Texas · Estates Code chapter 205Texas small estate affidavit: selling the homestead without probate

Texas Estates Code chapter 205 lets the heirs of a person who died without a will collect a small estate without appointing a personal representative. The conditions (§205.001): at least 30 days have passed since the death; no petition for a personal representative is pending or granted; the estate's assets, not counting the homestead and exempt property, are worth $75,000 or less on the date of the affidavit; the affidavit is filed with the clerk of the court with jurisdiction, the judge approves it, and the heirs give certified copies to whoever owes the estate money or holds its property. The affidavit must be sworn to by two disinterested witnesses and by each heir with legal capacity (or a guardian or next of kin for a minor or incapacitated heir), list all known assets and liabilities – marking which are claimed exempt – and give each heir's name, address and the family history showing their right to inherit (§205.002). The affidavit transfers real estate only in one case (§§205.006, 205.008): when the decedent's homestead is the only real property in the estate. Then title to the homestead can pass under the affidavit, which must be recorded in the deed records of the county where the homestead is. A good-faith buyer for value may rely on the recorded affidavit and takes the homestead free of an heir it didn't disclose – unless the chain of title shows that heir – but still subject to the decedent's creditors' legal claims. An undisclosed heir can recover from the heirs who were paid. Everyone who signs the affidavit is liable for losses caused by relying on it.