Estate Settlement Cost
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Texas source record

Every source behind the Texas guide

3 primary records, quoted verbatim and checked against 12 named presence or absence conditions that must pass against the live government text. Open the record, read the words the publishing body actually used, and confirm the current rule for yourself.

Last full re-fetch September 15, 2026

What each source establishes

The Texas guide rests on the source-backed rules this site can verify for the state: which simplified procedure exists and what it limits, what the court charges, how the person administering the estate may be paid, and any statutory creditor-deadline gaps the related guide names rather than guesses through.Every published rule below is quoted in the publisher’s own words rather than summarised.

Simplified-procedure rule

Tex. Est. Code § 205.001

Texas Legislature (statutes content host) · eff. September 1, 2017. · Verified August 9, 2026

The distributees of the estate of a decedent who dies intestate are entitled to the decedent's estate without waiting for the appointment of a personal representative of the estate to the extent the estate assets, excluding homestead and exempt property, exceed the known liabilities of the estate, excluding any liabilities secured by homestead and exempt property, if: (1) 30 days have elapsed since the date of the decedent's death; (2) no petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted; (3) the value of the estate assets on the date of the affidavit described by Subdivision (4), excluding homestead and exempt property, does not exceed $75,000;

What this means: Fetched from tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources, the Texas Legislature's own statutes content host that backs statutes.capitol.texas.gov (which now serves a client-rendered app shell with no server-side statute text).

What was published from this source

  • TX Tex. Est. Code § 205.001

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • TX small-estate $75,000
  • TX small-estate intestate + 30 days
  • TX small-estate 30-day wait
  • TX ch205 section identity
  • section identity

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Executor compensation rule

Tex. Est. Code § 352.002

Texas Legislature (statutes content host) · eff. January 1, 2014. · Verified August 9, 2026

is entitled to receive a five percent commission on all amounts that the executor or administrator actually receives or pays out in cash in the administration of the estate.

What this means: Section 352.002(b) caps the commission in the aggregate at 5% of the gross fair market value of the estate and excludes cash on hand/in accounts at death, life-insurance proceeds, and cash paid to heirs/legatees. Section 352.003 allows alternate reasonable compensation for unusual efforts.

What was published from this source

  • TX Tex. Est. Code § 352.002

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • TX executor 5% commission on cash
  • TX executor 5% aggregate cap on gross FMV
  • TX ch352 section identity
  • section identity

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Court cost rule

Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 118.052

Texas Legislature (statutes content host) · eff. January 1, 2024. · Verified August 9, 2026

(2) PROBATE COURT ACTIONS (A) Services in Pending Probate Action (Sec. 118.056 ): (i) Filing an inventory and appraisement as provided by Section 118.056 (d) . . . $25.00;

What this means: This statewide schedule fixes only specific per-service probate fees (e.g., $25 to file an inventory, $10 for a claim against the estate). It does NOT set a single statewide fee to open a probate: the opening filing fee is a consolidated charge set by each county under Government Code / commissioners-court authority, so the opening amount is county-variable.

What was published from this source

  • TX Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 118.052

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • TX probate service fees are statewide per-item
  • TX LG118 section identity
  • section identity

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Texas source decision map

How the Texas records fit together

The source record is most useful when each citation has a job. This map links the Texas procedure, cost, compensation, and deadline records to the decision each one can and cannot answer.

QuestionRecorded Texas answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Small estate affidavit (Estates Code ch. 205)Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$75,000Establish unsecured debt before treating the screen as decided.
What is the time or deadline record?30 days after death; No deadline is recorded here: Texas creditor deadlines run from multiple independent triggers (permissive notice by publication, required actual notice to secured/known creditors, and a claim-presentation window) set out across Estates Code ch. 308 and ch. 355; the operative periods depend on the notice type and are not a single statewide day count.Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.Ask the Statutory Probate Court / County Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?Estates Code § 352.002 entitles the executor/administrator to a 5% commission on all amounts actually received or paid out in cash in the administration, but the aggregate commission may not exceed 5% of the gross fair market value of the estate. Cash on hand or in accounts at death, life-insurance proceeds, and cash paid to heirs/legatees are excluded from the commission base. Section 352.003 permits alternative reasonable compensation for unusual efforts. The relevant base is money received and paid out during administration.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Decision boundary

What the Texas source set does not silently decide

The Texas records establish the rules listed above, but they do not turn a source citation into advice about title, family priority, tax filing, contested proceedings, or the exact clerk practice in every county. Those questions stay with the official court or a qualified adviser. The useful next step is to match the question to the citation rather than treating the longest quote as the answer to every estate problem.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Texas amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Texas ceiling is $75,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. Counted that way, $56,300 sits below the Texas figure and $93,800 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Texas counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Texas ceilingWhat it does not decide
$56,300Below $75,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$93,800Above $75,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Open the quoted record for the row you rely on and check the publisher's current text before filing.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

Texas does not publish a single statewide set of fill-in probate forms; many counties require an attorney to open an administration and publish their own local forms and fee schedules.

Source trail

Records used by this Texas map

What Texas courts publish

The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.

Limits on court material

  • Texas does not publish a single statewide set of fill-in probate forms; many counties require an attorney to open an administration and publish their own local forms and fee schedules.

Checking these Texas records against the publishers

Every citation above links to the body that publishes it, and every quoted sentence is reproduced exactly, so a text search on the publisher’s own page should land on it. Where the publisher’s current wording differs from what is recorded here, the publisher governs and this page is wrong; naming the citation and the language you see maps the difference onto a specific condition rather than a general complaint. The full procedure, including how a source qualifies in the first place and what disqualifies one, is set out once on the methodology page instead of being restated on each of the254 state records.

These records cover the cost and route questions this site answers for Texas. They do not cover intestate succession shares, spousal and family allowances, creditor priority, tax filing obligations, real-property transfer mechanics, or contested proceedings. Where an answer would require one of those, the site says so rather than estimating.

Return to the Texas estate guide ·All 254 records ·Dataset overview and citation ·How sources are selected