Every case on this page is a contested one. Most start with something ordinary: someone files an application, an executor stops returning calls, or a house sits empty while the heirs argue. Find the description below that fits your situation.
A will has been offered for probate or already admitted, and you believe it doesn’t reflect what the person wanted. The usual grounds are lack of capacity, undue influence, or a will that wasn’t signed and witnessed properly. You generally have two years from the date the will was admitted to file. Will contests in Tarrant County.
There is no will, or the will doesn’t cover all the property, and the family disagrees about who the heirs are. The court decides in a heirship proceeding and must appoint an attorney ad litem to represent heirs whose names or locations are unknown. Contested heirship.
Several relatives own one house or tract of land together and can’t agree on whether to sell it, rent it, or let one of them live there. These cases end up as partition suits, and Texas has special rules for land that passed down through a family. Inherited property disputes.
The executor isn’t distributing, isn’t accounting, or is dealing with estate property for personal benefit. Removal requires proof of specific grounds in the Estates Code, and it often follows a demand for an accounting that the executor ignored. Removing an executor.
Money or property left the estate or trust and ended up with the person who was supposed to be protecting it. This covers self-dealing, sales nobody was told about, mixing estate money with personal accounts, and payments to the fiduciary’s own family. Breach of fiduciary duty.
Two relatives each want to be appointed guardian of the same person, or a guardian already in place is isolating the ward or mishandling the ward’s money. We handle contests over who should serve and applications to remove a guardian. Contested guardianship.
A trustee won’t account, won’t distribute, or is reading the trust document in the trustee’s own favor. Tarrant County’s statutory probate courts can hear trust cases, so a trust dispute tied to an estate can often be heard in the same court as the estate. Trust litigation.
When the family can’t agree on anyone to serve independently, the estate can be run under court supervision, with the judge approving sales, claims and distributions. It is slower and costs more, but sometimes it is the only arrangement the other side will accept. Dependent administration.
The estate holds an operating business, mineral interests, property in another state, or has many beneficiaries with their own lawyers. These cases are hard because of how many issues are moving at once, not because of any single legal question. Large and complex estates.
Tarrant County has two statutory probate courts, Probate Court No. 1 and Probate Court No. 2. Both are in the Tarrant County Courthouse at 100 West Weatherford Street. The local rules control which court gets your case:
Tex. Gov’t Code § 25.2221(c); Tarrant County probate courts’ local rules, Rule 1.03(a)–(c).
We don’t draft wills, trusts or estate plans. We don’t handle muniments of title, small estate affidavits, affidavits of heirship, uncontested administrations, or setting up a guardianship. A general probate or estate planning lawyer is the right choice for that work and will charge less than a litigation firm.
Tell us which of the situations above is closest to yours, and we will tell you where it stands.
The first conversation is short and free.