Selling Inherited Land in Texas

Inherited Land in Texas: What to Know

Many Texas families hold land that passed down without a will or a court case. The heirs own it together, but the county records may still show a parent or grandparent as the owner. Before you can sell, a title company needs to see who the heirs are and that each one agrees.

This page explains who inherits Texas land, the ways to clear title without a full estate administration, what happens when heirs disagree, and how taxes work when you sell. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Who inherits Texas land without a will

Texas intestacy rules are in Estates Code Chapter 201. The answer depends on whether the owner was married and whether the land was separate or community property.

If the owner was not married, the land goes to the children and the descendants of any child who died. With no children, both parents share it. If only one parent is alive, that parent gets half and the brothers and sisters and their descendants share the other half. With no parent alive, it all goes to the brothers and sisters and their descendants (Section 201.001).

Separate property is land the owner had before marriage, or got by gift or inheritance. If a married owner had children, the spouse gets a life estate in one-third of the separate land and the children get the rest. If there were no children, the spouse gets half the land and the other half goes to the parents or siblings. The spouse gets it all if none of them are alive (Section 201.002).

Community land goes all to the surviving spouse if every child is also the spouse's child. If the owner had a child from another relationship, the owner's half of the community property goes to the children (Section 201.003).

With a will: probate or muniment of title

A Texas will must usually be filed for probate within four years after the death. After that, a court can admit it only in limited cases (Estates Code Section 256.003). A buyer who buys in good faith from the heirs after that point is protected.

If the estate owes no unpaid debts other than debts secured by real estate, the court can admit the will as a muniment of title (Estates Code Chapter 257). The court order and will then act as the proof of ownership, and no executor is appointed. Many families use this route to transfer land.

Without a will: affidavits and heirship proceedings

The Texas small estate affidavit covers estates worth $75,000 or less, not counting the homestead and exempt property (Estates Code Section 205.001). It can transfer real estate only when the homestead is the only real property (Section 205.006). So it usually does not work for a vacant lot or acreage.

For other land, families often record an affidavit of heirship in the county deed records. It lists the owner's family and heirs and is signed before a notary. After it has been recorded for five years, a court can accept it as prima facie evidence of the facts in it (Estates Code Section 203.001). Title companies set their own rules for when they will rely on one.

When the family tree is unclear or a title company will not accept an affidavit, a court can declare the heirs in a heirship proceeding under Estates Code Chapter 202.

Heirs' property and when heirs disagree

When land passes to several heirs, each one owns an undivided share as a tenant in common. No one heir can sell the whole tract alone. Every owner, or the court, has to sign off. Over generations, the number of owners can grow fast.

Any co-owner can ask a court to partition the land (Property Code Chapter 23). Texas adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs' Property Act in 2017 as Property Code Chapter 23A. If the court finds the land is heirs' property, the act applies extra steps.

• The court orders an appraisal to set the land's value, unless the owners agree on it.
• Owners who did not ask for a sale get the right to buy out the shares of the owners who did.
• The court leans toward dividing the land, not selling it, unless a division would cause real harm to the owners as a group.
• If the land is sold, the default is an open-market sale through a real estate broker, not a courthouse auction.

Taxes when you sell inherited land in Texas

When you inherit land, your tax basis is usually the land's fair market value on the date the owner died, not what the owner paid. This is often called a stepped-up basis. IRS Publication 551 sets the rule. An estate that files an estate tax return can sometimes use an alternate valuation date instead.

You owe federal tax only on the gain: the sale price, minus selling costs, minus your basis. If you sell soon after the death for about the date-of-death value, the gain is often small or zero. A written appraisal as of the date of death helps you prove your basis.

Inherited property counts as held for more than one year, no matter how long you actually owned it, per IRS Publication 544. So any gain gets the federal long-term rates of 0%, 15% or 20% (IRS Topic 409). The IRS says you report the sale on Form 8949 and Schedule D. Publication 559 covers the estate's own tax filings if the estate sells.

Texas is a community property state. When a spouse dies, the IRS generally lets the full community property, including the survivor's half, take a new basis at date-of-death value (Publication 551). Texas has no state personal income tax, so there is no state tax on the gain. Talk with a tax professional about your own facts.

Selling before or after probate

You can agree to sell at any time, but the deal closes only when the title company can insure the title. With a will, that usually means probate or a muniment of title first. Without a will, it usually means a recorded affidavit of heirship or a court order, plus a deed signed by every heir.

If an executor or administrator has been appointed, that person signs for the estate within the powers the court gave. Ask the title company early what it needs, so the heirs can gather death certificates, family details and signatures while the buyer does its checks.

How we buy land from heirs

EasyLotBuyer buys vacant land from heirs and estates, including land with title issues or back taxes. We make a cash offer within 24 hours. You pay no fees or commissions, and we pay the closing costs. We can close in as few as 7 days once the title is ready to transfer.

If the county says taxes are owed, they are paid at closing from the sale, so you do not need to pay them first. If the heirs are still sorting out who owns what, tell us. The title company will say what papers it needs, and we can plan the closing around that.

See our Texas land buying page to request an offer, or read our general guide on how to sell inherited land.