Bexar County Civil District Courts Filing Rules

Mileage reimbursement requires supporting documentation.

Each Notice of Setting must state the nature of the contested matter, the name, address, telephone number, and email address of each attorney of record or self-represented litigant, and the hearing date, hour, and estimated time.

Parties seeking an in-person or Zoom hearing must confer with opposing counsel to select a date and file a Notice of Hearing stating the selected date and explaining how much time is needed and why.

Any unagreed-upon MTE setting must include a certificate of conference.

For all trials and evidentiary hearings, parties must provide an exhibit list, witness list, designations of deposition excerpts, and any objections to an opponent's exhibits, witnesses, or deposition excerpts.

All vouchers must be submitted within 60 calendar days of the hearing or service rendered.

Temporary orders must be reduced to writing within 10 days and delivered to the Court for signature.

After the motion is filed, the Court Clerk selects a hearing date within 35-60 days of the filing and provides email notice to all parties on file.

Upon filing of a summary judgment motion, the court emails the parties a hearing date set 35-45 days from filing, usually between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. or at another time depending on court availability.

The filing party must file a notice of hearing within 3 days of receiving the MSJ hearing date.

Before filing any contested motion, the movant must confer with all affected parties to determine whether the motion will be opposed and prepare a Certificate of Conference.

Motions for Summary Judgment filed in the 131st District Court are heard in the 131st District Court rather than in Presiding Court.

All Motions for Summary Judgment filed in the 37th District Court are heard in the 37th District Court rather than in Presiding Court.

Before requesting a hearing on a Motion for Summary Judgment, all parties must confer and make best efforts to agree on mutually available dates.

All Motions for Summary Judgment are heard by submission; an in-person or Zoom hearing is held only if requested and granted by the Court.

Scheduling for contested matters is coordinated through the Court Clerk (Amber Martinez, amber.martinez@bexar.org), who must be contacted to obtain available hearing dates and times.

After e-filing a matter for a visiting judge, the filer must email the envelope number to the visiting judge (who will provide their email address) to ensure timely signing.

Emails about scheduling matters must be sent to the Clerk of the Court.

Hearing settings must be confirmed with the clerk before a notice of hearing is filed, and settings made without prior court approval may not be honored.

To request an in-person or Zoom hearing, contact the 73rd District Clerk for available dates within the statutorily required deadlines.

Agreed orders signed by all attorneys of record and any self-represented litigants may be e-filed as proposed orders and signed by the Court without a hearing.

When e-filing orders, filers must leave specific routing instructions in the comment section or the order will be accepted as a Proposed Order but not routed for signature.

Hearing settings will also be entered into Odyssey, the court's filing system.

Parties must file all documents through the District Court's Electronic Case Filing System.

Trial settings may only be passed or reset by a settlement announced in open court, an Agreed Order to Dismiss/all-party agreement with Court approval, or a Motion for Continuance granted by the Court.

Even agreed resets must still comply with the statutory 60-day deadline for setting the hearing.

MTEs set sua sponte from the bench may not be dropped by the parties unless they reschedule with the 438th court clerk or email the clerk that an agreed-to form order will be forthcoming by a date certain.

The Court will not pass (continue) a trial setting because of another trial setting unless the attorney has actually commenced trial in court.

Settings for final hearings on the merits cannot be continued or dropped without court approval.

The court prefers one party to draft the order with the other submitting visible redline edits shareable via Zoom screen share, and disfavors two competing orders though it recognizes this is sometimes necessary.

Highlighted copies of each deposition excerpt are preferred for the Court.

When appearing remotely, statutorily-required documents, pleadings, and proposed orders must be in digital PDF format.

A Notice of Setting must be delivered to each attorney of record and/or self-represented litigant.

To schedule a non-jury trial or hearing, a party must file a motion to set with the Presiding Court and serve a copy of the motion and a conformed copy of the order on all other parties.

Written copies of summary judgment motions, including all exhibits, must be provided to opposing counsel and the Court at least 7 days in advance.

The Court Clerk will provide notice of the selected summary judgment hearing date by email to all parties on file.

No later than seven days before the hearing, parties must provide the Court a complete electronic courtesy copy via email of the motion, response, reply and supporting exhibits, copying all counsel of record and self-represented litigants.

Parties must provide courtesy copies of all documents pertaining to matters heard by the Court.

The District Clerk processes signed orders and provides courtesy copies to all attorneys and self-represented litigants.

A written copy of the summary judgment motion, including all exhibits, must be delivered to the Court at least 7 days before the hearing.

When emailing the clerk, courtesy copy all counsel and self-represented litigants.

Motions and orders must be filed as separate filings rather than bundled together, per Local Rule F(1).

Parties must file a single, joint proposed jury charge including all necessary instructions, definitions, and questions.

The attached Civil District Courts' Ad Litem Fee Schedule applies to all vouchers submitted after the date of this order.

Motions for Extended Assignment and any response are limited to 5 pages each, and replies or sur-replies are not allowed.