Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Texas, you have 2 years to contest a will that has already been admitted to probate, running from the date the will was admitted to probate (2 years from discovery, specifically, for a forgery or fraud claim).
How long do you have to contest a will in Texas?
| Deadline to contest an admitted will | 2 years |
| What starts the clock | the date the will was admitted to probate (2 years from discovery, specifically, for a forgery or fraud claim) |
| Dedicated will-contest statute? | Yes |
“After a will is admitted to probate, an interested person may commence a suit to contest the validity thereof not later than the second anniversary of the date the will was admitted to probate, except that an interested person may commence a suit to cancel a will for forgery or other fraud not later than the second anniversary of the date the forgery or fraud was discovered.”
Source: Tex. Estates Code § 256.204
What makes Texas different
Texas carries a separately clocked fraud/forgery exception inside the same subsection as the general rule; a forgery or fraud-based contest gets its own 2 years running from discovery of the forgery or fraud, not from admission to probate. The controlling authority is Tex. Estates Code § 256.204, and the window runs from the date the will was admitted to probate (2 years from discovery, specifically, for a forgery or fraud claim).
What happens once this deadline passes?
Once the window above closes, Texas’s probate of the will generally becomes final and binding on everyone who had the chance to object, subject only to the tolling or discovery exceptions described above; a separate objection Texas allowed at the original probate hearing does not reopen or extend it.
Sources
| Statute / rule | Tex. Estates Code § 256.204 |
| Texas courts (general reference) | Texas judicial branch |
| Confidence | High |
Every statute or rule quoted on this Texas page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/court/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; whether a specific contest is still timely can turn on facts (exactly when notice was given, how the will was probated, whether a disability applies) that only your own Texas probate court file can confirm.