Travis County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Travis County, know what is in the estate, how each asset is titled, and what is owed. Which Texas route fits depends on whether there is a will, whether the estate owes unpaid debts other than debts secured by liens on real estate, whether all the heirs agree, and what the assets are actually worth. Those routes are created by state statute and are identical in all 254 counties, so they are covered on the Texas state page. Getting the route right before your first filing matters more in Travis County than in most Texas counties, for two published reasons. The courts require a licensed attorney for letters and heirship applications, so the routes a person can bring alone are narrow. And the courts' own small estate affidavit checklist warns that many affidavits are denied for problems that cannot be fixed and the applicants lose their filing fees, and that the court will always check the real property records before approving one.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle, business interest and parcel of Travis County real estate, along with every debt, before you file. Titling decides whether an asset reaches the court at all: property held with a right of survivorship, accounts with a named beneficiary, and Austin-area land covered by a transfer on death deed recorded before death pass directly to the survivor or beneficiary and never reach a probate court. Debts matter just as much here, because a muniment of title requires each applicant to swear on personal knowledge that there are no debts against the estate other than those secured by liens against real estate, and the courts spell out that this includes credit card balances, doctor's bills, utility bills and Medicaid estate recovery claims (Estates Code § 257.001). Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step, so the application you or your attorney file describes the estate accurately the first time, and so the inventory that follows is right.

Travis County's probate work runs through two statutory probate courts and one filing counter. Probate Court No. 1 of Travis County and Probate Court No. 2 of Travis County are created by Government Code § 25.2291(c), and in a county that has a statutory probate court, that court has original jurisdiction of probate proceedings (Estates Code § 32.002(c)). Every application, whatever the route, is filed with the Travis County Clerk's Probate Division at 200 W 8th Street, Room 140, Austin, TX 78701, because the county clerk serves as clerk of each statutory probate court (Government Code § 25.0030(b)). There is no branch or annex probate counter for opening an estate, and the county's nine county courts at law cannot take a probate case at all: in a county that has a statutory probate court, a statutory probate court is the only county court created by statute with probate jurisdiction (Government Code § 25.0003(e)). The two courts serve the entire county, including Austin, Pflugerville, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Lago Vista, Jonestown, Manor, Rollingwood, West Lake Hills, Sunset Valley, Point Venture, Volente, Briarcliff, The Hills, San Leanna, Creedmoor, Webberville and Mustang Ridge, the Travis County portions of Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock and Elgin, and unincorporated communities including Del Valle, Manchaca, Garfield and Hornsby Bend.

Venue is the county where the decedent lived. You file in the county in which the decedent resided, 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)). This matters more in Austin than most people expect, because the city itself crosses county lines and the metropolitan area spans five counties. An Austin, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock or Del Valle mailing address does not by itself put an estate in Travis County: homes with those addresses can sit in Williamson or Hays County, and Bastrop and Caldwell County addresses sit close by, each county with its own court and its own filing counter, and none of those four has a statutory probate court. The courts' own small estate affidavit checklist makes the same point from the other direction, stating that an affidavit cannot be approved in Travis County unless the decedent was residing in Travis County on the date of death or other facts indicate Travis County is the appropriate place to file. Confirm which county the decedent's home actually sat in before you file.

Which of the two courts hears your case is decided by statute, not by you, and Travis is one of the few Texas counties where that rule is written into the Government Code. The county clerk must docket all mental health matters in Probate Court No. 2, all odd-numbered probate, guardianship and trust cases and related cases in Probate Court No. 1, and all even-numbered ones in Probate Court No. 2 (Government Code § 25.2293(e)), and the Local Rules of Travis County Probate Courts No. 1 and No. 2, updated June 2024 repeat the rule verbatim. Two more assignment rules come from the same section: a statutory probate court has eminent domain jurisdiction, and every eminent domain proceeding in the county is filed and docketed in Probate Court No. 1 (§ 25.2293(c)), and Probate Court No. 2 has primary responsibility for mental health matters (§ 25.2293(d)), which is why the courts describe Probate Court No. 2 as the county's designated mental health court and why its commitment hearings sit at Austin State Hospital. The local rules add that the judges may sit and act for each other in either court with no formal appointment order, that they may transfer cases to each other for judicial economy or docket equalization, and that they choose a Local Administrative Probate Judge from among themselves for a term beginning January 1 of every odd year. Once the clerk assigns a cause number, all pleadings in the case must be filed under that same number unless the court orders a severance or consolidation.

