I have an unusual situation where I could use some guidance. We have a civil forfeiture filed against money where the respondent filed an answer through an attorney. The respondent has since died and his attorney will not answer our phone calls. The attorney has also not shown up to at least one court date that I'm aware of and possible more. What exactly is the next step? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps you could file a "suggestion of death" under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 152. Even though the forfeiture is technically in rem, someone (or your respondent's estate) succeeds to his interest in the property at issue. [TRCP 152 will bring the successor in interest of a deceased defendant in an ongoing civil matter into the case.]

Another possibility is that you might end up in probate court.