Titus County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Mount Pleasant, 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 here because Titus County publishes no fill-in probate forms of its own, so every application, order and oath is a drafted document, even though the county does publish a detailed dated fee schedule to plan against.

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

The Titus County Courthouse at 100 West First Street in Mount Pleasant is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch or satellite counter for estates. The 76th District Court (Hon. Angela Saucier) and the 276th District Court (Hon. Michael P. Kopech) also sit in Mount Pleasant, at 105 W. 1st Street, but do not open estates.

Venue is straightforward for a Titus County 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)). 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)).

Titus County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law: Government Code Chapter 25 contains no Titus County entries. So the Titus County Court, the constitutional county court, has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(a)), and the elected County Judge presides.

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. A party's motion for assignment 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)). 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)).

Titus County runs its own probate case search, which is genuinely unusual for a county this size. The search is reached through a link on the clerk's Court Records page, and the clerk's Court Dockets page describes the coverage: "Probate Court: Court cases involving wills, guardianship, trust and other probate matters from 1993 forward." The Court Records page notes the information is extracted from the County Clerk's database and "is not for official use."

There is a named probate-guardianship deputy. The County Clerk's own staff list separates duties by area, and names Paula Hurndon, Chief Deputy, as the Probate-Guardianship contact, distinct from the criminal, civil, recording and vitals deputies.

The county publishes a fully itemized, dated probate fee schedule. Titus County's Fees page states, "Pursuant to SB41 the County Clerk fee schedule has changed effective January 1, 2022," and the linked schedule, revised November 22, 2024, prices each probate case type line by line, so a filer can see exactly what the total is made of before filing.

No local rules are set. The County Clerk's own "Local Rules of Court" page states, "NO RULES OF COURT SET BY JUDGE AT THIS TIME," which the page treats as an affirmative fact rather than a gap.

One court, one counter, and the district courts only enter the picture on a contest. Titus County has no statutory probate court and no county court at law, so the Titus County Court hears the estate (Estates Code § 32.002(a)) and the County Clerk in Suite 204 takes the filing. The 76th and 276th District Courts sit in the same county but do not open estates; a district court reaches a Titus 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)).

Plenty of uncontested Titus County estates are handled without a lawyer, particularly where the assets are modest and the family agrees on who inherits. Counsel earns its keep 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 guardianship has to run alongside the estate. Titus County publishes no probate forms of its own, so every document is drafted from scratch, even though its detailed dated fee schedule and its own case search make the process easier to track than in most small counties. 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)), which is a procedural fork that is easy to miss without counsel. County Clerk staff, including the named probate-guardianship deputy, can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Titus County.

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

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted to fit Titus County's process, ready to e-file through eFileTexas.gov or file with the Titus 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 Titus 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).