A contested matter does not leave the probate court here, and that is the single biggest structural difference between Travis County and most of Texas. In a county with a statutory probate court, that court has exclusive jurisdiction of all probate proceedings, regardless of whether contested or uncontested, and a cause of action related to the probate proceeding must be brought in a statutory probate court unless its jurisdiction is concurrent with a district court under Estates Code § 32.007 or with another court (§ 32.005(a)). So there is no transfer to a district court and no request for an assigned judge when a will contest or an heirship dispute breaks out: the same Travis County probate judge keeps the case, hears the ancillary lawsuits the courts describe as ranging from products liability to fiduciary litigation, and tries it to a jury if it comes to that. Travis publishes a real contested track around that: a yearly calendar of jury and non-jury weeks, a standing pretrial scheduling order for jury trials, at least one pretrial hearing in every case set on the jury docket, a court policy encouraging mediation and other alternative dispute resolution, and a dismissal docket that reaches contested cases on file more than 180 days with no answer and cases on file more than 12 months that are not set for trial and have had no settings or substantive filings in 180 days (the Local Rules of Travis County Probate Courts No. 1 and No. 2, updated June 2024). One more Travis fact belongs here even though it concerns other counties: Judge Guy Herman of Probate Court No. 1 serves as the Presiding Judge for the Statutory Probate Judges of Texas, so the statewide desk that assigns a statutory probate judge to a contested matter in a county that has no probate court of its own (Government Code § 25.0022) sits in Travis County and takes those requests at (512) 854-5518.

The statute, not a local rule, decides which court gets your case. Travis is one of the few Texas counties whose probate docket-assignment rule is written into the Government Code, and it is worth knowing because it explains something readers find arbitrary. The county clerk must docket all mental health matters in Probate Court No. 2, all odd-numbered probate, guardianship and trust cases and related cases in Probate Court No. 1, and all even-numbered ones in Probate Court No. 2 (Government Code § 25.2293(e)), and the Local Rules of Travis County Probate Courts No. 1 and No. 2, updated June 2024 restate the rule. So the court you get is decided by the cause number the clerk assigns. Once a cause number is assigned, every pleading in the case must use it unless the court orders a severance or consolidation. The judges may sit and act for each other in any matter pending in either court (§ 25.2293(k)), and the local rules add that no formal appointment order is necessary and that the judges may transfer cases to each other for judicial economy or docket equalization.

Nine county courts at law, and not one of them can hear an estate. Travis County has nine statutory county courts, County Court at Law No. 1 through Number 9 of Travis County (Government Code § 25.2291(a)), which is more than most Texas counties have. None of them takes probate, because in a county that has a statutory probate court, a statutory probate court is the only county court created by statute with probate jurisdiction (§ 25.0003(e)), and a statutory county court does not have the jurisdiction of a statutory probate court (§ 25.0003(f)). This is worth stating plainly because the concurrent-jurisdiction framing that applies in 80 other Texas counties, where the county court at law and the constitutional county court share probate work under Estates Code § 32.002(b), does not apply here at all. There is one narrow crossover in the other direction: a Travis statutory probate court may transfer an eminent domain proceeding to a county court at law in the county (§ 25.2293(c)).

The pro se policy is written down, and it is the first thing to read. Most Texas counties leave the question of whether you need a lawyer unanswered. Travis publishes a Court Policy Regarding Pro Se Applicants, dated October 1, 2024, and its logic is worth understanding rather than just its rule. You have a right to represent yourself, but you may not represent others, and under Texas law only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third-party individuals or entities, including guardianship wards and probate estates. Because an executor represents the interests of beneficiaries and creditors rather than only himself or herself, individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney. You need not be a lawyer to serve in those roles. The policy carves out two routes by name: a muniment of title where the applicant is the sole beneficiary under the will and the estate owes no debt other than debts secured by liens against real estate (Estates Code § 257.001), and a small estate affidavit filed by all of the heirs working together. It also cautions that a muniment of title is not always a good option even where it is available, and that court staff cannot guide you or advise what you should do in your case.

