What can I do in Texas with a copy of an unprobated, out-of-state will from my deceased aunt leaving her entire estate to her brother, my also-deceased father, to enable me to claim an inherited royalty interest in Karnes County, TX? I hired an attorney who filed the royalty deed, my copy of her will, and my heirship affidavits with the Karnes County clerk’s office, but I have hit a roadblock with “authenticating” the out-of-state will. I’ve been told that Texas requires that the will be authenticated in the county where she lived when she died. So, I then hired an attorney in that state to take the will to probate, but that’s proving to be a problem because I’m old, infirmed, and not physically able to travel to the state in question to attend a court proceeding to validate the will and they are a small court and don’t do virtual proceedings. Is there any way around this? There is no property in the other state, so I’m only having to deal with them because Texas requires an authenticated will. There must be a way to move forward in Texas – this can’t possibly be the only case where attending a court proceeding across the country is made impossible by age and physical limitations. I don’t know where to turn now and really need some guidance.
Maybe I am just simple minded, If you have an attorney in the county you need, then maybe a notarized statement from you that states who you are and instructing said attorney to do this locally in the county is all you need? Make sure it includes only the Interest that you have that he needs to vouch for you. Just a guess!!! MK 
The original will should have been probated by the executor in a timely manner in the state and county where the deceased lived. Some states have time limits for probate. Having only a copy of a will, rather than an original, is a problem. Texas will accept out-of-state probate but that has not been done. Without valid probate, the minerals will pass under Texas intestacy statute to the aunt’s heirs which may not be only to her brother. This requires an estate attorney in the other (residency) state to determine what can or cannot be done in that state based on time since the death and the lack of a valid original will. Most likely alternative is to file the proper documentation for all the intestacy heirs and a Texas estate attorney can assist in this.
Texas requires an original of a Will that is dated and notarized. If you only have a copy of the will, then their are strategic ways to prove that the will is valid. TX requires probate for an Estate of $75k or more, or there is a short probate form that can be used if the Estate is less. If the will can not be validated, it falls under intestate, and, you will need to list all of your Aunt’s relatives that you know of and an Ad Litem attorney will have to do an in-depth check for succession to determine who gets what and how much. If the will can be validated, it must also show that your father outlived his aunt and was the rightful heir at the time of her death, or if another beneficiary was listed. Since you can’t travel, your attorney should be gathering all required documentation, and should able to appear on your behalf in court. If too much time has passed and any funds are undistributed and have been put into the state treasury, its going to take a lot of extra work to claim anything. You would have to ‘prove’ that your aunt actually had dealings with the Oil / Gas company at date listed on the Unclaimed Funds.
I knew I was simple minded. LOL!!! MK
What a drag, looks like you are getting some good advice from some of these kind individuals. I can’t offer any advice but I will ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. That usually works. Best wishes!
I have seen two ways this issue is handled.
- If you want to go with intestate succession, file an affidavit of heirship in Karnes County, TX, that lays out the heirs to your late aunt and father. Most oil companies will accept affidavits of heirship, but some do not. If not, you will have to initiate a proceeding to declare heirship. Check with the operator first before trying the affidavit option.
- The other way is to admit the will to probate in Karnes County, Texas, as a muniment of title. A competent Texas Probate Attorney can do this. It is a truncated proceeding and not a full probate proceeding. It takes less time and money, and I do not think you will even have to appear in court, but I am not sure. If you do, Karnes County may allow virtual proceedings, and in Texas, depositions can also be used instead of live testimony, especially for someone with health problems.
Texas requires this filing be within four years from date of death. Without an original will, there are other requirements, including identification of who would inherit under intestacy law.
Yeah, getting hold of the original will, if it exists, for the muniment of title can be helpful.
I know of people who have gotten around the four-year limit. I think you basically have to have good reason why it was not probated within 4 years. Not knowing it was neccecary I think works, most courts are pretty lenient with this. A Texas probate attorney can advise further.
Thank you all for responding so quickly. There’s much more to the story that I need to discuss with a TX probate attorney, preferably located in or near Karnes County, but I’m not in TX, know next to nothing about oil and gas royalties and TX laws, so finding the right one for my situation has been difficult. So far, I’ve invested over 2 years in personal research time since the TX inheritance, the royalty deed, and the will were discovered, found all the possible living heirs who might contest the will, have verified that the well-known out-of-state company which created the will in the 1980’s and had it notarized, no longer exists as an entity, and I’ve verified that it was never filed anywhere for safekeeping and was never sent to probate because there was no estate there where my aunt died in poverty. I’ve confirmed that the will can still be probated in that state, no time limitations, but the small county wants a hearing that I’m not physically able to travel to and my attorney there tells me he can’t represent me in the hearing because he’s the attorney handling the petition. So far, I’ve paid retainers to three attorneys working on different aspects of this small inheritance/will issue (TX estate under $75k) but have only been able to find and get my name into title with two TX O&G operators. Once I get the will validated/authenticated, whatever is necessary to meet the TX requirements, I can hire a TX landman to find any remaining unclaimed royalties that might be due me. I’m just lost, confused, and alone and don’t know where to turn at this point, but I know I need to find a TX probate attorney who has the time and is willing to take on this “little” case that seems monumental to me.
I do not know this Attorney, but she practices probate law in Karnes County. She is in Floresville which is about 25 miles away. I found her online. Someone else may know someone personally. I would check their suggestions first.
When my mother in law passed in Arizona in 2019 , we realized that her Texas mineral rights were not specifically mentioned in the Arizona will. The last lease had been in 2011 and it just didn’t occur to us! Just everything when to her two children. So my husband and his sister filed an affidavit of heirship a few years later.
It must be okay because in the past two months, we’ve had THREE calls for leasing or buying our mineral rights. We’ve just signed a lease and received our bonus.
I was able to get my brother’s shares in Texas with my surviving sisters and me sending a copy of the original death certificate plus an affidavit of heirship when my brother died without a will in Virginia. The oil company also had their own forms.
Thank you for sharing that information. In my case, there was a will detailing my aunt’s personal wishes, so it needs to be probated first in the state where my aunt lived before her death, and I’ve learned that there’s no way to circumvent that in TX. When someone dies intestate, without a will as in your case, their estate is distributed according to statutory rules rather than personal wishes. Thanks to everyone who reached out to me to clarify this. I’m now making travel arrangements.
There evidently were / are royalties being paid over the years, yet your aunt died in poverty. So, is this in an area that is worth chasing as much as you are, and spending as much money on lawyers & landmen as you seem to be? Attorneys are very expensive; it could run $10k or more for a simple probate if they have to do all the work. Then if it is proven your Aunt’s Will is valid and your Father is a legal beneficiary, things are going to depend on whether he had a valid Will or died Intestate under the laws of the state he died in, and who his legal heirs are. You probably need to assess the idea and value of your % of these mineral rights. Are any of the other heirs helping you? It is suggested to always keep mineral rights, but there are personal considerations to be made concerning keeping them, selling them, or even fighting to get them.