How to find probate cases

[Ryan Daulton]

I'm a rookie investor wishing to make his first rental investment for the purposes of house hacking.  I live in Abilene, TX.  I'm looking for a tool that will allow me to view probate petitions or cases (after somebody in Taylor county has passed away), but the Taylor website charges money for each petition and also requires me to enter their names.  Also, all the online tools I've seen so far charge money for me to learn who owns a property after I enter the address.  I've been listening to BP podcasts for the past couple months, and I remember some of the speakers talk about a free property search tool.  

Have any of you tried to find good deals by searching through probate case records?  How did you do it?  Do you have any advice for me that I can use to find good deals on duplexes, triplexes or quadplexes?