Texas Independent Administration Probate Cost Calculator

How this calculator works

Texas runs the most executor-friendly probate system in the United States. The lever is independent administration under Texas Estates Code Chapter 401: once the will is admitted and the independent executor qualifies, the executor administers the estate without ongoing court supervision. No court permission is required to sell estate property, pay claims, or distribute to heirs. The court reappears only if an interested person affirmatively asks for intervention. The vast majority of routine Texas probates run independently — and the cost differential between Texas and heavy-supervision states like Florida or California is mostly a story about this single procedural choice.

This calculator estimates the total cash cost of a Texas probate at the planning stage. It models the three statutory paths — independent administration (Chapter 401), dependent administration (court-supervised), and muniment of title (§ 257.001) — and computes the executor's commission under § 352.002, the attorney fee under the § 351.003 reasonableness standard, and the county filing fee.

The three Texas probate paths

A Texas estate can run down one of three statutory paths, and the choice drives most of the cost.

1. Independent administration (Chapter 401) is the default for uncontested estates. Available when the will requests it under § 401.001, or when all heirs and beneficiaries agree under § 401.003. After qualification — oath, letters testamentary, inventory — the executor proceeds without court supervision. Attorney fees commonly run 3% to 5% of gross estate; the court filing fee is typically $300 to $500 depending on the county.

2. Dependent administration (court-supervised) is required when the estate is contested, when no qualified independent executor is available, or when the parties cannot agree to the independent path. Every meaningful decision — sale of property, payment of debts, distribution — requires a court hearing. Surety bonds, formal accountings under Chapter 404, and the attorney-time uplift produce a cost profile that typically runs 5% to 10% of gross estate in attorney fees alone, before executor commission and filing costs. In rough terms, dependent administration runs two to three times the cost of independent administration on a comparable estate.

3. Muniment of title (§ 257.001) is the fast-track. Available only when the decedent left a will, the estate has no unpaid debts other than liens on real estate, and the court finds no necessity for administration. The court admits the will as a record document — no executor is appointed, no administration is opened. Attorney fees are typically a flat $1,500 to $3,500; the filing fee is often $200 or so. Common use case: a Texas married couple, simple will leaving everything to the survivor, only meaningful asset is the homestead, no consumer debt.

The § 352.002 executor commission

Texas Estates Code § 352.002 sets the default executor commission at 5% of all cash received by the personal representative during the administration plus 5% of all cash paid out during the administration. Two structural rules shape the math:

• Exclusions under § 352.002(b): cash on hand at death, life insurance proceeds, and cash that is part of a non-cash distribution to heirs are not counted in the receipts-and-disbursements base. The 5% applies only to cash the executor handles during the administration.
• 5%-of-gross-estate cap: the total commission cannot exceed 5% of the gross value of the estate. On an estate where the executor handles large cash flows (selling out real estate, collecting receivables), the cap is the binding constraint. On an estate where cash flows through quietly (most assets distributed in kind to heirs), the receipts-and-disbursements base is the binding figure and the commission falls below the cap.
• Will override under § 352.002(d): the decedent's will (or a written contract with the decedent) may specify a different compensation arrangement — higher, lower, flat fee, or waived entirely. The statutory schedule is the default; the will-or-contract override always wins.

When the executor is also the principal beneficiary, the commission is often waived — the executor's share of the residue already captures the value, and waiving the commission simplifies the income-tax picture (commission is ordinary income; residuary distribution is not).

The § 351.003 attorney fee — no statutory schedule

Texas Estates Code § 351.003 sets only a reasonableness standard for attorney fees. Unlike Florida (presumptively-reasonable schedule under F.S. § 733.6171) or California (statutorily-fixed sliding scale under Cal. Probate Code § 10810), Texas leaves the attorney fee to be negotiated between the executor and counsel — subject to court review on objection by an interested person.

In practice, Texas probate counsel quote either an hourly rate ($250 to $500 per hour for an experienced attorney) or a percentage-of-estate flat fee. The conventional rules of thumb for routine, uncontested work:

• Independent administration: 3% to 5% of gross estate. 4% is a workable planning midpoint.
• Dependent administration: 5% to 10% of gross estate. 7% is a workable planning midpoint.
• Muniment of title: flat $1,500 to $3,500.

The court can review the fee for reasonableness on objection under § 351.003 and the Anders factors from Texas Disciplinary Rule 1.04. A properly documented, reasonable fee will be approved; an unreasonable fee can be reduced — Texas has no statutory floor below which the fee is presumptively reasonable, so the documentation discipline matters.

