Wichita County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Wichita Falls, 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 Wichita County, because the County Clerk prices the application by type: an application for Letters Testamentary or an administration is $485.00, an independent administration with a determination of heirship is $493.00, and a small estate or foreign will filing is $362.00. Choosing the wrong one means paying twice.

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

The Wichita County Courthouse at 900 7th Street in Wichita Falls is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch or annex counter for estates: the County Clerk takes probate filings in Room 250, and the two county courts at law sit in the same building, No. 1 in Suite 201 and No. 2 in Room 353. The courts serve every part of the county, including Wichita Falls, Burkburnett, Iowa Park and Electra and the rural areas between them, all of which the county serves from this courthouse and from its precinct offices.

Venue is straightforward for a Wichita 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)). If the person lived in Wichita County, the case belongs here, even if they died in a hospital elsewhere. 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 where Wichita County differs from most Texas counties that have a county court at law. The general rule is that the county court at law and the constitutional county court share original probate jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b)), and Wichita County's own statute repeats it: a county court at law here has concurrent jurisdiction with the county court in probate and mental health matters (Government Code § 25.2452(a)(3)). But the same section then tells filers where to go. Under Government Code § 25.2452(b), all probate and mental health matters and proceedings under the Estates Code "shall be filed in the county court at law", and it is the county court at law that may move a case the other way, transferring it to the county court with the consent of the county judge. So a Wichita County estate normally begins in County Court at Law No. 1 or No. 2 rather than before the County Judge.

The counter is the County Clerk, and here too the statute is explicit rather than left to practice. Government Code § 25.2452(i) provides that the district clerk of Wichita County serves as clerk of the county courts at law "in all civil cases except probate and mental health matters", and that "The county clerk serves as clerk in cases involving criminal, probate, or mental health matters." The county's own Local Rules of Practice agree from the other direction: Rule 1.4(a) makes the District Clerk the filing clerk who assigns cases among the three district courts and the two county courts at law, expressly "except misdemeanors and probate cases". File estates with the Wichita County Clerk in Room 250.

If a matter in a probate proceeding pending in the Wichita County Court becomes contested, the mechanism is Estates Code § 32.004, not the provision that applies in counties with no county court at law. Under § 32.004(a) 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 may also transfer the entire proceeding there. The county court at law may then hear it as if originally filed in that court, and if only the contested matter was transferred, it returns to the county court once resolved (§ 32.004(b)). In practice this route matters less in Wichita County than elsewhere, because Government Code § 25.2452(b) puts the case in the county court at law at the outset. A contested probate matter here is heard by a county court at law judge, who is a licensed attorney, and the county's district courts are not the destination for a probate contest.

A statute, not just local habit, sends probate to the county court at law. In most Texas counties that have a county court at law, the county court at law and the constitutional county court simply share original probate jurisdiction and the county decides in practice which one hears estates. Wichita County has the shared jurisdiction (Estates Code § 32.002(b); Government Code § 25.2452(a)(3)) and a filing directive on top of it: Government Code § 25.2452(b) provides that probate and mental health matters and proceedings under the Estates Code "shall be filed in the county court at law", and it is the county court at law that may transfer such a case to the county court, with the county judge's consent. Practical effect: your case is normally heard by a county court at law judge, who is a licensed attorney, and if a matter becomes contested it does not have to be moved to reach one.

The clerkship is split, and the split is written down. Wichita County's district clerk serves as clerk of the county courts at law in all civil cases except probate and mental health matters, and the county clerk serves as clerk in probate matters (Government Code § 25.2452(i)). The county's Local Rules confirm it from the other side: Rule 1.4(a) makes the District Clerk the filing clerk who randomly assigns cases among the three district courts and the two county courts at law, expressly except for misdemeanors and probate cases. An estate filing taken to the District Clerk's office in Room 108 is at the wrong counter; probate is Room 250.

The county has court-approved local rules, and they reach probate. The Supreme Court of Texas approved Wichita County's amended local rules for its district, constitutional and statutory county courts in Misc. Docket No. 18-9111, dated August 24, 2018. Rule 7.7 provides that the rules "apply to mental health and probate matters except as otherwise ordered by the judges of the County Courts at Law" and adds that counsel handling those cases "should contact the Court Coordinators of the respective courts for specific guidelines applicable to those cases." That is the county telling you, in its own rules, that the coordinator is the person to call before you file or set anything.

Settings go through the court coordinator, and there is a firm no-ex parte rule. Under Rule 1.5(a) all matters to be heard on regular non-jury days are set with the court's coordinator, and except where a statute or the Rules of Civil Procedure provide otherwise, non-jury settings require at least 10 days notice to opposing counsel or parties; parties must tell the coordinator promptly about a settlement or cancellation. Rule 1.1(d) prohibits all ex parte communications with the court, including electronic ones, directs any person seeking information to the court coordinator, and warns that unsolicited emails sent to a judge's address may be deleted without being opened. The coordinators are Karen James for County Court at Law No. 1 at (940) 766-8107 and Gail Cannedy for County Court at Law No. 2 at (940) 766-8111 (verified July 2026). Wichita County publishes no probate docket day and no filing-to-hearing interval, so ask the coordinator what the next available setting looks like.

The published fee is priced by application type, and the figure people quote is the wrong one. The County Clerk's probate fee schedule, effective January 1, 2023, charges $485.00 for Letters Testamentary, an independent or dependent administration or a muniment of title, $493.00 where a determination of heirship adds a publication, and $362.00 for a small estate or a foreign will. The $362.00 line is the one that circulates as Wichita County's filing fee; budgeting it for an application to probate a will leaves you $123.00 short at the counter.

One courthouse, two courts, one probate counter. County Court at Law No. 1 in Suite 201 and County Court at Law No. 2 in Room 353 sit in the same building as the County Clerk in Room 250 and the county Law Library in Room 109A, at 900 7th Street. The county's three district courts, the 30th, 78th and 89th, also sit here but are not where an estate is opened or where a Wichita County probate contest is sent.

Plenty of uncontested Wichita County estates are handled without a lawyer, and the County Clerk's published fee schedule makes the cost of each route unusually easy to work out in advance. 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 through a determination of heirship, 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 matter. Wichita County publishes no probate forms at all, so every document is drafted from scratch. The county's local rules apply to probate except as the county court at law judges order otherwise, and they tell you to get the court's specific guidelines from the court coordinator before you proceed, which is easier for someone who files there regularly. And a contested matter here is heard by a county court at law judge, who is a licensed attorney, without the detour some Texas counties require (Estates Code § 32.004). County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Wichita County and the surrounding area.

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

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your estate settlement route, drafted for the Wichita County court at law that will hear the case and ready to file with the Wichita County Clerk in Room 250.

Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested, when heirs have to be determined, or when the estate otherwise calls for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Wichita 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).