Is Your Estate Headed to Probate? 10 Questions for San Antonio Families

Probate is not triggered by the size of an estate. It is triggered by how individual assets are titled at the moment someone dies. Two neighbors with nearly identical net worth can leave very different situations behind, and the difference usually comes down to paperwork completed years earlier.

The ten questions below cover the assets that most often pull a Bexar County family into court. Work through them at your kitchen table in about twenty minutes. Where an answer gives you pause, that is the item worth raising with a probate attorney in San Antonio.

What Sends an Estate to Probate in Texas

Probate is the court process used to transfer property after someone dies. In Bexar County, these cases are heard in courts dedicated to probate and guardianship matters, and the filings are public.

Not everything goes through it. Property that already names someone to receive it, or that is owned jointly with survivorship rights, transfers on its own. What remains, titled in your name alone with no instructions attached, is what the court handles.

Here are ten questions to help you determine if your estate is headed to probate.

1. Is anything titled in your name alone? A vehicle, a brokerage account, a mineral interest, a piece of land. Solely owned property with no beneficiary attached is the most common reason a family ends up in probate court.

2. When did you last review your beneficiary designations? Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by the form on file with the company. That form controls, even when your will says something different. A designation signed at a job you left years ago is still in force today.

3. Do your bank accounts name a payable-on-death recipient? Texas allows you to name someone to receive an account directly. Without that designation, the account may be frozen until the court appoints someone with authority to access it, which can be difficult timing for a spouse paying household bills.

4. How is your home titled? Texas offers a transfer on death deed, which names who receives the property and takes effect at death. It has to be signed and recorded in the county deed records while you are alive. Married couples can also hold community property with a right of survivorship through a written agreement.

5. Do you own property in another state? Land does not follow you. A ranch in Colorado or a condo in Florida is governed by that state's law, and your family may face a second probate proceeding in that state in addition to the Texas one.

6. Do you have a will, and does someone know where the original is? Texas courts generally expect the signed original. Probating a copy is possible but takes added proof and time. Tell your executor where it is kept.

7. Is the executor you named still the right choice? People move, get sick, and sometimes pass away before you do. Confirm the person you named is still willing to serve, and make sure your will names an alternate.

8. Are you counting on a power of attorney to handle things afterward? This one surprises people. A power of attorney ends the moment you die. The person you trusted to manage your finances loses that authority immediately, and someone must be appointed by the court unless another arrangement is in place.

9. If you own a business, does the paperwork say what happens to your share? An operating agreement or partnership agreement can direct how an ownership interest transfers. When it is silent, that interest becomes an estate asset, and decisions about the company may wait on the court while payroll and vendors do not.

10. If you have a trust, is everything in it? A trust controls only what has been transferred into it. Deeds must be recorded and accounts retitled in the name of the trust. A signed trust with an empty schedule of assets leaves the same property headed to probate.

What Your Answers Tell You

A few uncertain answers do not mean your plan has failed. Texas probate is more efficient than the process in many states, and an independent administration lets an executor settle most estates with limited court oversight. Smaller estates may qualify for simplified procedures.

What the answers show you is where the friction will land. Every asset without instructions becomes a decision your family makes during a hard week, sometimes without access to the money needed to make it.

Key Takeaways

• Probate is driven by how assets are titled, not by how much an estate is worth.
• Beneficiary designations and payable-on-death forms control the asset regardless of what your will says.
• A recorded transfer on death deed can move Texas real estate without a court case.
• Property in another state can require a separate probate proceeding there.
• A power of attorney ends at death and cannot be used to settle an estate.
• A trust only controls the property that has been formally transferred into it.

When to Speak With a Probate Attorney in San Antonio

If several of these questions left you unsure, that is worth an hour of your time rather than a year of your family's. A review can show which assets would transfer on their own, which would go through court, and whether small changes to titling would shorten the process.

McCammon Law, P.C. works with families and business owners in Boerne, San Antonio, New Braunfels, and throughout Kendall and Bexar Counties on wills, trusts, probate, and business succession planning. To request a consultation and go through these questions with your own documents in hand, we are glad to help. Get a free consultation to learn more.

References: Texas Constitution and Statutes, "Estates Code Chapter 114. Transfer on Death Deed" and Texas Constitution and Statutes, "Estates Code Chapter 256. Probate of Wills Generally"