Ector County District Courts Filing Rules

Electronic filing became mandatory in covered courts in counties with populations from 200,000 through 499,999 effective July 1, 2014.

If the parties cannot agree on one of the three offered dates, counsel must electronically file the proposed order with the date and time left blank for the court.

If the parties cannot agree on one of the three offered dates, they must electronically file a proposed order with the hearing date and time left blank for the court.

Section 1, containing general information, must be completed for every report filed.

A civil proposed continuance order must identify the subject of the continuance and provide a space for the new hearing date and time.

Divorce cases involving children cannot proceed unless Certificates of Completion of a parenting stabilization course are provided.

A civil hearing request must be electronically filed with a proposed blank order and an estimate of the time needed for the hearing.

Each appointed attorney must provide written evidence of compliance with 10 hours of criminal law and/or criminal procedure CLE to the Court Coordinator of the 358th District Court by the applicable State Bar annual CLE reporting deadline.

The quote names a Statement of Inability to Afford Costs.

An unsupported audio/video file must be converted to a format supported by a listed media player, and the original file plus any needed hardware requirements and viewing or hearing software must also be submitted.

A prospective juror with any listed COVID-19 contact-history condition must call the district clerk's office regarding jury-service reporting.

A request for a civil hearing should be emailed to the Court Coordinator with all parties copied.

The Court Coordinator will provide exactly three available hearing dates and times in the reply-all email.

Mandatory electronic filing begins July 1, 2019, in criminal cases in courts in counties with populations from 20,000 through 49,999.

Counsel for the State and defendant must notify the court of negotiated plea-agreement terms by 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before jury selection, absent extraordinary circumstances.

All pretrial motions must be filed and brought to the Court's attention by the Motion Deadline date on the trial docket.

A proposed criminal continuance order must provide space for the court to enter the new hearing date and time.

A court or clerk unable to comply by the implementation date may petition the Court of Criminal Appeals for an extension showing good cause.

A criminal hearing will not be continued absent a timely, properly filed motion for continuance complying with Chapter 29 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

A continuance will not be granted for a final hearing set from a dismissal docket.

For an electronically filed document, service must be attempted through the electronic file manager and may use in-person delivery, mail, commercial delivery service, fax, or email if that is not possible.

The sealed evaluations, assessments, and reports may not be unsealed or disclosed unless a District Court of Ector County orders and approves the disclosure, subject to the cited statutory exceptions.

Both parties must confer before contacting the court about a civil continuance.

Lead documents must be filed as separate PDF documents rather than combined into one PDF.