Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas

File the will for probate. Expect a bill mess of problems if you don't.

To answer your question, if the accounts were pay on death, or joint tenancy with right of survivorship, then you may be able to collect those accounts now.

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Nobody can make you file it and request its admission to probate, but there are a whole lot of reasons why it might be beneficial for you to do so. Sometimes, property can pass outside of a Will (by survivorship agreement, POD designation, etc.) Your husband's assets might have these features, or they may not. If they do, great! If they don't, his sons (which I presume are not also your sons) have every reason to wonder if they're entitled to something.

If the Will leaves them out of everything, why hide it? At a minimum, even if probate and administration is not necessary (and it probably is) you should deposit the Will with the County Clerk. As the custodian of the document, you've got an obligation to take this step at least. If his boys want to see it, and you're not comfortable showing it to them, it's there on record at the Clerk's office. Now is not the time to play shell games. Your actions (even if you're right) are going to spark enough hurt feelings to do some real damage.

If no will is probated, the property passes under Texas Intestacy Law. In mentioning the sons, you used the word "his" instead of "our". Texas Intestacy Law provides that the surviving spouse gets everything when all of the children are children of the decedent and the surviving spouse. If not, the law divides the property between the surviving spouse and the children.

So if you have any stepchildren, not probating the will could cost you.