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Before you decide anything
Cost and fees
The honest version, including the part most sites leave out.
The short version
- Inheritance litigation is expensive — depositions, medical records, expert witnesses, and often a trial.
- I take a limited number of cases on a contingency fee, meaning the fee comes out of what's recovered rather than out of your pocket as we go.
- Fees and expenses are different things. The written retainer agreement sets out how both are handled, before anything is signed.
- I generally take cases where a successful outcome would mean the client receives at least $500,000. That's about the cost of fighting, not about who deserves help.
- People frequently underestimate what is actually in dispute — especially property moved before the death, which can often be brought back in. Ask before ruling yourself out.
- If your case is smaller than that, a lawyer who doesn't specialise in inheritance disputes may still take it. Too small for my practice does not mean too small for anyone.
Why these cases cost what they do
An inheritance dispute is not paperwork. It is a lawsuit, and it gets fought like one.
Proving that someone lacked capacity, or was pressured into signing, means obtaining medical records from every provider they saw. It means taking depositions — of the family, the drafting attorney, the witnesses to the will, the caregivers. It often means an expert who can review the records and give an opinion. And it may mean a trial, with the preparation a trial requires.
Every one of those steps takes time and costs money. That is true whoever represents you.
How a contingency fee works
Most attorneys will not handle inheritance disputes on contingency. I take a limited number of them that way.
A contingency fee means my fee is a percentage of what you recover, rather than an hourly bill you pay as the case goes along. If there is no recovery, there is no fee.
What that changes for you:
- You are not funding the case month to month. For most people this is the difference between being able to bring a claim and not.
- Our interests point the same way. I do better when you do better, and I have no reason to prolong something that should settle.
- It is a real decision on my part. Taking a case on contingency means carrying it, so I look hard at the evidence before agreeing. A lawyer willing to do that has told you something about what they think of your case.
The percentage and the terms are set out in a written agreement before anything begins, and you will have it in front of you to read. Nothing is agreed on a phone call.
Fees and expenses are not the same thing
This trips people up, so it is worth being precise about it.
The fee is what the lawyer is paid for the work.
Expenses are the out-of-pocket costs the case runs up along the way — court filing fees, deposition transcripts, medical record retrieval, expert witness charges, service of process, travel.
Those are separate things, and you don't have to work out how they'll be handled from a conversation. The written retainer agreement sets all of it out — the fee, how expenses are dealt with, and what happens in each situation. You'll have it in front of you to read before anything is signed, and you can ask about anything in it.
The cases I can take
I generally take cases where a successful outcome would mean the client receives at least $500,000.
I would rather tell you that on a website than after you have spent weeks hoping.
This is a judgment about the cost of fighting, not about whose situation deserves attention. The arithmetic is unavoidable: a case that costs a substantial sum to litigate properly can consume most of a modest recovery. Taking a $60,000 dispute all the way to trial would very likely leave the client worse off than not fighting at all — and I am not willing to do that to someone.
Below that figure, the honest answer is usually that litigation is the wrong tool, not that your grievance is small.
What your case may actually be worth
Before you rule yourself out, be careful about the number in your head. People routinely underestimate what an estate holds, and I see it constantly.
Things that get overlooked:
- What was moved before the death. Deeds signed over, accounts made joint, property transferred under a power of attorney. This is the big one, and it is frequently where the money actually went.
- Mineral interests and royalties, sometimes producing income nobody in the family has tracked for years.
- Land carried at what it was worth decades ago rather than what it would fetch now.
- Business interests, which are easy to think of as "Dad's company" rather than as an asset with a value.
The first one matters most. If property was transferred during the person's lifetime — especially in the same period when everything else was changing — the estate as it appears on paper can be a fraction of what is genuinely in dispute. Those transfers can often be challenged and brought back in.
So the estate looking nearly empty is not always a reason to walk away. Sometimes it is the reason to look harder.
Your share, not the whole estate, is the relevant figure — but work it out properly before deciding you are below the line. If you are not sure, ask. It costs nothing to find out, and getting this wrong in either direction is expensive.
If your case is smaller than that
Let me be direct, because it is kinder than being vague: if what you stand to recover is below that figure, I am not going to take your case.
But that does not mean nobody can help you, and it does not mean you have no case. Those are three different questions and they get run together.
A lawyer who doesn't specialise in inheritance disputes may well take it
This is the part people miss. My practice is limited to this one area, which means I turn down matters that a different attorney would be glad to handle.
A general practice attorney, a lawyer who does probate administration, or a smaller firm in your county may take on a dispute that is too small for a practice structured like mine. They are not doing you a lesser service — a case of that size may simply fit their practice better than it fits mine. Ask them directly whether they handle contested probate matters; many do, even if it is not what their website leads with.
Some other things worth knowing:
Not every problem needs a lawsuit. If an executor simply is not communicating, a letter from a lawyer often produces what months of asking did not. That is a far smaller piece of work than litigation.
Some claims are narrower than a will contest. Compelling an accounting from an executor, or forcing production of a will someone is sitting on, are more limited proceedings and cost accordingly.
A family settlement agreement can resolve things without a trial where the people involved are willing to talk. Texas law is friendly to them.
The State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral Service will connect you with an attorney in your area, and some counties have legal aid programmes for people who qualify.
If you write to me and your matter is below what I can take on, I will say so plainly and tell you what I would do in your position. That answer costs you one email and no fee.
What to do next
- Work out roughly what your share would be if the will were set aside or the estate distributed properly — counting the things above that get overlooked.
- Find out when the will was admitted to probate. Public record at the county clerk, and it starts the two-year clock on a contest.
- Write it out and send it to me. If it is not a case I can take, you will hear that quickly and without a bill.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. These matters turn heavily on specific facts and specific dates, and the law has exceptions this page does not cover. You should not take, or refrain from taking, any action based on this page. Discuss your circumstances with an attorney who can advise you on them.