Ellis County District Courts Filing Rules

Contested divorce and SAPCR matters expected to require more than two hours at final trial must submit a proposed scheduling order for court approval.

A party must state in its motion the amount of time requested for a contested hearing.

The expert designation information must include the expert's name, address, and telephone number.

Amended pleadings must be filed by the specified date.

A written waiver may permit nonattendance at the second announcement and should be e-filed no later than two business days beforehand.

All outgoing paper discovery must be served on opposing counsel by the specified discovery deadline.

Notice of the evidentiary motions must be given to opposing counsel in connection with motions filed for the pretrial conference.

Each party must electronically file the listed final-pretrial documents three business days before the final pretrial hearing and provide a courtesy copy at the hearing, except that the exhibit copies are delivered in person rather than e-filed.

Ex parte motions and orders must initially be submitted to the Court by e-filing, but a time-sensitive request may be presented to the Court Coordinator when the Court cannot promptly review it.

Exhibits must be presented on one side only and may not be printed front and back.

The proposed Charge of the Court must be provided in electronic Microsoft Word format on a flash drive.

Before a hearing is set on a motion for early termination from community supervision, bond reduction, a 17.151 application, or habeas corpus, the moving party must communicate with opposing counsel to determine whether the motion will be opposed.

A unilateral continuance motion will not be considered unless the filer first obtains a contingent appearance date from the Court Coordinator.

Each party must e-file the listed documents 3 business days in advance of Final Pretrial and provide a courtesy copy at the hearing; exhibits go to the Reporter and Judge that day, not by e-filing.