Will requirements in Texas

Texas allows a will from anyone 18 or older, and also from someone under 18 who is married or has been married, or who is serving in the armed forces or the maritime service. Those exceptions are broader than in most states.

Sound mind is required in every case. Capacity is measured at the moment of signing and asks whether you understood the nature of the act, roughly what you owned, and who would ordinarily expect to inherit from you.

A Texas will is valid without a notary. The self-proving affidavit is what a notary is for — it lets the will be admitted to probate without your witnesses being located and asked to testify.

Texas does something most states do not: it provides a way to self-prove a handwritten will. A holographic will can be accompanied by a self-proving affidavit of its own, which removes much of the usual disadvantage of the handwritten route. If you are going to make a handwritten will in Texas, this is the step that makes it materially safer.

Texas accepts holographic wills that are wholly in your own handwriting and signed. Note the standard: the entire document must be handwritten, not merely the material portions as in Arizona, Colorado or Montana. A part-printed form with handwritten provisions does not qualify.

Texas is more generous than most states in what follows, because a holographic will can itself be made self-proved by affidavit. That removes the usual need to find witnesses who can identify your handwriting after your death, and makes the handwritten route considerably more practical in Texas than in states like Tennessee.

Texas has a Small Estate Affidavit for estates below a statutory limit, and the way that limit is measured matters: the homestead and exempt property are excluded from the calculation, so an estate that looks too large on paper may still qualify.

Texas also offers probate as muniment of title, a simplified route with no dollar threshold at all, available where there is a valid will and no unpaid debts other than those secured by real estate. It is distinctive to Texas and often the better option where a will exists.

Confirm the current threshold and which procedure fits with the probate court or county clerk. The interaction between the exclusions and the limit is not something to estimate from an aggregated figure.

Texas is the largest of the nine community property states. Property acquired during the marriage is generally community property owned equally by both spouses, while property owned before the marriage or received by gift or inheritance is usually separate.

Your will disposes of your separate property and your one-half interest in the community property. It cannot give away your spouse's half, and a will drafted on the assumption that you own the marital home outright will not do what you intended.

Texas also has strong homestead protections that operate independently of the will, and can give a surviving spouse the right to occupy the homestead regardless of who inherits it. That is a Texas-specific interaction worth understanding before drafting.

Texas keeps its health-care documents separate: a Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates, which is the living will, and a Medical Power of Attorney naming someone to make medical decisions when you cannot. Texas also uses an Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate order, which is a distinct medical form.

A statutory Durable Power of Attorney covers financial matters. These documents operate while you are alive, which is precisely the period a will never reaches.