The Texas over-65 homestead exemption in Bexar County explained for 2026: the $60,000 exemption, tax freeze, and keeping it after a move to assisted living.
By San Antonio Senior Advisor Care Team · October 26, 2026
The Texas over-65 homestead exemption in Bexar County is one of the most valuable — and most misunderstood — financial tools a San Antonio family has when an aging parent owns a home. Under the Texas Tax Code, every homeowner who lives in the home as a principal residence gets a general homestead exemption from school district taxes. In November 2025 Texas voters approved two constitutional amendments that made those exemptions considerably larger: the general school homestead exemption rose to $140,000, and the additional exemption for homeowners age 65 or older (or disabled) rose to $60,000. Stacked together, a qualifying senior in a Bexar County school district such as Northside ISD, North East ISD or San Antonio ISD can now shield $200,000 of the home's appraised value from school property taxes. For many modest homes on the West Side, in Harlandale, or in older North Central neighborhoods, that wipes out most or all of the school portion of the bill.
On top of the exemption, Texas gives over-65 homeowners a school tax ceiling, often called the senior tax freeze. Once the exemption is granted, the dollar amount of school taxes on that homestead generally cannot go up as long as the senior keeps living there, unless the home is improved with new construction such as an addition. Cities, counties and special districts may adopt their own over-65 exemptions and tax ceilings, and several local taxing units in Bexar County have done so — check the exact list for your parent's property on the Bexar Appraisal District (BCAD) website at bcad.org, where each account shows which taxing units apply and which exemptions are already on file.
The over-65 exemption is not automatic. Your parent (or you, with a valid power of attorney) files the Texas Comptroller's Form 50-114, the Residence Homestead Exemption Application, with the Bexar Appraisal District. You can file online through BCAD's portal or in person at the district office on North Frio Street downtown. The application asks for a Texas driver's license or state ID showing the homestead address, and the age-65 exemption becomes available for the entire tax year in which your parent turns 65 — they do not have to wait until January 1. Unlike the general homestead exemption, the over-65 exemption can also be applied for late, up to two years after the delinquency date, and BCAD can issue a corrected bill and refund.
Families helping a parent from out of town should pull the BCAD account first and look at the exemption codes. We regularly see San Antonio seniors who have had the general homestead exemption for decades but never added the over-65 exemption, which means they never got the tax ceiling either. If your parent is in Comal County (New Braunfels), Guadalupe County (Schertz, Cibolo) or Kendall County (Boerne), the process is identical but the application goes to that county's appraisal district instead. AACOG's Area Agency on Aging, reachable at (210) 362-5200 or aacog.com, can connect seniors to benefits counseling if paperwork is a barrier, and many of its counselors speak Spanish — 'exención para mayores de 65 años' is the phrase to use when calling.
Here is the question we hear most from adult children: if Mom moves into an assisted living community in Stone Oak or a nursing home near the Medical Center, does she lose her homestead exemption and senior tax freeze on the house she left behind? Generally, no. Texas Tax Code Section 11.13 normally allows a homeowner to be temporarily away from the homestead for up to two years without losing the exemption. But the statute specifically removes that two-year limit when the absence is because the owner is residing in a facility that provides services related to health, infirmity or aging — which covers licensed Type A and Type B assisted living facilities under Chapter 247 and nursing facilities under Chapter 242. The conditions are that the owner does not establish a different principal residence and intends to return to the home.
In practice, that means a parent who moves to memory care at a Type B community in Alamo Heights can keep the over-65 exemption and the frozen school tax amount on the family home, as long as the house is not rented out and no one claims a homestead exemption on another property in your parent's name. If the home is leased to a tenant, the exemption is at risk. Keep a simple file — the assisted living admission agreement and a note of your parent's intent to return — in case BCAD sends a homestead verification letter. Many families use this window to decide calmly whether to sell, rent, or keep the house, rather than racing a tax deadline in the middle of a hospital discharge from Methodist Hospital or Baptist Medical Center.
Selling the family home is the most common way San Antonio families pay for assisted living privately, especially with Bexar County assisted living averaging several thousand dollars a month and memory care running higher. If your parent instead buys a smaller home — say, moving from a two-story in Helotes to a single-level patio home near a daughter in Schertz — Texas lets them port the school tax ceiling. The appraisal district for the old home issues a tax ceiling transfer certificate, and the new home's ceiling is set at the same percentage of the new home's taxes that the old ceiling represented. That portability works anywhere in Texas, not just within Bexar County.
For seniors who want to stay home longer with in-home care before moving, Texas Tax Code Section 33.06 allows homeowners age 65 or older to defer property taxes on their homestead for as long as they own and live in it. Taxes are not forgiven — they accrue interest at a statutory rate of 5% per year and become due after the owner's death or when the home is no longer their homestead — but deferral stops foreclosure and penalties. Deferral can make sense when cash is needed for a home care agency or adult day care program, but it reduces equity heirs receive, so talk with a Texas elder law attorney before filing the deferral affidavit with the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector.
If your parent may eventually need Texas Medicaid for nursing home care or the STAR+PLUS HCBS waiver, the home matters in a second way. For Medicaid eligibility, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (hhs.texas.gov) generally treats the homestead as an exempt resource while the applicant intends to return or a spouse or dependent lives there, subject to a federal home-equity cap that is adjusted each year. That means keeping the house does not automatically disqualify your parent from STAR+PLUS coverage through Molina Healthcare, Superior HealthPlan (Centene), UnitedHealthcare or Amerigroup in the Bexar service area.
The catch is the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP): after a Medicaid recipient age 55 or older dies, Texas may file a claim against the estate, including the home, for long-term care costs paid. Some exemptions and hardship waivers apply, for example when a surviving spouse or a child under 21 or a disabled child survives. Property tax exemptions and Medicaid planning are separate systems, so a home can be fully tax-exempt and still be subject to estate recovery. Before transferring a deed or adding a child to the title — moves that can trigger Medicaid's five-year look-back — get advice from a qualified attorney. Verify any assisted living or nursing home you are considering through the HHSC Long-Term Care Provider Search at apps.hhs.texas.gov/HSPubDisclosure so the facility type matches your parent's exemption and Medicaid situation.
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