In a self-represented muniment of title, every beneficiary is an applicant and every beneficiary testifies. This is the local requirement most likely to surprise a family that has read only the statute. In a pro se application to probate a will as a muniment of title, the Travis courts require that all beneficiaries under the will must be applicants and all beneficiaries must testify at the hearing (the Travis County Probate Courts' Court Policy Regarding Pro Se Applicants, dated October 1, 2024). Each applicant must also be able to swear from personal knowledge that there are no debts against the estate other than those secured by liens against real estate, and the courts spell out what counts: credit card balances, doctor's bills, utility bills and Medicaid estate recovery claims, anything the decedent owed and did not pay off. The policy adds the consequence in one sentence: anyone falsely swearing that the estate has no creditors is subject to a perjury charge.

Email the proposed order and oath to the court. Do not e-file them. Travis handles proposed documents in a way that runs against the instinct of anyone used to e-filing everything, and the courts explain why. With the clerk's document management system the court will not see proposed documents that are e-filed for probate prove-ups, and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21(f) does not apply because documents to be signed after a hearing are not actually filed before it. So the instruction is explicit: never e-file documents that will be signed after a hearing, such as testimony, oaths and orders. Email them instead, in Word or another editable format rather than a scanned image, with the hearing date and the estate name in the subject line, to the staff attorney of the assigned court, as soon as the hearing is set (the courts' handout Submitting Paperwork for Will Prove-ups and Heirships, updated October 1, 2024). For a will probate that means the proof of death and other facts, the order with its exact title and the oath with its exact title; for a muniment of title, the proof of death and other facts with the no-debts testimony inside it rather than a separate oath of no debts.

Both courts require their own small estate affidavit form, by order. Travis is one of the few Texas counties where a local form is mandatory rather than convenient. Probate Court No. 1's Administrative Order 2014-4, signed January 2, 2014, ordered that the court will not approve any small estate affidavit filed after January 15, 2014 unless it uses the approved form posted on the court's website, and Probate Court No. 2's Administrative Order 2023-8, signed October 2, 2023, ordered the same for that court. Both orders give the same reason: over half of the small estate affidavits filed in Travis County did not provide all of the information the Estates Code and the court require, and because approval is within the court's discretion (Estates Code § 205.003), evaluating incomplete affidavits wastes everyone's resources. The form and its checklist were both updated in October 2024.

The oath must be sworn, and an unsworn declaration may not be accepted. Some Texas probate courts now accept an unsworn declaration in place of a notarized signature. Travis does not, at least for the oath that qualifies a representative. The clerk's own page states that to qualify as an executor, administrator or guardian, a sworn oath before a clerk or a notary must be filed with the Probate Division after the order is granted, and that oaths with an unsworn declaration may not be accepted. Electronic notary stamps and signatures are accepted, and an oath may be filed in person by appointment or through e-filing. The courts also prohibit affidavits signed by witnesses in place of live testimony or depositions unless authorized by law (the Local Rules of Travis County Probate Courts No. 1 and No. 2, updated June 2024, Rule 4.3), so plan on someone appearing.

Remote hearings are disfavored, and the rule says so. Travis is stricter about remote appearance than most large Texas probate courts, and it is written into the local rules: the court does not permit remote hearings or a witness's remote appearance unless absolutely necessary and in compliance with the law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, and remote appearances are prohibited in a contested case when documentary evidence will be presented (the Local Rules of Travis County Probate Courts No. 1 and No. 2, updated June 2024, Rule 4.2). A request must be made in advance through the court coordinator, in writing with notice to all parties where there are other parties, and a judge may decide at any time that a remote appearance is not sufficient and require a hearing in court. Probate Court No. 2 publishes one narrow opening, listing uncontested non-record and status conference Zoom settings for cases with out-of-state witnesses. Do not assume you can appear from another state.

Late inventories go to a compliance docket, not just a late fee. The statutory deadline is the same everywhere, before the 91st day after the personal representative qualifies (Estates Code § 309.051(a)), but Travis enforces it visibly. The clerk charges $25.00 to file an inventory and appraisement after the 90th day from qualification, and the courts send a compliance letter and set the case on a compliance docket. Their Inventory Compliance FAQs, updated April 2026, set out what happens next: if the inventory or an extension is file-stamped no later than noon on the day before the hearing, email the assigned court's associate judge and the court will investigate; if it lands later, expect to appear anyway. Once a compliance letter goes out, the underlying problems cannot be discussed with the court until the hearing. A motion to withdraw filed by counsel is automatically heard at the compliance hearing, and the court states it is unlikely to grant a withdrawal before a non-compliant representative has been removed.

