If a bank told you an account is frozen and didn't explain what that actually means, you're not stuck, and
you're not the only one this has happened to. A probate attorney would typically charge $1,500–$4,200+ to walk you through exactly what Texas law
already lets you do yourself. This kit is $37,
one-time, and covers the same ground — the eligibility rule, the official form, and what to say if a bank or
clerk pushes back.
Texas has a fast, legal way to close a modest estate — no valid will needed, no full probate — as long as non-exempt personal property is under $75,000 (most families are unlocking far less than that, often a bank account in the low five figures). There's a mandatory 30-day wait after death before you can file — that part can't be rushed, but everything after it is a matter of weeks, not months, once the affidavit is filed with and approved by the court. This is informational, written by researchers, not attorneys — which is exactly why it costs $37, not attorney rates.
Last reviewed
Not sure this is the right page? It comes down to one fact: did the person who died leave no valid will?
If they did, you likely want the Muniment of Title guide instead →
. Settling both a bank account and a house from the same estate? You may need both guides — see the FAQ below.
Why this kit exists
The state's own form is usually clear about the fields and silent about the process. Families commonly report
a bank branch insisting on court-issued Letters of Administration that the small estate statute doesn't
actually require, and each extra trip lands in the same weeks as the funeral. Closing that gap — between a
downloaded form and an asset holder who actually releases the property — is the whole reason this
kit exists. Written under the pen name James Whitfield; not an attorney.
Built on the official state form
Every claim cited to Estates Code Chapter 205
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Money-back if the affidavit is rejected
Splitting up the estate with someone else? Send them this page before you start.
Why timing matters: The 30-day waiting period is fixed and cannot be shortened, but once it passes, delay is usually self-inflicted — a missing heir signature or an asset total that includes exempt property are the two most common reasons a court clerk sends a filing back for correction, costing families weeks they didn't need to lose. Miss the window and the estate is generally pushed into full probate instead — a probate attorney typically charges $1,500–$4,200+ for work this kit is built to help you avoid.
The Texas $75,000 Small Estate Affidavit cap
Filing Small Estate Affidavit in Texas starts with one number — the statutory cap. The estate, measured the way the statute measures it, has
to be at or under $75,000 (non-exempt personal property; excludes homestead and other exempt property; intestate estates only), under Estates Code Chapter 205. This is a
statutory line, not a judgment call — the court or asset holder either sees the total under the cap or they
don't.
There's also a fixed 30-day waiting period after death before
you can file at all — separate from the eligibility question, and it doesn't move regardless of how quickly
you gather everything else.
Small Estate Affidavit is filed with the court, not handed directly to a bank or DMV. Texas publishes an official fill-in form: Texas Judicial Branch fill-in Small Estate Affidavit template, with instructions, published via texaslawhelp.org's Small Estate Affidavit toolkit. .
How to file, step by step
1
Confirm the estate is intestate and under the $75,000 non-exempt cap
Chapter 205 requires both: no valid will disposing of the whole estate, AND the value of non-exempt personal property (excluding homestead and other exempt property) at or under $75,000. If a will exists, see the Muniment of Title guide instead.
2
Wait 30 days after the date of death
Texas will not accept a Small Estate Affidavit filing before the 30th day after death, even if every other requirement is already met.
3
Download the official Texas Small Estate Affidavit form
Get the fill-in form and instructions directly from the Texas Judicial Branch via texaslawhelp.org's Small Estate Affidavit toolkit — the same source Texas courts themselves point to.
View source →
4
List every known asset, debt, and heir, and get every distributee's signature
The affidavit must list the estate's assets and liabilities and be signed by two disinterested witnesses and all distributees (the people entitled to inherit) — a missing signature is one of the most common reasons a clerk rejects a filing.
5
File with the county clerk or probate court and have a judge approve it
Unlike some states' direct-to-bank affidavits, Texas requires the affidavit to be filed with the court and approved by a judge before it has legal effect — budget for the local court's docket timing, which varies by county.
6
Get certified copies of the approved affidavit
Once approved, request certified copies from the clerk — banks and other institutions will want the certified court copy, not the version you originally submitted.
7
Present the certified affidavit to each bank, DMV, or asset holder
Texas Estates Code § 205.008 protects an institution that pays out in good-faith reliance on a facially valid, court-approved affidavit — know this citation if a branch hesitates.
