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Probate Court No. 3's policy on self-represented applicants: a person may represent only himself or herself; under Texas law only a licensed attorney may represent the interests of others, including guardianship wards and probate estates, so applicants for letters testamentary, letters of administration, determinations of heirship and guardianships of the person or estate must be represented by a licensed attorney. The court's questions and answers explain that a non-lawyer may serve as executor, administrator or guardian but must be represented, that an executor acts for beneficiaries and creditors as a fiduciary, that preparing pleadings as a fiduciary without a lawyer is the unauthorized practice of law, and that the proceedings a pro se may handle alone are those in which only the applicant's own interests are at stake, such as a small estate affidavit filed by all of a decedent's heirs together (Estates Code chapter 205; the court's Small Estate Affidavit Checklist).
Applies to applicants and fiduciaries in Bexar County Probate Court No. 3 (Judge Barbie Scharf-Zeldes). Issued under the court's letterhead; judge-joined. Probate Court No. 1's and No. 2's policies on the same subject are published from their TOPICs registrations (docs 379 and 454). Not registered on TOPICs; posted on the Probate Court 3 page of the county website. Undated on its face. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
BEXAR COUNTY PROBATE COURT NO. 3 — Judge Barbie Scharf-Zeldes, Bexar County Courthouse, 100 Dolorosa, Suite 1.20, San Antonio, Texas 78205. Court Policy Regarding "Pro Se" Applicants (Applicants without a Lawyer) People who represent themselves in court are called "pro se" or "self-represented" litigants. You are not required to have a lawyer to file papers or to participate in a case. You have a
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-09 from BenchPath's own-site custody copy: native text layer checked word by word against the rendered page (the text layer's broken glyph in "third-party individuals" and its detached Q/A labels resolved from the render); the court's own citations and emphasis kept as printed.
In justice-court eviction cases: the citation sets a personal-appearance trial day not less than 10 nor more than 21 days after the petition is filed; a written answer is permitted but NOT required (appearing on the trial day is what matters); no trial may be held until 4 days after service; and an appeal must be perfected within 5 days after the judgment is signed.
Policy Regarding Pro Se Applicants — Harris County Probate Courts (Probate Court No. 1 posting) — posted on the court's own website — the court-procedure tier (standing procedures, policies, and preferences the court itself publishes), distinct from the TOPICs-registered local-rules tier (TRCP 3a registration applies to local rules). Operative requirements quoted verbatim; the posted document is the controlling text.
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