Williamson County, TX Probate Information

Before you file anything in Georgetown, know what the estate holds 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 identical in all 254 Texas counties; they are covered on the Texas state page. Getting the answer before the first filing matters more than usual in Williamson County, because the court publishes a written pro se policy: it states that "Under Texas law, individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person and/or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney", and that a person filing without a lawyer may proceed only when truly representing only himself or herself, the example the court gives being a sole beneficiary probating a will as a muniment of title with no debts other than liens on real estate (Estates Code chapter 257). Knowing the asset picture is what tells you whether you are in that narrow lane.

Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Williamson 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 Williamson County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time and the inventory that follows matches it.

The Williamson County Justice Center at 405 Martin Luther King Street in Georgetown is the single probate filing location for the whole county. The County Clerk's Civil and Probate Division takes estate filings on the 2nd floor, and the hearings are held in the same building. The county clerk's other office, at 1848 Texas Trail in the Administration Building, records deeds and issues vital records and does not open estates. The court serves every part of the county, including Georgetown, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Hutto, Taylor, Liberty Hill, Jarrell, Florence, Granger, Bartlett, Thrall, Weir and Coupland and the unincorporated areas between them. Because attorneys file electronically through eFileTexas.gov and the court sets hearings by request to its administrator, most of the paperwork in an uncontested estate never requires a trip to Georgetown; the trip that matters is the hearing, which the court holds in person.

Venue is straightforward for a Williamson 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)). Someone who lived in Round Rock or Cedar Park belongs in Williamson County even if they died in a hospital in Austin, and a Williamson County address in an Austin postal zone does not move the case to Travis County. For a decedent with no Texas domicile or fixed residence, venue depends on where the death happened and where the estate or the nearest of kin are (§ 33.001(a)(2)).

Which court hears the case is the fact a generic page gets wrong here. Williamson County has no statutory probate court, so nothing in the county is called a probate court. What it has is five statutory county courts, listed by Government Code § 25.2481 as County Court at Law No. 1 through No. 5 of Williamson County, the fifth added effective October 1, 2022. Each of them 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)). Nothing in the Williamson subchapter of Government Code chapter 25 withholds probate jurisdiction from its county courts at law, unlike the carve-outs the Legislature wrote for Harris, Parker and Hood Counties. So the constitutional Williamson County Court keeps its jurisdiction on paper, and the county's own publishing tells you where estates actually go: the Probate and Guardianship pages sit under County Court at Law No. 4, Judge John B. McMaster presides over that court and is the Presiding Judge for the county courts at law, and the court's probate sheet requires a bond to identify the court as County Court at Law No. 4 and to bind the principal to the judge of that court by number, rejecting bonds made out to a generically named judge.

If a matter in the proceeding becomes contested, the mechanism in a county court at law county is Estates Code § 32.004, not § 32.003. Under § 32.004(a), in a county with no statutory probate court but 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 the county judge may also transfer the entire proceeding there. Under § 32.004(b) the county court at law may then hear the matter as if originally filed in that court, and if only the contested matter was transferred it returns to the county court once it is resolved. Because Williamson estates are already docketed in a county court at law, a contest normally stays with the same judge rather than moving anywhere, and the court says it will hear contested probate settings itself: its procedure sheet asks that requests for hearing dates, "whether contested or uncontested", go to the court administrator. A Williamson probate is not sent to a district court on a contest, and no statutory probate court judge has to be assigned in from outside.

One county, five county courts at law, and estates go to No. 4. Nothing in Williamson County is called a probate court, because the county has no statutory probate court. Government Code § 25.2481 lists County Court at Law No. 1 through No. 5 of Williamson County, and all five share original probate jurisdiction with the constitutional Williamson County Court (Estates Code § 32.002(b)). What the county's own publishing shows is that estates and guardianships are docketed in County Court at Law No. 4: the Probate and Guardianship pages sit under that court, its judge publishes the probate procedure sheet and forms, and its bond rule names the court by number. Caption your papers for the county court at law, not for a court the county does not have.

