Selling a Texas Home in Probate: The Short Version

The most common mistake families make with a house after a death is putting it on the market before establishing who has the legal authority to sell it.

A buyer under contract will not wait four months for an estate to be administered. Settle the authority question first, and everything else becomes an ordinary sale.

This is general information rather than legal advice. Probate is a Texas attorney’s work and this is an orientation to what to ask them.

Texas Is Easier Than Most States

The reason is independent administration. In many states an executor must return to court for approval of individual acts including a property sale, which is slow and expensive. Texas allows an executor to administer an estate independently, without ongoing court supervision, in defined circumstances.

That is why a Texas estate with a well-drafted will can frequently be administered in months rather than the year or more that families expect from stories about other states.

It is also why the single most valuable thing a Texas will can contain is language authorising independent administration, and why the absence of it changes the whole exercise.

The Routes Property Can Take

Which route applies is determined by facts that already exist: whether there is a will, how the deed is held, and whether anything was recorded before death. Establishing that is step one.

Independent vs Dependent Administration

Independent administration means the executor is appointed, files an inventory, and then administers the estate with broad authority and without returning to court for permission to act. Selling the house is an ordinary transaction with the executor signing.

Dependent administration means court supervision of individual acts. A sale typically requires an application, notice, a hearing and an order, and the process has its own timeline that the parties do not control. It is more expensive and considerably slower.

Two practical points:

• A will that provides for independent administration is worth a great deal. If you are reading this and your own affairs are not in order, that sentence is the most useful thing on this page.
• Where there is no such provision, beneficiaries can sometimes agree to independent administration and ask the court to approve it. Worth asking about before accepting the slower route.

When You Can Skip Probate Entirely

Check these before assuming probate is necessary, because they are common and frequently overlooked:

• Was the deed held with right of survivorship? In Texas this requires a written agreement rather than being automatic between spouses, so check the deed itself.
• Was a transfer on death deed recorded? If so, the property passes to the named beneficiary outside probate.
• Was the property in a trust? A trust that was created but never funded with the property does not help, which is a common and frustrating discovery.
• Does a small estate affidavit fit? The conditions are narrow and where they are met it is fast and inexpensive.

Whether an affidavit route works in practice comes down to one question, which is the subject of the next section.

Start With the Title Company

This is the single most useful piece of practical advice in this post.

Call a title company before you call anyone else and ask what they will require to insure a sale. They are the party that ultimately decides whether a transaction can close, they answer the question for free, and they answer it in terms of documents rather than theory.

Then take that answer to a probate attorney. Doing it in that order routinely saves weeks, because it replaces “what does the law permit” with “what will actually close.”

Ask them specifically: will you insure on an affidavit of heirship, and if so with what supporting evidence and seasoning? The answers vary between companies and knowing yours shapes the whole plan. What a title company actually does.

Selling the Property Itself

Once the authority question is settled, this is an ordinary sale with three additional considerations:

1. Establish the date-of-death value in writing. Inherited property generally receives a stepped-up basis to fair market value at the date of death, which frequently eliminates taxable gain on a near-term sale. A formal appraisal as of that date is the cleanest evidence. Why basis matters.
2. Disclose what you know. A seller who never occupied the property genuinely knows less, and the form accommodates that. It does not excuse knowledge you do have, including from an inspection. What must be disclosed.
3. Agree who decides. Where there are several heirs, a single point of contact for the agent and the title company prevents the situation where three people give three different instructions.

Practical housekeeping that matters more than people expect:

• Keep the property insured. A vacant house may fall outside a standard policy, and vacant property coverage is a specific product. Call the insurer.
• Keep the utilities on for inspections and appraisals, and to prevent damage.
• Secure it and change the locks.
• Clear it out before listing. An empty, clean house sells better than a partly furnished one, and personal property is where families get stuck.
• Keep preparation light. Safety, cleanliness and anything that would stop financing or insurability. Not a renovation.

The full sequence, including the order of operations and what to do when there are multiple heirs, is in selling an inherited house in Texas. And if speed matters more than price, a cash offer is a more reasonable choice in these circumstances than in most, provided you compare the two nets honestly: how to compare them.