Denton County Courts at Law Document Format Requirements

CRITICAL

Margins

top 1 in, bottom 1 in, left 1 in, right 1 in

Every page must have margins of at least one inch on all sides.

There must be a minimum of a one-inch margin on all sides of the page.

CRITICAL

Counsel must mark all exhibits before trial.

Before the trial starts, counsel shall mark all exhibits and exchange them with opposing counsel so that the trial will not be delayed .

CRITICAL

Format

PDF

Standalone documents, proposed orders, and exhibits or supporting documents must be filed in PDF format.

All filers will be given the following document types to file per envelope: Display Name Formats Allowed Stamped? Multiples Allowed? Standalone Document PDF Yes Yes Proposed Order PDF No Yes Exhibits/ Supporting Documents PDF No Yes

CRITICAL

Documents must not contain package PDFs.

Documents may not contain package PDF's.

CRITICAL

Format

PDF

Exhibits that are documents must be provided in PDF format.

4. Format of Exhibits: Documents: PDF

CRITICAL

The party sponsoring evidence must ensure its format can be uploaded to and accepted by the appropriate court of appeals and complies with the cited committee's recommendations.

When introducing evidence, the Court orders that the sponsoring party of the evidence shall ensure it is in a format that may be uploaded and accepted by the appropriate court of appeals and which comports to the recommendations of the Judicial Committee on Information

CRITICAL

Format

PDF

PDF packages and portfolios are prohibited; documents for one filing must be combined into a single PDF or have all exhibits filed as attachments.

PDF packages and portfolios are not permitted. Multiple documents that pertain to a single filing must be combined into a single PDF and or must have all exhibits filed as attachments.

CRITICAL

Format

PDF

Each document must be a single PDF, except that an appellate court may require multiple PDFs to be combined with bookmarks; document content should not depend on bookmarks.

Each document must be a single PDF. An appellate court may require that multiple PDF documents be combined into a single PDF document and bookmarks used to separate content appropriately. The content of the document should not depend on bookmarks.

CRITICAL

Orders and judgments must be filed as separate documents, completely separated from other documents.

Orders and Judgments shall be separate documents completely separated from all other documents.

CRITICAL

E-filed documents must not have security or feature restrictions or contain embedded multimedia or programming.

An e-filed document may not contain any security or feature restrictions including password protection or encryption and may not contain embedded multi-media video, audio, or programming.

CRITICAL

Scanned documents must have a resolution of 300 DPI before electronic filing.

Prior to being filed electronically, a scanned document must have a resolution of 300 DPI.

CRITICAL

Convert an unsupported audio/video file to a format supported by at least one listed media player.

If an audio/video file is not natively supported by at least one media player listed in these standards, the file must be converted to another format supported by at least one media player listed.

CRITICAL

Do not convert an audio/video file that is natively supported by a listed media player.

When an audio/video file is natively supported by at least one media player listed in these standards, the file must not be converted into another format.

CRITICAL

Generate the modified audio/video copy in a format supported by at least one listed media player.

The modified copy (submitted in addition to the original audio/video) must also be generated in a format supported by at least one media player listed in these standards.

CRITICAL

Every document submitted for filing must comply with the cited Technology Standards and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

Every document submitted for filing shall conform to the requirements for filing established in the Technology Standards issued by the Judicial Committee on Information Technology, subsection 3.1 as well as those established by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

CRITICAL

Each page of every instrument must be numbered and titled in its lower margin.

Each page of each instrument shall, in the lower margin thereof, be numbered and titled; e.g., Plaintiff's Original Petition - Page 2.

CRITICAL

Documents must not contain embedded fonts.

Documents may not contain embedded fonts.

CRITICAL

Format

PDF

E-filed documents must be text-searchable PDFs, use fonts specified in the PDF specification, be 8.5 x 11 inches, and have appropriately rotated content.

An e-filed document must be in text-searchable PDF, using fonts specified in the PDF specification, on 8.5x11 page size, with the content appropriately rotated.

