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The Dallas County Probate Courts' policy on self-represented litigants (eff. Sept. 1, 2020, Version 13): when representation by counsel is mandatory (executor/administrator applications, guardianship applications for another, third-party representation, or when the court requires counsel), the five limited categories where pro se appearance is permitted subject to court approval, the standards binding authorized pro se litigants, the constructive-receipt mail rule, the immediate-copies service duty, and the courts' legal-assistance referral list.
Texas > Dallas County > all three Statutory Probate Courts (the Probate Court, Probate Court No. 2, and Probate Court No. 3) — the division-level pro se policy implementing Local Rule 4.05, which independently permits small-estate-affidavit distributees and adds the muniment-sole-beneficiary and annual-report-of-the-person categories
REPRESENTATION REQUIRED: "An individual must be represented by an attorney if the individual: (1) Is applying to serve as an executor or administrator of an estate; (2) Is applying for a guardianship for another; (3) Wishes to represent a third party, such as a beneficiary, heir, creditor, or estate representative who seeks relief from the Court; or (4) In the opinion of the Court, requires counsel." Unless the individual is a licensed attorney, representation of others "constitutes the unauthorized practice of law and will not be allowed by the Court." PERMITTED SELF-REPRESENTATION: only when the person truly represents only themselves — "(1) A non-corporate creditor of a probate or guardianship estate; (2) A non-corporate party in an ancillary civil action; (3) A distributee of an estate appearing pursuant to a small estate affidavit or the sole beneficiary of a will offered for probate as a muniment of title; (4) A guardian filing an Annual Report of the Person; or (5) Otherwise permitted to do so by the Court." Participation in these categories "is not automatic, but is still subject to court approval and discretion." STANDARDS: an authorized pro se litigant "is held to the same standards as a lawyer" and is subject to the Dallas County Local Rules, TRCP, TRE, and the Estates Code; the court will not provide legal advice; counsel is appointed only where state law mandates it (guardianship, trust, and mental-health proceedings) — not for indigency. CONTACT AND SERVICE: self-represented litigants must provide current address, telephone, and email; failure to accept or pick up mail at the address provided "is considered constructive receipt"; "Immediately upon filing any document with the Court, a pro se litigant is required to provide copies of such document to all other parties" or their counsel. RESOURCES: the policy attaches the courts' referral list (Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, the courthouse Legal Aid pro se desk, DVAP, the Dallas County Law Library, UNT and SMU clinics, and the Dallas Bar Lawyer Referral Service) and links the statewide self-help materials.
Reviewer note: Own-site division-level policy composed verbatim (custody sha in the crawl ledger); it extends Local Rule 4.05's permitted-appearance list with two categories (muniment sole beneficiary; guardian filing an Annual Report of the Person) — both instruments composed, the policy noted as the courts' operating version; procedural information only, quoted for practitioners and self-represented readers alike.
G-2026-045-SC required anyone using generative AI to disclose it on the face of the filing and add a scripted certification, on pain of striking, denial of relief or monetary penalties. Rule 2.515(d)(2) and AOSC26-12 preempted it on June 15, 2026, so it could not be enforced — and by August 16, 2026 the Seventh Circuit had removed the order from its published register (no rescission instrument appears there). BenchPath holds the hashed capture as the historical record.
3 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in ANDREW L. SIEGEL's division.