Law Library's directory. The directory is curated rather than exhaustive, so contact the library directly about hours and public access |
| TexasCourtHelp.gov | General information and videos about making your way through the Texas court system, published by the Texas Judicial Branch |
| TexasLawHelp.org, wills, estate planning and probate (texaslawhelp.org) | Plain-language Texas probate articles and self-help toolkits from the Texas Legal Services Center, a non-profit. Useful for orientation; it is not a court site, and County Court at Law No. 3 requires its own approved form for some filings |
| Lone Star Legal Aid, Tyler office (lonestarlegal.org), (903) 595-4781 or toll free (800) 248-0048 | Free civil legal help for eligible low-income residents. Lone Star Legal Aid assigns Smith County to its Tyler office at 110 North College, Suite 302, open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with non-emergency intake Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Confirm it can take a decedent's estate matter before relying on it |
| State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral and Information Service (texasbar.com), (800) 252-9690 | Referrals to Texas attorneys, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central, Spanish spoken. The initial consultation is capped at $20 for 30 minutes. It is a referral service, not a reduced-fee or pro bono program |
| Texas Estates Code (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) | The statute itself, including the court structure provisions in chapter 32, venue in chapter 33, letters in chapter 306, notices in chapter 308 and the inventory in chapter 309 |
When to hire an attorney
Uncontested Smith County estates can be handled without a lawyer, and the county directs procedural questions to the clerk's Probate Department at 903-590-4677. 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, when a business or out-of-state property is involved, or when a guardianship has to run alongside the estate. Three local factors weigh in favor of an attorney more than they might elsewhere. Neither the court nor the County Clerk publishes an application form, so every opening document is drafted from scratch. County Court at Law No. 3 runs its probate docket on its own administrative and standing orders, and requires its approved form for several filings, so a generic template invites a compliance setting. And heirship, the route most often needed when there is no will, is the county's most expensive filing and draws an attorney ad litem appointment for which the court has authorized a $500 fee collected by the County Clerk. The county states plainly that clerks cannot give legal advice, and the court says the same about its own staff. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Smith County and the surrounding East Texas counties.
How Sunset helps
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, Smith County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in Tyler.
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted for Smith County's requirements, including the court's approved forms and its local order on heirship applications, ready to file with the Smith County Clerk's Probate Division.
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 Smith 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).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file for probate in Smith County?
With the Smith County Clerk's Probate Division, on the third floor of the Smith County Annex Building at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, Tyler, TX 75702. The county states that "The County Clerk serves as Clerk of the Court for the Smith County Probate Court", which is the county's own name for its probate docket rather than a separate court: Smith County has no statutory probate court, and the case is heard by County Court at Law No. 3, which the county says hears all the probate and guardianship matters filed in Smith County. File in Smith County if the decedent lived here and had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas (Estates Code § 33.001(a)(1)).
Is e-filing required for probate in Smith County?
For attorneys, yes. The county states that "attorneys are now required to electronically file (e-file) documents in Probate cases in all Texas Counties" and that "Unrepresented (pro se) parties and case participants who are not attorneys may e-file but are not required to do so", which is the statewide rule (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(1)). Filing goes through eFileTexas.gov. The court does not accept fax filings. If you are filing without a lawyer and want to use paper, call the Probate Department at 903-590-4677 or 903-590-4678 and ask what the office will take.
What do I do with the original will in Smith County?
E-file a copy with the application, then get the wet-ink original to the County Clerk. The statewide rule is that when a party electronically files an application to probate a document as an original will, the original will must be filed with the clerk within three business days after the application is filed (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)). Deliver or send it to the Probate Division at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, Tyler, TX 75702, and call ahead if you are mailing it. There is no electronic way to satisfy this. Separately, a living person can deposit a will with the Smith County Clerk for safekeeping for $5 (Estates Code § 252.001), which the county notes does not make the will a public record.
When are probate hearings held in Smith County, and can I appear remotely?
