Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas

It really depends on how the assets are titled. If they are solely in your father's name with no one else on the title or account, you will need to do a small estate procedure or a full probate. If the assets are titled as JTWROS (Survivorship Accounts) then the person whose name is with your father's is the rightful owner of theose assets. If you have been operating under a power of attorney, it was revoked by operation of law when he passed. Hope this helps.

Mr. Geffen is right. The value of the assets is not the only factor to consider when deciding what probate steps might be optimal, or even required. At the very least, you may need to consider depositing the Will with the probate clerk, even if no action is taken to offer it to probate.

To answer your question regarding where to get started, forums like this are a decent enough place, but you really should try contacting an attorney. Find one with a few spare minutes to give you some idea of whether or not you can handle this informally, or if something more might be involved. I'm sorry for your loss, but it sounds as though there's enough of an estate for you to be concerned enough to get things done right.