The county publishes a written pro se policy, and it is narrow. County Court at Law No. 4 states: "Under Texas law, individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship, and guardianships of the person and/or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney. The rule follows from the requirement that only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third-party individuals or entities. The only time a pro se applicant may proceed in court is when truly representing only himself or herself." Its FAQ gives the example: "a pro se may apply to probate a will as a muniment of title when he or she is the sole beneficiary under a will and there are no debts against the estate other than those secured by liens against real estate" (Estates Code chapter 257), and warns that "anyone falsely swearing that the estate has no creditors is subject to a perjury charge." You can serve as executor or administrator without being a lawyer; the court's position is that you then have to be represented by one.

Probate is off the uncontested docket. County Court at Law No. 4 runs an uncontested docket on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. before its regular docket, with sign-in in the courtroom and no advance scheduling. Probate does not use it. The county's Probate page states that "All matters pertaining to probate matters must be set for hearing and cannot be handled on the uncontested docket", so every probate matter needs a date from the court administrator, whether it is contested or not. The one exception the court names is the small estate affidavit, most of which it decides without a hearing.

Two seven-day lead times, and they are easy to miss. Proposed orders must be e-filed at least seven days before the hearing, signed "approved as to form" by every attorney of record and by any attorney ad litem, and proposed hearing documents such as the oath, the proof of death and other facts and any ancillary witness testimony must be emailed to the court's probate auditor for review at least seven days before the hearing. The court also holds the line on when an oath can be signed: not until after the appointment order is signed, and then only before a notary or a clerk.

Heirships need the ad litem first. The court states that "Ad litems are required in ALL heirship proceedings" and instructs filers not to set a hearing on an heirship application before the ad litem has been appointed. The appointed attorney ad litem is expected to file an answer and report, speak with the applicant and witnesses before the hearing, review and sign off on the proposed orders and appear at the hearing, and the court's fee sheet prices an ad litem fee at $350. Plan an heirship around that sequence rather than around a hearing date.

Probating a copy of a will takes extra consent here. Where the original will cannot be produced, the court requires, beyond the proof the Estates Code demands, "waivers/consents by Decedent's heirs and beneficiaries acknowledging the Will is a copy and consenting to the copy being admitted to probate in lieu of the original Will", drafted along the lines of the waivers used when a will is offered more than four years after death (Estates Code § 256.003). It may also appoint an attorney ad litem for unknown or incapacitated heirs at its discretion. The court still wants the applicant's hard copy of the will filed with the County Clerk.

Hearings are in person, with one written substitute. County Court at Law No. 4 has held all hearings in person since December 1, 2021. The county-wide Local Rules of Court say the default across all Williamson trial courts is physical presence in the courtroom, with video or telephone appearance possible at the court's discretion and a court administrator issuing the link if one is approved. For probate the court publishes only one alternative to attendance: for an out-of-state witness who cannot appear, it will take testimony by deposition on written questions, provided the proposed questions are e-filed with a notice of intent and posted, and any attorney ad litem gets to review and add questions first. The court says affidavits from heirship witnesses are not sufficient.

Williamson County answers this question for you more directly than most Texas counties do. County Court at Law No. 4 publishes a pro se policy stating that individuals applying for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship and guardianships must be represented by a licensed attorney, and that the only time a person may proceed alone is when truly representing only himself or herself. The County Clerk says the same thing from its side of the counter: you have a right to represent yourself, but "a pro se may not represent others", and "only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of third-party individuals or entities, including guardianship wards and probate estates." In practice that leaves two do-it-yourself lanes here, both on the county's own list: a small estate affidavit on the court's approved form, and probating a will as a muniment of title where you are the sole beneficiary and there are no unpaid debts other than liens on real estate (Estates Code chapter 257). Everything else, and certainly a dependent administration, where the court will not consider an accounting filed without counsel, calls for a lawyer. Counsel also earns its keep where a will or an appointment may be challenged, where there is no will and the heirs must be determined with an attorney ad litem, where real property has to be sold, where the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing, or where a business or out-of-state property is involved. Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice, and the clerk points callers to the Williamson County Bar Association and to the State Bar of Texas referral line. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Williamson County and the Austin 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, Williamson County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed in Georgetown.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted to Williamson County's own requirements, including the separate lead documents the County Clerk's e-filing rules demand and the proposed orders County Court at Law No. 4 wants on file seven days before the hearing, ready to file with the Williamson County Clerk.

Find a local probate attorney. Williamson County's published policy expects an attorney for letters, heirships and guardianships, so this matters more here than in many counties. Sunset connects families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Williamson 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).