About KREIG El Paso

KREIG El Paso is the El Paso office of Kreig LLC. We handle contested probate, trust and fiduciary matters, and estates large or complicated enough that the standard forms do not reach them, in the El Paso County statutory probate courts and the far West Texas counties around them.

What we take

Most probate in Texas is paperwork nobody is fighting over. That is not our work. Our matters have someone on the other side, or enough value and moving parts that a mistake is expensive.

• Will contests based on capacity, undue influence, forgery, defective execution, or a later will.
• Removing an executor or administrator, including the accounting demand that usually comes first.
• Breach of fiduciary duty by an executor, administrator, trustee, or an agent acting under a power of attorney.
• Contested heirship, including informal marriage claims and heirs who were left out.
• Dependent administrations and the disputes that make court supervision necessary.
• Trust litigation over accountings, distributions, a trustee’s conduct, and late amendments.
• Large and complex estates holding businesses, mineral interests, multi-state property, or a federal estate tax return.

We do not draft wills or trusts, we do not do estate planning, and we do not take uncontested administrations. A general probate lawyer will do that work faster and for less, and we will say so rather than take it.

Where we work

• El Paso
• Hudspeth
• Culberson
• Jeff Davis
• Presidio

All five are in the Eighth Court of Appeals District, which is held in the City of El Paso, so an appeal from any of them lands in the same place. Meetings are by appointment only.

Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 22.201(i), 22.209(a).

The courts we are in

El Paso County is one of a small number of Texas counties with a bench dedicated to probate. Where a county has statutory probate courts, those courts hold exclusive jurisdiction over probate proceedings, contested or not. They also share jurisdiction with the district court over suits against a trustee, suits involving inter vivos and testamentary trusts, and claims against an agent under a power of attorney, which is why a dispute that runs through a will, a trust, and a lifetime transfer can usually be heard by one judge.

• Probate Court No. 1500 E. San Antonio Ave., Suite 1201, El Paso, TX 79901
• Probate Court No. 2500 E. San Antonio Ave., Suite 422, El Paso, TX 79901

Filings go through the Probate-Civil Division of the El Paso County Clerk, which serves as clerk for both courts. El Paso County runs on Mountain Time, an hour behind the rest of Texas, which is worth remembering when a setting is confirmed with anyone calling from the other side of the state.

Tex. Gov’t Code § 25.0731(b); Tex. Est. Code §§ 32.005, 32.007.

The first call

The first conversation is short and free. You tell us what happened and who is on the other side. We ask about dates, documents, and what you want a court to actually do. By the end of it you should know whether you have a real dispute and what the next step is.

We will not guess at how long your matter will take. That depends on the facts, the other side, and the court’s docket, and a lawyer who gives you a confident number on the first call is guessing too.

What to have ready

• The cause number, if anything has been filed. The administration counts as one proceeding from the application through the final decree, so later filings return to the court that already has the estate under the original number. The cause number tells us which of the two courts you are in.
• The will, if there is one, and any earlier version you know about.
• Dates. Date of death, the date the will was admitted to probate, and the date you first learned something was wrong.
• Any accounting the executor or trustee has given you, and the date of any written demand you made.
• A sentence on who is on the other side and what they control.

Tex. Est. Code § 32.001(d).

Fees

We discuss fees on the first call, before you have paid anything, and we would rather turn a matter down than take one where the cost of doing it properly outruns what is at stake. If that is your situation, we will tell you on that call.