Bastrop, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

That depends on the court. In larger counties (Dallas, Tarrant, Harris), where there are statutory probate courts, the courts have more staff and resources and the court administrator or other staff may provide instruction. It is ultimately your responsibility to know your duties and your attorney should be your first resource on that. Your first responsibility is going to be to file an Inventory and Appraisement of the estate, which is due 90 days from when you receive letters of administration.

First, I would make certain that a will has not been probated or that an estate has not been opened. Generally, the county clerk can tell you if a will has been probated. After the county clerk confirms nothing has been done to settle either of the estates, I suggest you contact an attorney. You will basically need the help of an attorney to open back-to-back estate administrations for your father and grandfather. Note that this could be fairly expensive to do. Although the estate generally pays for the cost of administration (court costs, attorney fees, etc.), this could be a challenge if you don't have possession of any of the estate property.

If you are not a blood relative of this person, and his family is now coming to assert ownership of his property and belongings, you cannot legally change the locks of his home. Even without a will, a person's belongings pass by a law known as intestate succession, so the relatives coming out of the woodwork have a legal claim to the residence as well as any other items of value he left behind. They can assert this claim by filing a small estate affidavit in the county where your friend died.