civil case guidelines for practice in the county court at Law

Please review the Motions Guidelines   page and How to Get Your Motions/Case Set  to avoid unnecessary delay in obtaining a setting. All opposed motions or unagreed to motions must contain a Certificate of Conference. 

All motions MUST have the following:

• Motion: If "agreed", the title should say so or the Court will assume it is contested;
• Order: Must make provision for motion being "granted" AND "Denied;"
• SETTING REQUEST COMPLETELY FILLED OUT for BOTH oral hearings AND Submissions.  You may use this form to add additional parties to your setting request;
• Certificate of Conference (unless Motion is agreed) indicating if you have discussed or attempted to discuss the setting or Motion with opposing counsel or party.

WITHOUT THESE ITEMS, YOU MOTION WILL NOT BE SET!!!
Types of settings may include:

• Temporary Order Hearing;
• Appearance Hearing - Sometimes referred to as a "short set".  The purpose of this hearing is to have all parties to appear before the Court, consider entry of a scheduling order and address issues that may be specific to the case.  This setting may be particularly useful when one or more of the parties are Pro Se.  Counsel may waive appearance hearing by agreement.  This setting should usually only last 15-30 minutes and will only be set at the request of a party
• Pre-Trial Hearing - to set trial date and confirm matters necessary to be completed before trial.  the Court will enter a Trial Preparation Order and, on occasion, a Scheduling Order;
• Entry or Order - If an order has be orally pronounced and is to be entered by specific date, if all parties do not sign off of the order, they must appear for entry of the order before the court.  If all parties sign off on the order, no one need be present;
• Submission - Orders to be entered based on Motion, affidavits, etc and not requiring an oral hearing;
• Pre-Trial Conference - Usually held shortly (1 week) before trial setting to ensure everything is ready for trial;
• Bench Trial;
• Jury Trial;

For additional information, PLEASE GO TO THE LINKS ABOVE. 

Procedures for requesting a Bench Trial, Jury Trial or final hearing can be found here

It is strongly recommended that individuals NOT attempt to represent themselves in civil matters. However, if a party insists on representing themselves, they will be required to fallow all rules of court.  You should carefully read the section of this website on SRL/Pro Se parties however, even a thorough understanding of the information on this website will not necessarily prepare you to effectively represent yourself in a civil matter.  If you choose to represent yourself in a civil law matter, you and you alone are responsible for knowing the law as well as this court's procedures.  The staff of this Court not the Clerk's Office can give you legal advice.

It is not the court's policy to automatically enter a scheduling order.  Its is the court's hope that attorneys and parties can manage their case within the court's reasonable time frames with minimal court intervention.  However, if a case it too complex or if the parties/counsel are incapable of managing the progress of their own case,  the court may, at any time, on its own motion or, upon timely request of any party, issue a scheduling order which shall set appropriate deadlines and settings for the case.

The court will enter a scheduling order upon a parties request for a trial setting.  Time frames used are contained in the Scheduling Order. The Trial date may not be changed without written order of the Court. All other dates may be modified by filing an agreed Amended Discovery Control Plan and pursuant to Rule 11 Texas Rules of Civil Procedures. However, all Amended Discovery Plans Must be filed within 20 days of the date of this Scheduling Order. All parties shall comply with this order. Rule 4 Texas Rules of Civil Procedures shall control in computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by this order. All parties must also comply with the Courts Trial Preparation Order 

Attorney ad litems/amicus required by statute:  Ad litems/amicus attorneys are always appointed when required by law. The parties may choose their amicus/ad litem by agreement. In the absence of an agreement, the Court shall choose. 

Attorney ad litem/amicus discretionary:  The parties are free to agree to whether or not an amicus/ad item attorney is appointed. If no agreement is reached, one party may request that the court appoint an ad litem/amicus. If the Court decides that an amicus/ad litem attorney should be appointed, the parties will be given the opportunity to agree on the amicus/ad litem attorney. In the absence of an agreement, the Court shall choose.