Inherited Property Disputes in Fort Worth

Two questions decide most inherited property disputes: does anyone in the family want to keep the property, and can that person afford to buy out the others? Most of the law in this area is built around those two answers.

If nobody wants to keep it, the dispute is about price and timing. If one person wants it and the others want cash, Texas law may give that person a way to buy the others out.

How one house ends up with seven owners

When a Texas property owner dies without a will, the real estate passes to all the heirs at the moment of death. Each heir owns an undivided share of the whole property. Nobody owns a particular bedroom or a particular pasture.

That works until someone wants out. One owner moves in and stops answering calls. Another pays the taxes alone for four years and keeps track. Another dies, and now three cousins own that share. The owners never chose each other, and none of them can sell the whole property without the others.

Any co-owner can force a partition

You don’t need the other owners’ agreement to start. A co-owner of Texas real estate can sue to compel partition, and the others can’t block it. A partition suit is filed in the district court of a county where the property is located. The court decides how the property will be divided, not whether.

• Dividing the land. If the property can be fairly divided, the court divides it and each owner gets a piece. That is more common with rural acreage in Parker or Wise County than with a house in Fort Worth.
• Selling it. If it can’t be fairly divided, the court orders a sale and divides the money by ownership share. Most houses end up here.
• Litigation, not paperwork. Partition is a contested lawsuit with pleadings, discovery, appraisals and a trial setting. It commonly takes more than a year.

Tex. Prop. Code §§ 23.001, 23.002.

The buyout for family land

Texas has a separate set of rules for “heirs’ property,” generally land owned by relatives who inherited from a common family member and who have no agreement governing partition. When those rules apply, the co-owners who didn’t ask for partition get a chance to buy out the ones who did before the property is sold.

• Does the property qualify? The court decides that first.
• What is it worth? The court determines the value of the whole property, usually through a court-ordered appraisal. Expect the other side to challenge it.
• Who can buy? The co-owners who didn’t request partition have 45 days to elect to buy the interests of those who did, at a price based on the court’s value and each owner’s share.
• If nobody elects to buy, the case goes back to the ordinary partition rules.

Tex. Prop. Code ch. 23A, including §§ 23A.002, 23A.006, 23A.007.

The relative with cash wants a low value, and the relative who wants to stay in the house may want a high one, or the reverse. The appraisal often decides the case.

Where the case is heard

Tarrant County has two statutory probate courts that handle estates, heirship and estate-related lawsuits every day. Parker, Wise, Johnson and Hood counties don’t have a statutory probate court. Their contested probate matters go to a county court at law or the district court, which also carry a general docket. That doesn’t decide who wins, but it can affect how quickly a contested case gets a trial date.

Trial preparation in Tarrant County

Under the Tarrant County probate courts’ local rules, when the parties report for trial, each side must deliver:

• A witness list.
• An exhibit list.
• Any motions in limine.
• Any requested jury instructions.

Tarrant County probate courts’ local rules, Rule 2.03(c).

In a dispute between co-heirs, the important evidence is often small: roof repair receipts, a rent ledger, an appraisal, or a cousin who heard what your mother said. Make sure all of it is on your lists.

Work we don’t take

We handle contested cases. We don’t prepare affidavits of heirship or small estate affidavits, and we don’t handle uncontested administrations. If the co-owners already agree and you only need the paperwork done, a general probate lawyer will do it for less.