Wilson County, TX Probate Information

Before filing anything in Floresville, 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 here because Wilson County requires the application to identify specific decedent and applicant details up front, so having the estate sorted out first avoids a rejected e-file envelope.

Identify every bank account, retirement plan, insurance policy, vehicle and parcel of Wilson County or out-of-county real property, along with every debt, before applying. 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 either Wilson County court. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so the application filed with the Wilson County Clerk describes the estate accurately the first time.

The Wilson County Courthouse at 1420 3rd Street in Floresville is the single probate filing location for the whole county. There is no branch or annex counter for estates: the County Clerk takes filings there regardless of which court hears the matter. The court serves every part of the county, including Floresville, Poth, La Vernia, Stockdale and the rural areas between them.

Venue is straightforward for a Wilson County resident: you file in the county where the decedent resided, if the decedent had a domicile or fixed place of residence in Texas (Estates Code Section 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 (Section 33.001(a)(2)).

Which judge hears the case depends on whether it is contested. Wilson County has a statutory County Court at Law (Government Code Section 25.2491, created September 1, 2023), and under the general grant to statutory county courts (Section 25.0003(d)) it shares concurrent original probate jurisdiction with the constitutional Wilson County Court (Estates Code Section 32.002(b)). The county's own hearing rules match that structure: the Wilson County Court's page states that uncontested probate matters may be heard by either County Judge Henry L. Whitman, Jr., who hears uncontested probate cases on Wednesdays, or County Court at Law Judge Christina "Tina" Hartmann, who hears them on any designated civil hearing date, and that all contested matters must be set before the County Court at Law. That routing is consistent with the Texas Estates Code, under which the county judge may, or on a party's motion must, transfer a contested probate matter to the county court at law (Estates Code Section 32.004). One wrinkle to know: the County Clerk's own probate page describes the probate court as the constitutional county court, stating "WE ARE A CONSTITUTIONAL COUNTY COURT & ARE NOT 'AT LAW,'" so confirm with the County Clerk which court your filing will be docketed in.

Uncontested probate can go before either judge, and contested matters go to the County Court at Law. The Wilson County Court's own page states that uncontested probate matters may be heard by either County Judge Henry L. Whitman, Jr. (on Wednesdays) or County Court at Law Judge Christina "Tina" Hartmann (on any designated civil hearing date), and lists "All contested matters," all jury trials, all Zoom hearings and all guardianship hearings among the matters that must be set before the County Court at Law. That matches the concurrent-jurisdiction structure the statutes create (Government Code Sections 25.2491 and 25.0003(d); Estates Code Section 32.002(b)) and the contested-matter transfer mechanism (Estates Code Section 32.004). At the same time, the County Clerk's own probate page reads, in capital letters: "AS OF JANUARY 1, 2016, ANY AND ALL PROBATE DOCUMENTS MUST BE E-FILED. WE ARE A CONSTITUTIONAL COUNTY COURT & ARE NOT 'AT LAW.'" Confirm with the Clerk which court your case will be docketed in when you file.

Everything must go in as a separate lead document. Wilson County's Clerk states, "We ask that each document within an e-file envelope be submitted as a separate Lead Document, no 'attachments'. If a document is to have an exhibit, please submit the document and exhibit together as 1 pdf." A filer used to attaching a will or supporting document to the main application in eFileTexas.gov should expect the envelope to bounce.

The application must carry specific identifying data up front. Wilson County's Clerk asks for the last three digits of both the applicant's and the decedent's driver's license number and Social Security number in the application, plus the decedent's date of birth, residence address and age at the time of death, either in the application itself or in the e-file notes or comments, for preparation of the abstract, and the decedent's date of death in the application.

The itemized fee schedule is a genuine advantage for a county this size. Most small Texas counties publish no probate-specific fee figure at all; Wilson County's Probate Court Fee Schedule breaks the $360.00 statewide base down into its 13 statutory allocation lines and adds the county's own citation and posting fees, giving a real, all-in total of $423.00 to open a case.

Plenty of uncontested Wilson County estates are handled without a lawyer, and the County Clerk's own fee schedule and filing requirements are written with a self-represented filer in mind. 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 business or out-of-state property is involved. Wilson County adds its own reason: under the county's published hearing rules every contested matter must be set before the County Court at Law, where jury trials and hearings requiring a court reporter's record are also held, a formal setting an attorney is better positioned to navigate than a self-represented filer. County Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Texas probate attorney serving Wilson County.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank accounts, retirement plans, insurance, Wilson County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds and which estate settlement route fits before anything is filed.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, drafted to Wilson County's own lead-document and application-data requirements, ready to e-file with the Wilson 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 Wilson 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).