What Qualifies for Texas's Affidavit of Heirship?
Texas's Affidavit of Heirship has no dollar ceiling under Estates Code Chapter 203; eligibility instead turns on the specific statutory conditions below. This is informational only — we don't determine your eligibility for you.
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The statutory line, exactly
Texas's Affidavit of Heirship has no dollar ceiling — eligibility instead turns on the specific conditions Estates Code Chapter 203 sets out. There's no total to add up before you know whether it applies.
The mistakes that actually sink an otherwise-eligible estate
4 reasons account for most of the rejections Texas families run into — cited to the specific Estates Code Chapter 203 section behind each one, not general advice:
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The actual need is a financial account, not real property. An Affidavit of Heirship establishes heirship to real property title — it is not accepted by most Texas banks or brokerages for releasing funds from an account. A no-will estate whose main asset is a bank account under $75,000 in non-exempt personal property needs the Small Estate Affidavit instead. — Estates Code Chapter 203 (scope); Chapter 205 (Small Estate Affidavit, the correct mechanism for bank accounts)
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A minor heir is involved. Because a minor cannot legally consent to or be bound by the affidavit's facts the way an adult heir can, title companies generally require court supervision when a minor is among the heirs — the nonjudicial affidavit process has no mechanism for that, pushing the estate toward a judicial Determination of Heirship instead.
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Heirs disagree, or one heir refuses to sign the follow-up deed. The affidavit only establishes who the heirs are; transferring the property still requires those heirs to sign a deed. Disagreement about heirship itself, or a cooperative-on-paper heir who simply won't sign, both stop the transfer even after a valid affidavit is recorded.
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Filed under 5 years, and the specific transaction draws extra underwriting scrutiny. Before 5 years of record, the affidavit does not yet carry the statutory 'prima facie evidence' presumption. It can still be relied on, but a title company has more discretion to ask for more — most likely on a higher-value, non-homestead, or otherwise higher-scrutiny transaction. — Estates Code § 203.001(a)(2)
Once you've confirmed the estate qualifies, the next question is the actual filing sequence — see how to file Affidavit of Heirship in Texas, step by step.
Once you know it applies, this is what trips families up next
Not the eligibility conditions — what happens after it's recorded. Free one-pager: the real scenarios that come up and what resolves each, emailed now. Then a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks — then we stop.