Estate Litigation

Most families never expect to end up in court over an estate. But when an executor refuses to account for estate property, a will surfaces that no one recognizes, or a fiduciary quietly moves assets to themselves, litigation becomes the only way to protect what a loved one intended to leave behind.

Estate litigation is the reactive side of probate. Estate planning is the shield built while someone is alive. Litigation is what happens when that plan is challenged, ignored, or exploited after death.

Types of Estate Litigation We Handle in Harris County

Inheritance disputes in Texas are rarely simple, and they draw on both the Texas Estates Code and the Texas Trust Code:

• Will contests. Challenging a will’s validity on grounds of undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity, fraud, forgery, or improper execution. See our full guide to contesting a will in Houston.
• Fiduciary disputes. Holding an executor or trustee accountable for self-dealing, commingling estate funds, or refusing to provide a required accounting. See breach of fiduciary duty.
• Beneficiary designation disputes. Fights over non-probate assets such as life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death bank accounts, where a beneficiary form was changed late in life under pressure or without capacity.
• Real property and partition claims. Disputes over the ownership, sale, or division of family land and homestead property, frequently involving co-heirs who cannot agree on what to do with an inherited house.
• Heirship disputes. Contested determinations of who the legal heirs actually are, including claims by an alleged informal spouse or a previously unknown child.
• Creditor claim disputes. Defending an estate against invalid or inflated creditor claims, or enforcing a legitimate claim the executor refuses to pay.

Standing: Who Can Actually Sue

Texas does not allow anyone who is unhappy with an estate to file suit. You must qualify as an interested person under the Texas Estates Code, which generally means you are an heir, a devisee under the will, a surviving spouse, a creditor, or someone else with a property right in or claim against the estate.

Standing is often the first thing opposing counsel attacks, and it is worth resolving before you invest in a case. Establishing it early also matters because the same facts that give you standing frequently support the underlying claim.

The Estate Litigation Process in Harris County

1. Case evaluation. We assess standing, grounds, deadlines, and what can realistically be recovered. Some suspicious circumstances do not support a viable claim, and you deserve to know that before spending money.
2. Emergency relief if needed. Where assets are actively being sold or spent, the court can be asked to freeze property, compel an accounting, or suspend the fiduciary’s authority while the case proceeds.
3. Pleadings. The claim is filed in the Harris County probate court already handling the estate, which keeps the dispute in front of a judge who knows the file.
4. Discovery. Both sides exchange documents and take depositions. Financial records, medical records, and the drafting attorney’s file are often decisive. Expert witnesses may be retained.
5. Mediation. Harris County probate courts routinely push cases to mediation, and most estate disputes resolve there.
6. Trial. If mediation fails, the case is tried. Either party may request a jury for certain claims, including will contests.

Why Acting Early Matters

Estate litigation gets harder as time passes, and not only because of filing deadlines. Once an executor distributes assets, the money is in the hands of people who have already spent some of it. Recovering property from multiple distributees is far more difficult than preventing the distribution in the first place.

The warning signs worth acting on include an executor who will not produce an inventory or accounting, distributions that stop without explanation, estate property being sold to the fiduciary or their relatives, and a will that appeared late and departs sharply from what the deceased told the family for years.

Representing Both Sides

Not every estate claim is meritorious. Executors and trustees who are doing the job correctly are sometimes accused by a beneficiary who is grieving, suspicious, or simply unhappy with the will. Kyle Robbins represents claimants and defendants alike, and the same knowledge of Harris County probate practice serves both.

Why Choose Kyle Robbins as Your Houston Estate Litigation Attorney

Estate litigation demands a different skill set than routine probate administration. It requires adversarial courtroom work, depositions, expert testimony, and the judgment to know when to settle and when to try a case. Kyle Robbins has handled thousands of probate matters across Texas, including Harris County, and knows how the five Harris County probate courts actually operate.

Every case begins with a free consultation and a straight answer about whether litigation is worth pursuing.

Request a free consultation to have your estate dispute evaluated.