HB3421

HB3421 makes several changes to the handling of deceased people’s estates, effective September 1, 2025. It addresses court records and estate administration; it does not replace Texas inheritance law or erase estate debts. Final law; history.

Moving a probate case to another county: Clerks continue to transfer the listed case documents electronically, but must separately send the original will, or the paper copy offered to prove a will that cannot be produced, by a qualified delivery method. That means a qualifying courier, certified/registered mail or designated private delivery service with the required receipt. If an applicant requested the transfer, that applicant pays the delivery cost when applicable.

A will whose original cannot be produced: A copy containing a copy of a self-proving affidavit can make the will self-proved if the affidavit satisfies the statutory form and content requirements. This does not dispense with the separate requirements to explain why the original cannot reasonably be produced and prove its contents. The custody provision also expressly covers a paper copy of a will proved under the missing-will procedure, requiring it and the probate record to be deposited with the county clerk. Existing court-ordered inspection safeguards remain. Proof of a will not produced.

Estate inventories and money owed to the estate: The inventory must state whether the decedent was married at death. Separate/community-property classification is expressly required when the decedent was married. The same marriage condition is added to classification of claims owed to the estate, not a new list of creditors’ claims against it. The ordinary inventory deadline—before the 91st day after the representative qualifies—and existing court adjustments and affidavit-instead-of-inventory provisions remain.

Summary proceedings for certain small estates: In the existing procedure for estates whose available assets do not exceed the specified high-priority claims after protected property and allowances are excluded, the court may settle or adjust the representative’s account with or without notice or citation. The added words concern this particular procedure; they do not abolish notice requirements throughout probate.

Temporary administrators: Proof that the required appointment notice was served must be filed within seven days after letters of temporary administration are issued. This is a proof-of-service deadline, not permission to postpone the underlying notice: the existing section requires notice when the letters issue. The separate 15-day period to request a contest hearing is not changed by this bill.

A surviving spouse managing community property without a qualified estate representative: The text refers to debts and obligations for which a portion of community property is liable, removing the narrower-sounding labels “community debts” and “community obligations.” The statute still limits these powers to the situation in which no qualified executor or administrator exists, and it does not change who inherits the deceased spouse’s property.

Electronic orders and creditor security: Statutory probate courts are expressly added to the courts required to deliver orders through the electronic filing system in cases where that system is required or authorized, in addition to other applicable delivery methods. The law also repeals Estates Code 403.060, which let an estate creditor demand a bond from distributees/heirs in an independent administration and potentially force court-supervised administration if the bond was not supplied. Repealing that particular bond procedure is not cancellation of the creditor’s underlying debt.

Different transition rules matter: The transfer and inventory changes apply to pending and new proceedings/administrations. The amended will-custody section applies only to proceedings begun on or after September 1, 2025. The new seven-day proof-of-notice deadline applies only to temporary administrators appointed on or after that date. Earlier cases or appointments remain under the former law where the act says so.