Travis County Civil District Courts Filing Rules

When the adoption is not filed in Travis County, the adoptive parent(s)' attorney must send a proposed CPS case dismissal order to the Travis County Presiding CPS Court Judge immediately after the adoption is granted.

Provide a proposed order stating the relief sought at each hearing; if the matter is taken under advisement, email it in Word format to the Staff Attorney.

All attorneys must certify to the Court, before a jury trial, that they have completed the Technology Training offered by the Court IT staff.

A party may use its full designation or the corresponding designation letter on exhibits.

To remove a summary judgment setting, a party must file a Notice of Withdrawal that states the original motion filing date and original setting date.

Before requesting a setting in a case assigned under Local Rule 2.6 or 10.2, the moving party must confer with the judge’s staff about availability; for visiting judges, the District Judges’ Office serves as staff.

Emergency matters (other than specially assigned cases) must be directed to the designated Duty Judge through the Duty Judge's staff, who is listed on the Travis County civil district dockets page.

Emergency matters for the Travis County Civil District Courts (other than specially assigned cases) go to the designated Duty Judge, who is contacted through their staff and listed on the county website.

A party filing a Notice of Withdrawal must email the Court at 250.submission@traviscountytx.gov with a file-stamped copy of the notice attached.

For technical assistance with Box, contact Courts-Help by email or phone.

For matters outside a limited appearance, service must be made on the party at the address in the notice, and notice to the attorney is ineffective.

All counsel of record and self-represented parties must be copied on all correspondence with the Court.

Parties are expected to exchange exhibits themselves before any hearing or trial.

Trial exhibits must be exchanged with opposing counsel prior to trial.

Each party must file required pre-trial forms and any pleading amendments before 5:00 p.m. on the Monday two weeks before the week of trial.

Proposed jury questions and instructions must be submitted at the pretrial conference or on or before the first day of trial by Box upload and/or email to the Staff Attorney.

A reply in support of an MSJ motion is permitted and, except on leave of court or agreement of the parties, must be filed by the movant within 7 days after the response is filed.

Exhibits must be uploaded to Box at least 24 hours before a hearing or trial.

Proposed jury questions and instructions are due at the pretrial conference or on or before the first day of trial.

Proposed or draft orders may not be filed as stand-alone documents and may be filed only as attachments to other pleadings.

Scanned exhibit documents must be made searchable with OCR before upload.

Upload each exhibit as a separate PDF and do not combine exhibits into one PDF.

Trial exhibits must be pre-marked with a party abbreviation and number (e.g., P-1, D-2, R-3).

Both the movant and nonmovant must email a draft proposed order in Word and PDF formats to 250.submission@traviscountytx.gov.

Each party must deliver their brief either digitally or in hard copy, as instructed by the assigned judge.

Non-evidentiary materials may be uploaded to Box and should go in the party’s Other Materials folder, not the Exhibit folder.

Upload exhibits to the folder designated for your party.

Hearing requests, jury trial requests, and readiness announcements must be submitted through the 250th District Court's website web forms; the Court, not the parties, schedules cases.

Orders must be submitted by email to 455.submission@traviscountytx.gov.

In administrative appeals, parties may optionally provide the judge courtesy copies of a clearly labeled appendix containing record excerpts, statutes, and material authorities, digitally or in hard copy per the judge's instructions.

Upload documents to the Court’s Box account; if using paper exhibits, bring two courtesy paper copies of documents for the Court to review.

Upload documents for the Court to Box; if using paper exhibits, bring at least one courtesy paper copy of documents for the Court to review.

Counsel are encouraged to bring a paper copy of their proposed order to the hearing for the Judge's signature.

Motions in limine requesting additional limine relief or modification of the pre-trial standing order will be heard by the trial judge at the time of trial.

A motion or response may request oral argument, and the Court will notify the parties if it wishes to schedule argument.

Attorneys are strongly encouraged (but not required) to confer by phone or in person before hearings on non-dispositive issues, especially discovery disputes.

Lack of the required notice may be argued by opposing counsel as a basis for a continuance.

A responding party seeking an extension of time to respond to an MSJ must file a motion requesting the extension and title it to state whether it is unopposed, agreed to, or opposed.

The District Clerk maintains files, docket sheets, and minutes as confidential records in every adoption suit and every suit in which an authorized agency seeks termination of the parent-child relationship.

Proposed or draft orders may not be filed alone; they may be filed only as attachments to other pleadings.

PDF proposed orders may optionally be attached as an exhibit to the motion in the same filing.

All necessary evidence must be included in the submission email.

Fees for preparing the pre-adoptive home screening and post-placement adoptive report must be paid as directed by the Family Court Services Manager.