Texas is unusual among the states this project covers: it has three
distinct probate-avoidance mechanisms, each solving a different situation.
No valid will, modest personal property (non-exempt assets at or under
$75,000): the Small Estate Affidavit (Estates Code
Chapter 205) is the mechanism — a sworn statement, court-filed and
court-approved, that lets heirs collect bank accounts and similar property
without opening full probate.
A valid will exists, no dollar cap, but no debts beyond a home-secured
lien: Muniment of Title (Estates
Code Chapter 257) is the mechanism — using the probated will itself as the
record of ownership, without appointing an executor to formally administer
the estate. This is the more common path when real property (a house or
land) is involved, filed within 4 years of death.
No will, or a will that missed that 4-year window, and real property
(not a bank account) is the actual asset at issue:
Affidavit of Heirship (Estates
Code Chapter 203) is the mechanism — a sworn, notarized statement of the
decedent’s family history and heirs, recorded with the county clerk rather
than filed with a court. It is not a path to a bank account; most banks
and brokerages will not accept it for financial accounts.
None of the three mechanisms is a substitute for another, and picking the
wrong one is a common, entirely avoidable delay. All three guides above go
into their own mechanism’s requirements, filing/recording steps, common
rejection reasons, and what to do when a bank, county clerk, or title company
pushes back — the confirmed biggest gap in every competitor’s free content,
across all three mechanisms.
This page, and the three mechanism guides linked above, are informational
only. They are not legal advice, and they do not draft, file, or
individualize any affidavit or court application on your behalf. For advice
on your specific estate, consult a licensed Texas attorney.
What it actually looks like
Sample pages from the kit
Real pages from the Texas kit PDF. Click any page to enlarge.
Print-friendly, readable on a phone or tablet, and designed to be taken to the bank or clerk. Every operational
claim cites the actual statute or official publication.
Yes — Texas's own form is free (that's the Free state form column below). The $37
is for everything the free form leaves you to work out alone: the eligibility check, the filing sequence, and
what to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back.
This kit
Probate attorney
Free state form
Doing nothing
Cost
$37
$1,500–4,200+
$0
Eventually full probate, if the estate is never settled
Time to filed
Same week to prepare; court approval timing varies by county
2–6 weeks
If you can decode it alone
Not until you act
Bank/DMV/clerk pushback script
Yes
Sometimes
No
n/a
Statute citations
Yes
n/a
n/a
n/a
Delivery time
Instant download
After consult + retainer
Instant
n/a
Attorney costs reflect typical Texas probate-attorney retainers for this kind of filing.
The most-searched sticking point
What to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back
A facially valid filing still gets rejected on the first try more often than it should — usually because front-line staff have never processed one before, not because anything is actually wrong. This is the single biggest gap in every free state resource: none of them tell you what to actually say. The kit's Section 5 gives you the exact script and citation for each of these:
Bank asks for court-issued 'Letters Testamentary' or 'Letters of Administration'
Bank or credit union says it needs 30+ days to 'review with legal' before releasing funds
Bank asks for an EIN or tax ID for the estate before releasing a small personal account
Each one has a specific script and statutory citation behind it — not just "you're right, they're wrong," but
exactly what to say and what document to hand over. That's in the kit.
If a bank, DMV, title company, or court clerk rejects your filing for a reason traceable to following this
kit, you get a full refund.
Email the stated rejection reason to support@estateaffidavitguide.com within 30 days of
purchase and we refund the full purchase price within one business day. No phone tag, no forms, no fight.
Not covered: an estate that turns out to be over the dollar limit, a dispute among heirs, or a missing document
unrelated to the filing itself. Changed your mind for any other reason? You have 7 days, no questions asked.
Full refund policy.