A worked example — $500,000 estate, independent administration

A Texas decedent dies with a will requesting independent administration. Gross estate of $500,000: home (transferred outside probate by a transfer-on-death deed, so not in the inventory), $300,000 in bank and brokerage accounts in the decedent's individual name, $150,000 in a closely-held LLC interest, $50,000 in vehicles and personal property.

• Court filing fee: $400.
• Executor commission: the executor sells the LLC interest ($150,000 cash receipt) and pays $50,000 in debts and administration expenses (cash disbursements) before distributing the residue in kind to the heirs. Pre-cap commission: 5% × ($150,000 + $50,000) = $10,000. The 5% gross cap = 5% × $500,000 = $25,000. The pre-cap figure of $10,000 is below the cap, so the executor's commission is $10,000.
• Attorney fee: 4% × $500,000 = $20,000 (independent administration rule-of-thumb).
• Total estimated cost: $400 + $10,000 + $20,000 = $30,400, or 6.08% of gross estate.

Estimated savings vs dependent administration on the same estate: (7% − 4%) × $500,000 = $15,000 in attorney fees alone, before the executor-commission and procedural overhead delta that dependent administration adds.

A worked example — $2,000,000 estate, independent administration, cap binding

A $2,000,000 Texas estate. The executor sells a large real-estate holding (cash receipts $1,500,000) and pays $500,000 in debts and administration expenses (cash disbursements). All other assets distribute in kind.

• Court filing fee: $400.
• Executor commission: pre-cap = 5% × ($1,500,000 + $500,000) = $100,000. The 5%-of-gross-estate cap = 5% × $2,000,000 = $100,000. The cap and the pre-cap figure tie exactly — the commission is $100,000 and the § 352.002 cap is binding at the margin (any additional cash flow would not increase the commission).
• Attorney fee: 4% × $2,000,000 = $80,000.
• Total estimated cost: $400 + $100,000 + $80,000 = $180,400, or 9.02% of gross estate.

Estimated savings vs dependent administration: (7% − 4%) × $2,000,000 = $60,000 in attorney-fee differential alone.

A worked example — $500,000 estate, dependent administration (contested)

Same $500,000 estate, but the will is contested by a sibling who was disinherited. The independent path is unavailable; the court orders dependent administration. The attorney bills against hearings on every property sale, every distribution, every accounting.

• Court filing fee: $400 (plus separate contest-filing fees not modeled here).
• Executor commission: 5% × ($150,000 + $50,000) = $10,000, below the $25,000 cap. $10,000.
• Attorney fee: 7% × $500,000 = $35,000 (dependent administration rule-of-thumb; routine work, NOT including contest-litigation rates).
• Total estimated cost: $400 + $10,000 + $35,000 = $45,400, or 9.08% of gross estate.

Contrast with the $30,400 independent figure on the same estate. The contest pushed cost up by roughly $15,000 — and that estimate excludes the litigation-rate attorney fees the will contest itself will trigger. Real-world contested probates in Texas can run 15% to 25% of gross estate by the time the litigation closes.

A worked example — $300,000 estate, muniment of title

A Texas decedent dies with a simple will leaving everything to the surviving spouse. Gross estate $300,000: the homestead ($275,000) and a single bank account ($25,000) in the decedent's individual name. No debts other than the home mortgage (a lien on real estate). Eligible for muniment of title under § 257.001.

• Court filing fee: $200.
• Executor commission: N/A — muniment opens no administration.
• Attorney fee: flat $2,500 (typical Texas muniment range $1,500 to $3,500).
• Total estimated cost: $200 + $0 + $2,500 = $2,700, or 0.9% of gross estate.

This is the structural reason Texas estate planners aggressively pursue muniment-of-title eligibility when the estate qualifies. The cost differential between muniment ($2,700) and independent administration ($30,400 on a $500K estate, prorated) is roughly an order of magnitude.

Will provisions can override the commission

§ 352.002(d) lets the decedent's will specify any compensation arrangement — including waiver. Three common patterns:

• Waived entirely. The executor is the principal beneficiary; commission would be income-taxed; residuary distribution is not. Waiving the commission is income-tax-efficient.
• Flat fee. The will specifies a flat dollar amount that the executor receives in lieu of the statutory schedule. Common when the executor is a corporate trustee, attorney, or other paid professional.
• Percentage uplift. The will specifies a higher percentage than the 5% statutory default — recognizes that a complex estate (operating business, multi-state real estate, large illiquid asset base) takes more executor time than a routine one.

