We have helped a lot of families through this, and it rarely starts with real estate. It starts with a phone call, a key on a kitchen table and a house full of forty years of life. The market can wait a few weeks. What can’t wait is figuring out who has the legal authority to sell, because nothing closes without it.
We are not lawyers, and this page is not legal or tax advice. It is a map of the questions you will need answered, with the official sources behind them, so your conversation with a probate attorney and your CPA is shorter and cheaper.
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Step one: who can sign the deed?
A title company won’t close until it is satisfied that the person signing has the right to sell. In Texas, that usually runs through one of a few paths.
| There is a will, and an executor | The court issues letters testamentary. In an independent administration, the executor generally has the power to sell estate property without court approval, unless the will limits it1 |
|---|---|
| There is a will, and no unpaid debts except ones secured by real estate | The court may admit the will as a muniment of title, which lets the beneficiaries named in the will take the property without an administration2 |
| There is no will | Heirs are established through an affidavit of heirship filed in the county records, or through a court determination of heirship3 |
| Small estate, no will | A small estate affidavit can transfer a homestead only when it is the only real property in the estate4 |
Two cautions. First, time matters: a Texas will generally can’t be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the death, unless the person offering it shows they weren’t in default.2 Second, the Texas State Law Library notes that no law requires third parties to accept an affidavit of heirship,3 which is why title companies sometimes ask for more. Talk to the title company early.
In Dallas County, probate matters are handled by the county’s three probate courts at the George Allen Courts Building downtown.5
02
Step two: protect the house while you sort it out
Call the insurance company. The Texas Department of Insurance warns that most companies stop coverage if a house is vacant for 60 days or more, and advises talking to your company if you will be away for an extended time.6 An empty house is exactly the situation that clause was written for. Ask what the policy requires.
Keep the utilities on. Buyers need to see the house with the lights and air conditioning working, and inspectors need water, gas and power to do their job.
Check the property taxes. A homestead exemption stays on the property until it changes ownership or the owner’s qualification changes, and the owner is required to notify the appraisal district in writing before May 1 after the entitlement ends.7 Heirs who live in the house may be able to claim it as heir property.8 Ask the Dallas Central Appraisal District what applies to your situation, and see our guide to protesting Dallas County property taxes.
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Step three: understand the tax picture
There is some good news here. The IRS says the basis of inherited property is generally its fair market value on the date of death, or on an alternate valuation date if the estate’s representative chooses one.9 That “stepped-up” basis often means little or no capital gain when the house sells soon after. The IRS also says the sale of inherited property is generally reported as long-term, however long you held it.10
Texas repealed its inheritance tax in 2015,11 and the state does not levy an income tax.12 Federal rules still apply, so bring the date-of-death value to your CPA. A written valuation of the house as of the date of death is worth having; we can help with the market side of that.
Get the authority to sign settled first. Everything else waits on it.
04
Step four: the disclosure question
Texas exempts some sales from the seller’s disclosure requirement, including a transfer “by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a decedent’s estate.”13 Whether that exemption covers your sale depends on how the property is being sold and by whom, so ask your attorney. Even when it applies, telling buyers what you know is the fastest way to a smooth sale. Our guide to the seller’s disclosure notice explains the form.
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Step five: decide how to sell it
Most estate houses have been lived in, loved and not updated in a while. That leaves three honest options:
Sell it as it is, priced to reflect the work a buyer will take on. Often the right call when several heirs need a clean, simple outcome.
Do the light work, meaning clear it out, clean it, paint and fix what is broken, then sell. Read should I renovate before I sell? before anyone picks up a hammer.
Sell the lot. In parts of Northwest Dallas, an older house on a good lot is worth most to a builder. See selling a teardown or lot-value house.
A pre-listing inspection is especially useful here, because the people selling usually didn’t live in the house and don’t know its history.
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Step six: keep the family on the same page
When several siblings inherit together, the hardest part is often agreeing. One wants to keep it, one wants to sell fast, one lives three states away. A written plan agreed up front covers who decides, who handles the house day to day and how offers get approved. We are happy to walk everyone through the numbers at once, on a call, so everybody hears the same thing.
Everything we have written for sellers is on one page: Selling a home in Dallas →