Collin County District Courts Filing Rules

A requested child interview must be included in the pretrial scheduling order or docketed in advance, and same-day requests will not be considered.

One stated basis for the Certificate of Conference is that movant and respondent personally conducted a substantive conference but could not resolve the matters despite best efforts.

The proposed jury questions and instructions must be titled as specified, prepared in Microsoft Word, and emailed to the Court Coordinator by the date of the formal pretrial conference.

Parties must make pretrial disclosures at least 30 days before trial under Rule 194.4.

A party proceeding with a motion or hearing without the opposing side present must file proof of notice or offer it as an exhibit to the court reporter.

The parties must exchange the listed pretrial materials no later than 14 days before trial and confer about them before the pretrial date.

All motions to compel must be both filed and heard at least 31 days before trial.

Written objections to Daubert/Dupont expert challenges must be filed at least 10 days before the hearing.

Discovery requests must be propounded early enough for responses to be timely before the discovery deadline.

Jury-trial parties must make pretrial disclosures at least 30 days before trial.

A criminal-law-related hearing request must copy Deputy Pond.

After filing a default judgment motion, contact the Court Coordinator by email to schedule submission and state whether an oral hearing is requested.

After the Default Judgment checklist and documents required to be filed have been completed and filed, email the court coordinator to schedule the default.

Request extra security by emailing the bailiff at least two business days before the hearing.

Email 494@co.collin.tx.us after e-filing the agreed divorce decree to notify the court that the decree is ready for review.

Counsel must ensure that documents displayed on courtroom monitors are admitted in evidence and, when necessary, redacted to comply with the Court’s rulings.

All exhibits should be marked at the bottom-right corner when possible.

Video-recording exhibits must be submitted in MP4 format.

The juvenile pay-sheet email subject line must identify the document, cause number, and juvenile respondent's initials, and must not state the respondent's full name.

Exhibits must be marked numerically on the front of their first page.

A party joining an additional party must serve the scheduling order on the new party concurrently with the joinder pleading.

Parties opposing affirmative relief must serve their expert designations and provide the experts' written reports by the scheduling-order deadline.

If the OAG was previously a party, it must be served with all pleadings and noticed for all hearings and trial until the court orders otherwise or the OAG asks to be excused.

Hearing exhibits must be emailed to all parties, the court reporter, and the Court Coordinator no later than noon on the day before the hearing.

Before finalizing a case, verify that either a signed and notarized respondent waiver of service has been filed or citation has been served with the return on file for at least 10 days and the answer date passed, or that the respondent has answered; service must comply with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

A continuance, even an agreed one, in a case filed more than nine months ago requires a hearing and court approval.

A continuance of the final trial requires court approval, a verified motion, and an email to the coordinator requesting a hearing.

Failure to timely schedule and complete mediation does not constitute adequate grounds for a continuance.

Even an agreed trial continuance requires a hearing and court approval.

Resetting or continuing the initial trial setting does not alter existing deadlines absent a Rule 11 agreement or a court order entered after a good-cause motion.

A notice of hearing with the hearing date completed must be e-filed.

After the stated agreed-divorce conditions are met, the agreed decree signed by all parties and attorneys must be e-filed and Shannon Reynolds must be emailed that it is ready for court review.

A notice of hearing with the date and time completed must be filed electronically.

Once all agreed-divorce conditions are met, electronically file the agreed decree signed by all parties and attorneys and email the court at 494@co.collin.tx.us that it is ready for review.

Attorneys must e-file their proposed orders before the hearing date.

Custody evaluations, psychological evaluations, drug test results, full DFPS case records, mental health records, and medical records will not be made available online.

A motion to seal a civil case must allege the grounds specified by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a.

Parties cannot agree to seal a case; sealing requires court approval after an evidentiary hearing and cannot occur before final trial.

Parties cannot agree to seal a case; sealing requires court approval after an evidentiary hearing, and cases cannot be sealed before final trial.

Cases may not be sealed by agreement; sealing requires court approval after an evidentiary hearing and may not occur before final trial, subject to the stated adoption exception.

The trial summary should not exceed one page.

The trial summary should be limited to one page.

The joint trial summary should be limited to one page.

The trial summary should be limited to one page.

The joint trial summary should be limited to one page.

Counsel submitting a courtesy notebook to the court must also provide an identical copy to opposing counsel.

For a hearing by submission, parties must provide the court a courtesy notebook at least 24 hours beforehand containing the motions, responses, and a paper copy of the proposed order.

Pretrial motions are to be heard at the formal pretrial conference rather than on jury-selection day absent prior leave of court.

An attorney must confer with opposing counsel before filing a discovery motion, and the motion must include a certificate of conference stating that the moving party made a good-faith effort to resolve the matter.

A personal conference is required before filing any discovery-related motion.