Avoid these
4 common reasons filings get rejected
▸ Estate is not intestate (a will exists)
Chapter 205 is available only when the decedent died without a valid will (or the will does not dispose of the entire estate). If a will exists and disposes of the property, the affidavit does not apply — Muniment of Title (see below) or full probate is the correct path instead. — Estates Code § 205.001
▸ Total assets exceed the $75,000 non-exempt property cap
The cap counts non-exempt personal property only — homestead and other exempt property (certain retirement accounts, a set amount of personal property, etc.) are excluded from the calculation, which trips up families who add in the full value of everything the decedent owned rather than just the non-exempt total. — Estates Code § 205.001(3)
▸ Filed before the 30-day waiting period has elapsed
The affidavit cannot be filed with the court until at least 30 days after the date of death. Filing early is a common, entirely avoidable rejection. — Estates Code § 205.001(1)
▸ Unpaid debts exceed the value of the estate, or known debts aren't listed
The affidavit must show the estate's assets exceed its known liabilities (excluding the homestead and exempt property), and every distributee must sign. Omitting a known debt, or a missing heir signature, is a common reason a court clerk kicks a filing back for correction. — Estates Code § 205.002
Before you present the Texas Small Estate Affidavit
Most rejected-on-the-first-try filings are a front-line-staff problem, not an eligibility problem. This free one-pager has what to bring and what to say the first time you hand it to a bank, DMV, or clerk — emailed now. We'll also send a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks (why most pushback is unfamiliarity not law, the exact citation to point to, when to call an attorney) — then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Does the Texas Small Estate Affidavit cover real estate?
Only very narrowly — it can pass the decedent's homestead to a surviving spouse or minor children, but it is not the mechanism for transferring other real property title. If the decedent left a will and real property is involved, Muniment of Title is usually the better fit; if there's no will, an Affidavit of Heirship (a related but separate instrument, recorded with the county clerk rather than filed with a court) typically handles real property instead.
What counts toward the $75,000 cap?
Only non-exempt personal property — bank accounts, vehicles, and similar assets minus what Texas law treats as exempt (a homestead, certain retirement accounts, and a statutory amount of personal property). Families often overestimate their total by including exempt items that don't count against the cap.
Which Texas mechanism applies to my situation — Small Estate Affidavit, Muniment of Title, or Affidavit of Heirship?
As a rule of thumb: no will and a modest bank-account-sized estate (non-exempt personal property under $75,000) points to the Small Estate Affidavit; a valid will, especially one involving real property, and no debts beyond a mortgage, filed within 4 years of death, points to Muniment of Title. Affidavit of Heirship is different from both — it's specifically for establishing who inherited real property (a house or land) when there's no will, or a will exists but missed that 4-year window, and it is not a path to a bank account. Some estates qualify for neither and need full probate — for example, an intestate estate over $75,000, or a will-based estate with unresolved unsecured debt. This is informational only, not legal advice or a determination of which mechanism applies to your specific estate.
We missed the 4-year deadline for Muniment of Title — do we have any options left?
Possibly, if real property (not a bank account) is the issue. Affidavit of Heirship doesn't have Muniment of Title's 4-year filing deadline — it's available specifically because probate wasn't completed in time, as long as the estate otherwise fits (no will, or a will that was never probated). It's a different, nonjudicial process — recorded with the county clerk rather than filed with a court — so it isn't a drop-in replacement, but it's frequently the right next step for a family in exactly this situation.
Ready to start?
$37, one time. Instant download.
Money-back if your filing is rejected for a reason traceable to following the kit, or for any other
reason within 7 days.
No waiting room, no retainer. The 30-day wait after death is fixed, but most of the
remaining delay families hit is an avoidable rejection or a second trip back to the same bank, DMV, or clerk —
this kit is built to help you avoid both on the first visit.
One last step — confirm below and it's instant from there.
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5 short, plain-English emails over the following weeks — the eligibility math, the small estate affidavit presentation moment, why most rejections are paperwork not eligibility, and when to call an attorney instead. Then we stop. No ongoing newsletter, no sales list. Unsubscribe anytime.
Primary sources
State sources
▸
Every claim here cites the actual statute or an official publication — see them
Statute: Estates Code Chapter 205
. The primary source behind every requirement, cap, and deadline described above.
Official form:
Official Small Estate Affidavit form
Texas Judicial Branch fill-in Small Estate Affidavit template, with instructions, published via texaslawhelp.org's Small Estate Affidavit toolkit.
What to bring and what to say the first time you hand a Texas Small Estate Affidavit to a bank, DMV, or clerk — emailed now, plus a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks, then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.
Free checklist
Before you present the Texas Small Estate Affidavit
What to bring and what to say the first time you hand it to a bank, DMV, or clerk — so unfamiliarity on their end doesn't turn one trip into two. Emailed now, plus a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks, then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.