County Court at Law No. 3 answers the day question directly: "Probate matters and Guardianship matters: Monday afternoon", in the courtroom at 200 E Ferguson, Suite 100, in the Smith County Courthouse Annex, and it publishes its docket dates on its own page. Remote appearance is possible but conditional: roughly one docket a month is marked as a video option, and the court states that "In order to set a Zoom hearing, the applicant/witnesses must live outside this region. Zoom hearings will be held once a month, so be aware that there may be a delay in getting a setting." Call 903-590-4611 with probate questions about a setting.
How much does it cost to file probate in Smith County?
$404.00 to probate a will and have Letters Testamentary issued, per the county's own probate fee schedule effective January 1, 2022. That is the statewide statutory base of $360, made up of a $223 local consolidated fee (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(1)) and a $137 state consolidated fee (§ 133.151(a)(1)), both in effect since January 1, 2022, plus Smith County's $2.00 county judge order fee, $2.00 oath fee and $40.00 sheriff posting fee, and it includes one posted citation. Other applications are priced separately: $402.00 for a muniment of title, $406.00 for a dependent administration, $362.00 for a small estate affidavit, $524.00 for a determination of heirship without an administration and $568.00 with letters of administration. A later contested or adverse action is $120.00. Letters cost $2.00 each. If you cannot afford the cost, file a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145).
Are there local probate forms in Smith County?
There is no application form, and the county says so: "Neither the Court nor the County Clerk have forms for the application and other documents necessary to file a probate matter." There are local forms around it. County Court at Law No. 3 publishes administrative orders requiring the use of the court's approved form for small estate affidavits, for dependent administration annual accounts and for guardianship annual reports, and the clerk publishes a Request for Issuance of Citation form and the statewide Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs. Check the court's forms library before you draft.
How do I look up a Smith County probate case online?
Use the Smith County Judicial Search, the county's own portal at portal.smith-county.com/Public, which the clerk links as "Search Case Data". The county publishes its coverage as "Probate cases from 1992 to current". Images are the limit: "Indexes are available online, but images are available only at the County Clerk's office, Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm." You can email the Probate Division at [email protected] for copies. Documents e-filed in a Smith County case may also appear in the statewide re:SearchTX portal, which requires free registration and charges for documents, and which states that it supplies an unofficial copy and that the clerk of the court is the official custodian.
What happens if someone contests the will in Smith County?
It stays inside the county's own courts. In a county with a 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, transfer the contested matter to the county court at law, and may transfer the entire proceeding there (Estates Code § 32.004). Nothing is assigned out to a statutory probate court judge or transferred to a district court on that route. Because Smith County already sends estates to County Court at Law No. 3, and its own list of court business names "Contested probate matters (County Court at Law 3)", a contest usually continues in front of the same judge. Filing a contest or other adverse action costs $120.00 (Local Government Code § 135.102(a)(2) and § 133.151(a)(2)).
How long do I have to probate a will in Smith County, and when is the inventory due?
The county's own answer on the will is "4 years from date of death", which reflects the statute: a will may not be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the testator's death unless it is shown by proof that the applicant was not in default in failing to present it earlier (Estates Code § 256.003(a)), and even then letters usually cannot issue. On the inventory, the county answers "It is due 90 days from date of qualification"; the statute puts it as before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies, unless the court grants longer (§ 309.051(a)). Smith County charges $27.00 for an inventory filed late, and nothing for one filed on time.
Do I have to travel to Tyler to settle an estate in Smith County?
Usually at least once. Applications are filed electronically through eFileTexas.gov, questions go to the Probate Department at 903-590-4677 and copies can be requested by email, but hearings are held in person on Monday afternoons in the Annex courtroom at 200 E Ferguson unless the court grants one of its monthly video settings, which it limits to applicants and witnesses who live outside the region. The original will must also reach the County Clerk within three business days of the application (Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f)(12)), and record images can be viewed only at the counter, which is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Shaped by the families we've helped
Thank you to the thousands of families who have trusted Sunset to help settle their loved ones' estates. This page is shaped by the questions they actually asked and the obstacles they actually hit — and that hard-won experience is what keeps it accurate, current, and genuinely useful to the families who come next.