By Paul Romano, Partner, Romano & Sumner, PLLC — Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Contesting a will in Texas means asking a probate court to declare that a will, or part of it, isn’t valid. To do it, you need two things: a recognized legal ground — a real reason the will shouldn’t stand, not just the feeling that it’s unfair — and you have to act inside the deadline, which is generally two years from the day the will is admitted to probate. Miss either one, and the strongest case in the world goes nowhere.
This page is the map. It walks through who can contest a will, the grounds Texas recognizes, the deadlines, how a contest actually works, and what it costs — each in plain English, with a link to the detailed guide when you want to go deeper. If you already know which piece you need, jump to it below. If something about a loved one’s will is bothering you and you don’t know where to start, start here.
Almost every will contest comes down to the same handful of questions. Here’s the short answer to each, and where to get the full treatment.
| The question | The short answer | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| Can I even contest it? | Only an “interested person” — an heir, a beneficiary, or someone else with a real stake in the estate — can contest. | (see “Who can contest,” below) |
| Do I have a real reason? | You need a recognized legal ground: improper signing, lack of capacity, undue influence, fraud, forgery, revocation, or a misread will. | The Grounds for Contesting a Will in Texas |
| Am I in time? | Generally, two years from the date the will was admitted to probate — and the clock often starts before you find out. | How Long Do You Have to Contest a Will in Texas? |
| How does it work, and who has to prove what? | It’s a lawsuit in probate court. Who carries the burden depends on whether you step in before or after the will is admitted. | How Long Do You Have to Contest a Will in Texas? |
| What will it cost me? | Some will contests can be handled on a contingency fee — no money up front. | How to Contest a Will When You Can’t Afford To |
Not just anyone can walk into probate court and challenge a will. Texas law limits will contests to an “interested person” — defined as an heir, devisee (a beneficiary named in the will), spouse, creditor, or anyone else with a property right in or claim against the estate (Texas Estates Code § 22.018). After a will is admitted to probate, it’s that interested person who may file suit to contest it (§ 256.204).
In practice, that usually means a family member who was left out, left less than they expected, or who believes the will on file doesn’t reflect what their loved one actually wanted. If you’re not sure whether you qualify, that’s one of the first things a will contest attorney can tell you — and it’s worth knowing before you spend any energy on the rest.
Texas courts won’t set aside a will just because it feels unfair or someone is hurt by it. You need a recognized legal ground. The most common ones are:
Each of these has its own proof and its own traps, and which one fits depends entirely on the facts. We break all of them down, with the Texas-specific detail that decides cases, in our guide to the grounds for contesting a will in Texas. (Undue influence in particular turns on a set of factors Texas courts draw from Rothermel v. Duncan — covered there.)
Generally, two years from the date the will is admitted to probate (§ 256.204). The hard part is that Texas runs on two different clocks people constantly confuse — four years to probate a will after death (§ 256.003), and two years to contest one after it’s admitted — and the law doesn’t warn you on the front end. An executor only has to notify beneficiaries after the will is already admitted, generally within 60 days (§ 308.002). By the time that notice reaches you, your two-year window has often already been running.
That gap is the single most preventable way families lose a will contest — not on the facts, but on the calendar. The full breakdown of the deadline, the narrow exceptions (forgery, fraud, minors, and incapacity), and what to do the day a notice arrives is in how long do you have to contest a will in Texas.
A will contest is a lawsuit filed in the probate court handling the estate. The single biggest factor in how hard it will be is timing: whether you step in before or after the will is admitted to probate.
Before a will is admitted, the person offering it has to prove it’s valid (§ 256.152). Once the court admits it, that flips: the order creates a presumption the will is good, and now the person challenging it has to prove it isn’t, by a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not. Texas courts have followed this framework for decades (see Croucher v. Croucher). Because most people don’t learn of a problem until after the will is admitted, they end up fighting from the harder side. That’s not a reason to give up; it’s the reason to move early. We walk through exactly how the burden shifts in the burden-of-proof section of how long to contest a will in Texas.
This is the question that stops most people before they ever ask the others — and the answer is often better than they expect. Many will contests can be handled on a contingency fee: no money out of pocket to start, and if there’s no recovery, you owe no attorney’s fees. It doesn’t fit every case, but it’s what lets someone who’s been cut out of an estate stand up to the person now sitting on all the money. How contingency works, when it makes sense, and the honest tradeoffs are covered in how to contest a will in Texas when you can’t afford to.
Not sure whether your situation clears the grounds-and-deadline bar? A short, free call with Romano & Sumner can tell you where you stand — and how much time is actually left — before the clock decides for you.
“Contesting a will” is the front door, but the dispute underneath it usually has a name. These are the specific matters we handle — each has its own page with how Texas law treats it and how we approach it:
Will contests and trust disputes also overlap more than people expect — sometimes the same person who rewrote a will also moved money into a trust or onto joint accounts. If your situation crosses those lines, we handle both sides of it.
We’re a Sugar Land probate, guardianship, and estate-litigation firm, and we handle will contests and estate disputes in the Harris County statutory probate courts, the Fort Bend County courts at law that handle probate matters, and the surrounding counties. We’ve worked both sides — challenging wills that don’t add up, and defending wills against challenges that don’t hold up. That matters for you, because it means we can tell you early and honestly whether you have a real case or just a bad feeling, before you spend money finding out.
Estate-litigation matters at Romano & Sumner are handled by our partners — Paul Romano, Kenneth “Kenny” Sumner Jr., and Nicholas “Nick” Noe. Paul Romano is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Here’s the pattern we see most: families wait. They spend the first year stunned, the second year arguing, and discover the deadline closed somewhere in between. The single most useful thing you can do is find out where you stand while you still have options.
If something about a loved one’s will or a family member’s estate is bothering you, call Romano & Sumner at (281) 242-0995 for a free consultation, or reach us through our contact page. Bring whatever paperwork you’ve received, and we’ll help you understand your grounds, your deadline, and what to do next.
Yes. An interested person — an heir, a named beneficiary, or someone else with a stake in the estate — can ask a Texas probate court to declare a will invalid, as long as they have a recognized legal ground and act within the deadline (generally two years from the date the will was admitted to probate).
It depends on three things: whether you have a real legal ground, whether you’re inside the deadline, and whether what’s at stake justifies the time and cost. A good will contest attorney will tell you honestly at the first meeting whether your situation clears those bars — that conversation is usually free.
Practically, yes. A will contest is a lawsuit with strict deadlines, formal proof requirements, and a burden that often falls on you. The evidence that decides these cases — medical records, witnesses, handwriting analysis — has to be gathered and preserved early, and that’s hard to do well on your own.
A will contest challenges a will in probate court; a trust dispute challenges how a trust was created or is being managed. The underlying problems often look the same — undue influence, incapacity, a person in control who shouldn’t be — and the same family fight can involve both. We handle each.
Write down the date you found out, preserve every document and notice you’ve received (with the dates), get a copy of the will and the probate file, and talk to a will contest attorney before the deadline decides for you. From there, the questions are the ones mapped at the top of this page: your standing, your grounds, your deadline, and your cost.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice, and it is not a promise or guarantee of any particular result. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every situation is different. For advice about your circumstances, speak with a qualified Texas attorney.
Romano & Sumner, PLLC