CRITICAL

Audio and video exhibits must comply with the referenced approved Technology Standards.

Audio and Video files: You must follow the approved Technology Standards referenced in the Supreme Court of Texas Misc. Docket No. 23-9072 and Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas Misc. Docket No. 23-005 attached for your reference.

CRITICAL

Any e-filed document filename should contain only alphanumeric characters that are part of the Latin1_General character set. No special characters are allowed and the length of the filename should be restricted to 50 characters.

Any e-filed document filename should contain only alphanumeric characters that are part of the Latin1_General character set. No special characters are allowed and the length of the filename should be restricted to 50 characters.

CRITICAL

Evidence must use a format uploadable and acceptable by the appropriate appellate court, comply with the stated recommendations, and follow amended higher-court evidence-format rules and guidelines.

When introducing evidence, the Court orders that the sponsoring party of the evidence shall ensure it is in a format that may be uploaded and accepted by the appropriate court of appeals and which complies to the recommendations of the Judicial Committee on Information Technology. If the applicable court of appeals or other higher court amends its rules and guidelines for evidence formats , the amended rules and guidelines of that court of appeals or other higher court shall be followed .

WARNING

Information exchanges between the identified systems should use the current OASIS LegalXML specifications.

In accordance with Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Part 8, Chapter 177, information exchanges that occur between the various systems (electronic filing manager, case management, document management, etc.) should occur using the current OASIS LegalXML specifications.

WARNING

Trial materials must be delivered on disk, flash drive, or similar storage device.

At the time the parties report for trial, they will deliver to the Court and the other parties a witness list, exhibit list, any motion in limine, and any requested instructions and questions if trial is by jury (on disk, flash drive, or other similar storage device).

WARNING

Format

PDF

A document returned for formatting must be rotated so its file mark appears in the upper-right corner and resubmitted as a text-searchable PDF, directly converted to PDF if possible, at 300 dpi, on 8.5-by-11-inch pages, and without embedded fonts.

Please resubmit the document By rotating the document so that the file mark will appear in the upper right corner • In text searchable PDF • Directly converted to PDF if possible. • With a 300dpi resolution • With a page size of 8.5"x11" • With no embedded fonts

WARNING

A document returned as illegible or unreadable must be resubmitted in a legible format.

Please resubmit in a format that is legible.

WARNING

If an applicable higher court amends its evidence-format rules or guidelines, those amended rules and guidelines must be followed.

If the applicable court of appeals or other higher court amends its rules and guidelines for evidence formats , the amended rules and guidelines of that court of appeals or other higher court shall be followed.

WARNING

Format

PDF

All lead documents must be filed as separate PDF documents rather than combined in a single PDF.

PDF Documents You have submitted multiple documents for Combined filing in a single PDF. The file-mark will only appear on documents submitted as lead documents. Please file all lead documents as separate PDF documents.

WARNING

When possible, generate the document directly from its originating software using a PDF distiller.

When possible, the document should be generated directly from the originating software using a PDF distiller.

WARNING

PDFs should not be embedded inside another PDF.

PDF's should not be embedded inside of another PDF.

WARNING

An ancillary matter's case style must identify the parties and the estate, ward, or trust.

The style of an ancillary matter shall include the names of the party bringing the action and the opposing party, as well as the name of the estate, ward , or trust.

WARNING

Ancillary-matter pleadings must use the designated number and sequential numbers for additional matters.

If a case includes an ancillary matter, the cause number of all pleadings relating to the ancillary matter shall be followed by the number "01 ". If a case contains more than one ancillary matter, each subsequent matter shall be designated by sequential numbers (i.e. 02, 03, etc.)

INFO

Physical evidence may be submitted as a photograph.

Physical evidence may be submitted via a photograph.

INFO

Scanned documents should preferably be made searchable using OCR technology.

Preferably, scanned documents should be made searchable using OCR technology.