Inherited a house? Sort out who owns it before anyone sells it.

The tax bill still comes. The yard still grows. And before anyone can sell the house, a title company needs proof of who owns it now — the name on the deed can’t sign anymore.

Texas law gives you several ways to prove it. Which one fits mostly turns on two facts: was there a will, and how long ago did the owner die?

First question: is there a will?

If there’s a will, it decides who gets the house — but only after a court admits it to probate. Until then it can’t prove title to anything (Estates Code §256.001). It’s a piece of paper in a drawer.

Texas gives you four years. A will generally can’t be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the death unless the person offering it proves they weren’t “in default” for waiting (§256.003(a)). Late filings come with strings: the heirs get formal notice that the property goes to the heirs if the will fails (§258.051), and no executor can be appointed unless the application was filed by that anniversary (§256.003(b)). One exception: if the owner lived outside Texas and the will has already been probated in another state or country, it can be admitted here at any time (§501.001).

The quiet part: four years also protects buyers. Someone who buys in good faith from the heirs after year four, without knowing about a will, keeps the house against the will’s beneficiaries (§256.003(c)). If a will exists, file it.

If there’s no will, Texas law picks the heirs (Estates Code ch. 201), and small details change the answer. If Dad dies without a will and all of his children are also Mom’s, his half of their community property goes to Mom (§201.003(b)). If he had a child who isn’t Mom’s, his half goes to his children instead (§201.003(c)). Separate property splits differently again (§201.002).

With a will: muniment of title

A muniment of title is probate without an executor. The court admits the will, and the order itself becomes proof of ownership: the people the will names can deal with the house as if title were already in their names (§257.102).

It fits when the estate owes no unpaid debts other than debts secured by real estate — the mortgage counts as one of those — or the court finds some other reason an administration isn’t needed (§257.001). On time means within four years of the death (§257.054). Later than that, it turns on the “default” rule above; the Texas Supreme Court has heard a muniment application filed nine years after a death (Ferreira v. Butler, 2019).

Two dates to know. The court can’t act until notice of the application has been posted at the courthouse for at least 10 days (§§258.001, 258.003, 51.053). And within 180 days after the order, the applicant files a sworn statement of which parts of the will have been carried out, unless the judge waives or extends it (§257.103).

Without a will: an affidavit of heirship or a court

Affidavit of heirship

An affidavit of heirship is a sworn family history — marriages, children, who died when — signed in front of a notary and recorded in the deed records. The Estates Code supplies a fill-in form (§203.002).

It’s evidence, not a court order. Whether a title company will insure a sale on it, and who has to sign the deed, is the title company’s call. Ask before you ask an agent. What the affidavit does and doesn’t do:

• Once it has been on record for five years in the county where the property sits (or where the owner lived), a court in an heirship case or a title suit must take it as prima facie evidence of the facts in it (§203.001(a)).
• If it’s wrong, anyone with an interest can prove the true facts (§203.001(b)).
• It doesn’t affect the rights of an heir it leaves out, or of the owner’s creditors (§203.001(d)).

A court’s judgment of heirship

When the family tree has gaps — a half-sibling nobody can locate, an heir whose name nobody knows — a court can declare heirship instead (ch. 202). It appoints an attorney ad litem for heirs whose names or locations are unknown (§202.009), there’s no deadline to file (§202.0025), and a buyer who pays for the property after the judgment, without notice of a missing heir’s claim, is protected (§202.204(a)). That protection is the point.

The small estate affidavit is narrower than it sounds

You’ll hear that estates under $75,000 can skip probate. That’s the Small Estate Affidavit (ch. 205), and the $75,000 limit is current law — but read the rest of the list. It only works when there was no will, at least 30 days have passed, no application to appoint an estate representative is pending or has been granted, and the assets other than the homestead and exempt property are $75,000 or less (§205.001). Two disinterested witnesses and every heir with legal capacity swear to it, and a judge has to approve it (§§205.002–205.003).

The catch for houses: it can transfer only the homestead, and only when that’s the only real estate in the estate (§§205.006, 205.008(b)). And the law counts a house as the homestead here only if it could be set aside for the owner’s surviving spouse or minor children (§§205.009, 353.051). If Mom was widowed and the kids are grown, there’s nobody it could be set aside for, so this route usually won’t move the house.

Check the deed records first

Before any of this, search the county deed records for a transfer on death deed. If the owner signed one and it was recorded before the death, the house goes to the named beneficiary without probate (§§114.055, 114.103) — along with the mortgage and any other liens on it (§114.104).

Five paths, side by side

Path	When it fits	Court?
Transfer on death deed	Recorded before the death	No
Muniment of title	A will; no unpaid debts except liens on real estate; after 4 years, only without “default”	Yes — after 10+ days of posted notice
Affidavit of heirship	No will; family history is simple	No — recorded in the county
Court heirship	No will; unknown or missing heirs, or the title company wants an order	Yes
Small estate affidavit	No will; $75,000 or less outside the homestead; a surviving spouse or minor child	A judge approves it

The mortgage, the siblings and the clock

The mortgage doesn’t block a sale; as long as the price covers it, it gets paid off at closing. Federal law generally bars a lender from calling the loan due just because the house passed to a relative at the borrower’s death (12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(5)), and once the servicer confirms you as a successor in interest, you’re treated as a borrower under the federal servicing rules (12 CFR §1024.30(d)). The payments are still due. Miss enough of them and a different clock starts — see The Foreclosure Clock.

The siblings. When heirs inherit together and one wants to sell, any co-owner can sue to partition the property (Property Code §23.001). For inherited “heirs’ property,” Texas’s version of the Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act has the court set a value first, then gives the other co-owners 45 days to say they’ll buy out whoever asked for the sale, at that co-owner’s share of the value (§§23A.006–23A.007). Agreeing is cheaper than either. If an heir is a minor, a court has to approve selling that share; a parent can ask for the order without a guardianship when the share is worth $250,000 or less (Estates Code §1351.001).

What we’d do

1. Find the will, or confirm there isn’t one, and check the deed records for a transfer on death deed.
2. Call a title company with the date of death and the family tree, and ask what it will insure a sale on.
3. Talk to a probate attorney before anyone signs a listing or a contract. If you don’t have one, the State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral & Information Service points Dallas and Tarrant callers to their county’s certified referral service and handles Collin, Denton and most other counties itself, with a first consultation of up to 30 minutes for no more than $20.
4. Meanwhile, get the three numbers — cash, list and creative — so the family conversation starts with facts. The cash path can close as soon as title is clear. Not before.