Texas Probate Attorney Tyler Swain On Why Independent Administration Is The Underused Tool In Estate Planning Conversations
Swain Law Firm, P.C. principal argues that Texas families and the attorneys who advise them are leaving procedural leverage on the table by treating independent administration as a formality rather than a planning outcome.
Author:K. N.Oct 09, 20260 Shares69 Views
HOUSTON, TX — Attorney Steven "Tyler" Swain, principal at the Swain Law Firm, P.C., has spent nearly three decades watching Texas estates move through probate the easy way and the hard way. The difference, in his view, is almost never about the size of the estate. It is about whether the plan was written to make independent administration available on day one.
Independent administration, the streamlined form of probate that Texas courts allow when a will is drafted to permit it or the beneficiaries agree, is one of the most defensible procedural advantages the Texas Estate Code offers. It allows an executor to administer an estate with minimal court supervision, which translates to lower costs, faster distributions, and far less family friction. Yet Swain says a meaningful share of the wills he reviews in his Houston practice were drafted without the specific language that keeps that door open.
"When a will doesn't explicitly provide for independent administration, the family ends up in dependent administration by default, and dependent administration is a different animal," said Tyler Swain. "You're asking the court for permission at every meaningful step. The costs stack. The timeline extends. And the family starts making decisions under pressure rather than under a plan. All of that is avoidable, usually with a sentence or two of drafting."
Swain has practiced Texas law since 1996 and holds his law degree from the South Texas College of Law, with an honors undergraduate degree from Baylor University. His practice at the Swain Law Firm, P.C. is focused on probate, estate planning, and co-counsel work in complex civil litigation. He notes that the gap between what the Texas Estate Code makes available and what families typically experience has implications well beyond individual estates.
"The probate courts in this state are not the problem," Swain said. "They work exactly the way they're structured to work. The problem is that too much estate planning gets done without a probate attorney's eye on the back end, and the drafting choices that matter at death are not always the ones that look important at signing."
The Swain Law Firm, P.C. advises Texas clients on estate planning, probate administration, and civil litigation matters as co-counsel. The firm is based in Houston and serves clients throughout the State of Texas.
About Swain Law Firm, P.C. The Swain Law Firm, P.C. is a Houston-based Texas law practice focused on probate, estate planning, and complex civil litigation as co-counsel. The firm is led by Tyler Swain, an attorney admitted to the State Bar of Texas since 1996.
Media Contact:
- Swain Law Firm, P.C.Houston, Texas713-957-8932
- tyler.swain@swainlawtexas.com
- https://www.swainlawtexas.com/
K. N.
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