A complex estate usually has hard-to-manage assets, a family in conflict, or both. We handle those estates in Dallas County and the surrounding counties.
Kreig LLC takes estates that have outgrown a routine administration. That usually means operating businesses, mineral interests, property spread across several counties, beneficiaries who no longer speak to each other, or an administration that has already gone sideways under someone else.
A closely held business or professional practice. Somebody has to run it while the estate is open, and its value gets fought over almost immediately because that number sets everyone’s share.
Mineral and royalty interests. Title has to be traced, division orders corrected, and suspended funds recovered, often in counties nobody in the family has ever visited.
Real property in more than one county. Each parcel needs its own title work and its own transfer document, and a sale may need court approval while the rest of the estate waits.
Debt that exceeds liquid assets. Claims are classified and paid in the order the Estates Code sets, and a representative who pays the wrong creditor first can end up answering for it.
A blended family. A surviving spouse and children from an earlier marriage have different interests, and that’s where most of the litigation we see comes from.
Assets moved before death. Transfers, beneficiary changes and joint accounts set up in the last years of life are where undue influence cases usually start.
Most Texas estates are administered independently, without ongoing court supervision. It’s the less expensive route, and it works well when the family agrees.
It breaks down in a few situations. The will may forbid independent administration under Estates Code Section 401.001(b). If the will doesn’t provide for it, Section 401.002 requires all of the distributees to agree, so one holdout can stop it. Even with everyone on board, the court can refuse if it finds independent administration isn’t in the estate’s best interest.
When that happens the estate goes into a dependent administration, and most significant steps need a court order first. That includes selling a house, paying a creditor, hiring a professional and making a distribution. The estate still gets administered, but it takes longer and costs more, and the representative has to approach every decision the way a litigant would.
Dallas County has three statutory probate courts. Texas Government Code Section 25.0591(d) names them: the Probate Court of Dallas County, Probate Court Number 2, and Probate Court Number 3.
All three sit on the 7th floor of the George Allen Courts Building, 600 Commerce Street, Dallas, Texas 75202.
Under Local Rule 2.01(a), cases are assigned randomly, subject to distribution percentages the probate judges agree on, so you don’t get to pick your court. Once an estate is pending, Local Rule 2.01(a)(4) sends every related, pendent or ancillary proceeding to the same court under a new cause number.
That rule matters more in a large estate because complex estates tend to spin off several proceedings. A removal action, a suit on a claim, a suit over a transfer and a trust dispute will all end up in front of one judge who already knows the file.
A statutory probate court does far more than admit wills. Under Estates Code Sections 32.001(a) and 31.002(c), it hears matters related to the probate proceeding, and in a county with a statutory probate court that includes any lawsuit in which the estate’s personal representative is a party in that capacity.
Property Code Section 115.001 gives district courts exclusive jurisdiction over trust proceedings, but subsection (d) makes an exception for statutory probate courts. Estates Code Sections 32.006 and 32.007 then give the Dallas probate courts jurisdiction over trust actions, concurrent with the district courts. In practice, an estate fight and a related trust fight can be heard in the same court.
We routinely handle estates with property in several of these counties.
We’re a probate litigation firm. We don’t handle uncontested probate, muniment of title, small estate affidavits, affidavits of heirship or simple wills. If your matter is one of those, we’ll tell you on the first call so you can find the right lawyer for it.
The first conversation is short and free. Bring the will, the court file if one is open, and a short description of who disagrees with whom.