Travis runs court auditors, court investigators and a court visitor program. The two courts carry staff that few Texas counties fund, and knowing who does what saves calls. Probate auditors, reachable at a single departmental mailbox, carry out the statutory review of annual and final accounts and review over 450 of them each year, along with reimbursement requests, additional compensation, bond reductions and closings. Each court has a court investigator who handles the uncontested guardianship docket, potential guardianships and anything before a temporary guardianship is filed. A guardianship legal assistant handles annual reports on a ward's condition and well-being, a guardianship coordinator who is a social worker handles ongoing guardianships of the person, and the courts run a Court Visitor Volunteer Program. Each court also has an associate judge, Tom Ruffner in Probate Court No. 1 and Emily Rickers in Probate Court No. 2, appointed under Government Code chapter 54A, and a party may object to an associate judge hearing a trial on the merits within 10 days of notice (the Local Rules of Travis County Probate Courts No. 1 and No. 2, updated June 2024, Rule 5.5).

Attorney fees in a court-supervised estate are measured against a published standard. Travis publishes Standards for Court Approval of Attorney Fee Applications, with a revision effective April 1, 2026, setting out the rates the courts consider appropriate for a fiduciary's attorney and stating that a lawyer's rate turns on experience in probate and guardianship law rather than years licensed. The standards note that the court will adjust a rate downward where the estate is so small that the requested fee would consume most of it, and were developed with the Judicial Liaison Subcommittee of the Austin Bar Association's Probate and Estate Planning Section. They matter in a dependent administration or a guardianship, where the court approves fees under Estates Code § 352.051. In an independent administration the court is generally not involved in fees at all (§ 402.001).

The statewide probate assignment desk sits in Travis County. This one concerns other counties but explains something readers see on the Travis site. Judge Guy Herman of Probate Court No. 1 serves as the Presiding Judge for the Statutory Probate Judges of Texas, and the courts publish the contact point and forms for assignment requests filed in counties outside Travis, at (512) 854-5518. In the 156 Texas counties that have only a constitutional county court, a contested probate matter can be sent to an assigned statutory probate judge (Estates Code § 32.003(a)(1); Government Code § 25.0022), and that assignment comes from this office. It is irrelevant to a Travis County estate, where the contested matter stays with the same probate judge (§ 32.005(a)), but it is why statewide assignment paperwork appears on a Travis County page.

Travis County is one of the few Texas counties where this question has a published answer, so start there rather than with general Texas advice. Under the Travis County Probate Courts' Court Policy Regarding Pro Se Applicants, dated October 1, 2024, you have a right to represent yourself but you may not represent others, and because under Texas law only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third-party individuals or entities, including guardianship wards and probate estates, individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney. The reasoning is that an executor represents the interests of beneficiaries and creditors rather than only himself or herself, which is a fiduciary relationship carrying obligations that require legal expertise. You do not need to be a lawyer to serve as executor, administrator or guardian; you need a lawyer to apply. The policy carves out two routes a person may bring alone, a muniment of title where the applicant is the sole beneficiary and the estate owes no debt other than debts secured by liens against real estate (Estates Code § 257.001), and a small estate affidavit filed by all the heirs together, and it is candid that a lawyer's help may still prevent a wasted filing fee in either. The courts also answer the natural objection: lawyers do not just fill out forms, they determine which probate route fits, create or adapt the paperwork, and advise on the ongoing responsibilities of a fiduciary. Beyond the policy, counsel makes sense for the usual reasons and for some Travis-specific ones: when a will is contested or an heirship is disputed, because a statutory probate court keeps the contested matter rather than sending it to a district court (Estates Code § 32.005(a)) and Travis runs a real jury docket with standing pretrial orders and a mediation policy; when a will is a copy or is being offered more than four years after death (Estates Code § 256.003), which triggers an attorney ad litem appointment and personal service on every heir; when the estate must be administered under court supervision, where the courts' auditors and fee standards apply; when Austin real estate has to be sold through a dependent administration; when a nonresident must appoint a resident agent to qualify (Estates Code § 304.003(a)(3)); and when a guardianship runs alongside the estate. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Travis County probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.

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, Travis County real estate, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value and its debts, and therefore which Texas route fits for estate settlement, before anything is filed at 200 W 8th Street.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route and pairs it with the Travis County courts' own required forms and document conventions, prepared so an attorney can e-file it through eFileTexas.gov and so the proposed orders and oaths go to the court the way the courts ask for them.

Find a local probate attorney. Travis County's courts require a licensed attorney for letters, heirship determinations and guardianships, so counsel is the norm here rather than the exception. Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Travis County and the Austin area.

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).