The first meeting about a Texas estate tends to end one of two ways. Either the person across the table can tell you which procedure fits and roughly what it will cost, or they cannot, because half the facts that decide the answer are still in a drawer at the house. The difference is almost never legal skill. It is paperwork. What follows is a working list of what a careful reader assembles first, why each item changes the answer rather than merely supporting it, and the questions worth asking once the documents are on the table.
1. The original will, not a copy
Texas courts want the signed original, with the ink signatures of the testator and the witnesses, and with the self-proving affidavit attached if one was executed. A photocopy is not fatal, but probating a copy is a different and slower proceeding that requires proof the original was not revoked, which usually means testimony from people who knew the decedent's habits. Look in the obvious places: a home safe, a safe deposit box, the file of the attorney who drafted it. If only a copy surfaces, say so at the first meeting rather than the third.
2. Certified death certificates, in quantity
One certified copy goes to the court. Others go to banks, title companies, life insurers, pension administrators, and the county appraisal district, and each of them tends to keep the copy it receives. Ordering ten at the outset costs far less trouble than ordering three and reordering twice. Check the certificate for the spelling of the decedent's name, the date of death, and the county, because a mismatch between the certificate and the deed or the account records will surface later, at the worst possible moment, when a transfer agent refuses to release funds.
3. Deeds, and every account statement you can find
The procedure that applies turns on what the decedent owned and how the title was written. Bring the recorded deed for any real property, the most recent property tax statement, mortgage information, and one statement for every bank, brokerage, and retirement account. Note which accounts already name a beneficiary or carry a payable-on-death designation, because those pass outside the estate entirely and shrink what the court needs to touch. A small estate with a homestead and a checking account is a different case from one with mineral interests in three counties, and the deeds are what reveal that.
4. Names, addresses, and relationships for every heir
This is the item people underestimate. If there is no will, a court needs a family history detailed enough to establish who inherits under Texas intestacy rules: marriages, divorces, children from each, adoptions, half-siblings, and anyone who has died and left descendants of their own. Write it down, with current mailing addresses where you have them and last known addresses where you do not. Heirs who cannot be located are handled through a court-appointed attorney ad litem, which is manageable and routine, but only once the court knows the name to search for.
5. Tax records and the identity of the estate itself
Bring the last filed federal income tax return, any notices from the Internal Revenue Service, which oversees the federal filing obligations that survive a death, and information on outstanding debts, credit cards, and medical bills. An estate that will file its own return needs its own taxpayer identification number, and the executor will need the decedent's Social Security number to open the estate account. Knowing what is owed also shapes the procedure, because certain simplified paths depend on the estate carrying no debt beyond a homestead lien.
6. The questions to ask before the meeting ends
Ask which procedure the facts support, and what would have to change to move the case into a cheaper one. Ask who signs what: whether the applicant must appear in person, whether other heirs must sign waivers, and whether anyone needs to be served. Ask how long the county's docket is currently running, from filing to the hearing that grants authority, because that number varies by county and by season. Ask what the filing fee is, and whether a bond will be required or waived. Ask what the four-year deadline means for these specific dates.
Assembled in one folder, this material usually answers the procedural question in a single sitting, and that is the point of gathering it. The clock in Texas is generous, but it runs from the date of death, and the weeks spent hunting for a deed are weeks spent on something a phone call to the county clerk's office could have settled.