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County of Residence for Probate

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KATNEPHEW

Junior Member
Texas: County of Residence?

My aunt is 94 years old and in poor health. She resided in County "A" for 62 years with the last 3 years (until last November) in a nursing home in that county. In November, we moved her to another nursing home located in County "B" and that will probably be the county of death. She is not a registered voter nor does she have a drivers license. All her mail is sent c/o me and I reside in County "C". I am her legal representative and her address of record for Federal income taxes, pension, Social Security and medicare, investments, and banking purposes is my address in County "C". She owns no real estate.

My question is: What county would I probate her will? I would prefer County "C" for ease of administration of her estate. All family members (all heirs) would agree with any county selected. What steps do I need to take now to ensure that County "C" is the proper county for probate jurisdiction upon her death?
 


GaAtty

Member
GaAtty

Of all the choices you gave, county C is the least likely to be correct. It doesn't matter where her mail goes. Her probate is to take place in the county of her domicile, and that is where she considers to be her home. Her county for probate would probably be A, since she was obviously domiciled there. She only left there to go to the nursing home for care. That doesn't change her domicile. In my state, we have a recent law that says that if a person deceases in a nursing home, their county of domicile for the purposes of probate is where that person was domiciled immediately before entering the nursing home. However, someone challenging it can present evidence that is counter to that, and show that the person intended to change their residence to the nursing home. I do not see any way that county C was ever part of her domicile. You cannot do anything to make County C the proper county. It just is not. She did not live there.
 

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