A year after KPRC 2 Investigates revealed a Harris County office created to help move abandoned residential properties through probate, we found the City of Houston has rarely utilized the service.

In October 2024, the county created the Office of the Public Probate Administrator.

Houston Fire Department responding to large fire at abandoned apartment building

“I believe that the office was created to kind of be a solution to a couple of different things,” said Brandon Cofield, the county’s Public Probate Administrator. “This office has a unique ability to kind of serve, as I say, like a universal heir or administrator of last resort when there’s no known or suitable heirs.”

Under Chapter 455 of the Texas Estates Code, the courts can appoint a Public Probate Administrator to assume t

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