The will provision wins. The calculator surfaces the waiver flag for the most common pattern; a percentage uplift or flat-fee override would require switching to the attorney-fee override input as a proxy.

Tradeoffs across the three paths

| Path | Court supervision | Cost (% of gross) | Speed | When to use | | ------------------------------- | ----------------- | ----------------- | ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Independent (Chapter 401) | Minimal | 5%–10% | 6–12 months | Uncontested estates with a will requesting it, or full heir agreement | | Dependent (court-supervised) | Continuous | 10%–20% | 12–24 months | Contested estates, no qualified independent executor, court orders it | | Muniment of title (§ 257.001) | One hearing | under 2% | 30–60 days | Debt-free estates with a will (only liens on real estate permitted) |

The choice is not always the executor's to make — a contest pushes the estate to dependent administration regardless of the will's preference. And muniment of title eligibility is narrow (no debts other than liens). But within the available choices, the cost differential is large enough that the path decision is the single most important planning choice in routine Texas estate administration.

Federal estate tax still applies above the exemption

Texas imposes no state estate or inheritance tax. The only estate-tax exposure for a Texas decedent is the federal estate tax under IRC § 2001, which applies only above the IRC § 2010 unified-credit exemption (approximately $13.61M per decedent in 2024, indexed annually). A married couple can effectively shelter twice that by using portability of the deceased spouse's unused exemption (DSUE) under IRC § 2010(c)(4), filed on a timely Form 706. Under current law, the exemption is scheduled to drop to roughly $7M per decedent (inflation-indexed) beginning January 1, 2026 unless Congress extends the higher exemption. Estates near or above the projected $7M sunset amount should be reviewed for pre-sunset planning.

Common errors

Four mistakes turn up routinely in Texas probate cost math:

1. Counting cash on hand at death in the § 352.002 base. The receipts-and-disbursements base excludes cash on hand at the date of death under § 352.002(b). A decedent who died with $200,000 in checking accounts does not produce a $10,000 executor commission just because of the cash balance — that cash only enters the base if and to the extent the executor distributes it as a cash receipt or pays it out as a cash disbursement to a creditor.
2. Forgetting the 5%-of-gross-estate cap. On estates with high cash turnover (selling real estate, large receivables), the pre-cap 5% × (receipts + disbursements) figure can exceed the 5%-of-gross-estate cap. The cap is the binding figure.
3. Applying the Florida or California fee schedule to a Texas estate. Texas has no statutory attorney-fee schedule under § 351.003 — only a reasonableness standard. Importing the Florida F.S. § 733.6171 tier table or the California Probate Code § 10810 sliding scale produces wrong answers. The rule-of-thumb percentages in this calculator (4% independent, 7% dependent) are practitioner conventions, not statutory rates.
4. Confusing muniment of title with full probate. Muniment opens no administration — no executor, no commission, no inventory beyond what the petition itself includes. The cost structure is genuinely different; treating muniment as "probate-lite" with a discounted attorney fee misses that the procedural arc is shorter and the cost is closer to one transaction than to one administration.

What this calculator does not do

This is a planning and screening tool. It does not:

• Predict contested-probate litigation costs. A will contest or breach-of-fiduciary-duty action pushes attorney fees to litigation rates, well above the routine-administration rule of thumb. The calculator models routine work only.
• Compute heirship determinations. An intestate estate may require a heirship proceeding under Chapter 202 with an attorney ad litem — typically adds $3,000 to $7,500 in fees and 2 to 6 months in time. Not modeled here.
• Model multi-state ancillary administration. Out-of-Texas real property is administered under the situs state's law via ancillary proceedings, with their own cost and procedural arcs. The calculator models the Texas-resident-decedent baseline only.
• Account for federal estate tax preparation fees. Estates near or above the federal exemption that require a Form 706 incur attorney and CPA fees on top of the probate-administration figures here.

How this page is maintained

The calculator's statutory references and rule-of-thumb percentages are reviewed against the Texas Estates Code each Texas legislative session. The conventional independent-vs-dependent percentage gap (3%–5% vs 5%–10%) is sourced from State Bar of Texas Estate Planning & Probate Section practice guides and Texas probate-counsel engagement letters in the public record. Court filing fees are reviewed against the Texas Judicial Branch's annual fee survey; the calculator surfaces a workable planning midpoint because the per-county variation is real and changes annually.