Denton County District Courts Filing Timing and Cure Windows
39 rules from official source documents
Filing cutoffs, deemed-filed rules, rejection handling, cure periods, and outage procedures. This page is scoped to Denton County District Courts; use the court rules overview to switch categories without leaving this court.
After receiving the hearing date and time, the moving party must immediately file a written notice of hearing with the District Clerk or County Clerk.
Upon receiving the date and time of hearing, the moving party shall immediately notify all other parties in writing as to the date, time, and subject matter of the hearing, and shall immediately file a written notice of hearing with the District Clerk or County Clerk, as applicable.
- Deadline
- 3 working days
Except in an emergency, briefs on motions other than summary judgment must be served and filed no later than three working days before the hearing.
Except in case of emergency, briefs relating to a motion (other than for summary judgment) set for hearing must be served and filed with the District Clerk or County Clerk not later than 3 working days before the scheduled hearing.
A summary-judgment support brief must be filed and served together with the summary-judgment motion.
Briefs in support of a motion of summary judgment must be filed and served with that motion;
An opposition brief on a summary-judgment motion must be filed and served no later than the response due date.
briefs in opposition to a motion for summary judgment must be filed and served at or before the time the response is due;
A summary-judgment reply brief must be filed and served at least three days before the hearing.
reply briefs in support of a motion for summary judgment must be filed and served no less than 3 days before the hearing.
- Deadline
- 3 business days
The letter of representation is due within three business days after the attorney is retained.
4.1.1 Attorneys shall file with the applicable court clerk a letter of representation within 3 business days of being retained to represent a Defendant/Respondent.
A compliant electronic document becomes the original court or evidentiary record when the clerk's official date-and-time file-mark or file-stamp is applied.
5.3.4 A document submitted for filing via the electronic filing manager, compliant with all applicable filing requirements, shall be accepted and will be recognized as the original record for the Court' s file or for evidentiary purposes when the document bear' s the clerk' s official date and time file-mark or file-stamp.
A filer must correct a returned document within three business days using the Texas E-File System's copy docket/date feature to retain the original submission date.
5.3.7 (m) All submitted documents that are returned for correction to the filer will have three (3) business days to make the required correction to receive the original submission date. Filer is required utilize the copy docket/date feature of the Texas E-File System.
Electronic submission alone is not an accepted filing; acceptance is complete only when the clerk affixes the official date-and-time file-mark or file-stamp.
5.3.9 Electronic submission of a document does not constitute an accepted-filing. Accepted-filing is complete when the clerk' s official date and time file-mark or file-stamp is affixed to the document.
Unless a document has a specific time-of-day deadline, electronic filing before midnight in the court's time zone on the filing deadline is timely and is deemed filed upon transmission to the filing party's electronic filing service provider, subject to stated exceptions.
Each party or party' s attorney of record submitting documents for fi ling through the electronic filing manager or eFiling system will be subject to the Timely Filing rule set forth in the TRCP. Unless a document must be filed by a certain time of day, a document is considered timely filed if it is electronically filed at any time before midnight (in the court's time zone) on the filing deadline. An electronically filed document is deemed filed when transmitted to the filing party's electronic filing service provider, except:
An electronically transmitted document submitted on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday is deemed filed on the next day that is not one of those days.
(A) if a document is transmitted on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it is deemed filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday;
When a document requires a motion and an order allowing its filing, it is deemed filed on the date the motion is granted.
(B) if a document requires a motion and an order allowing its filing, the document is deemed filed on the date that the motion is granted.
For an electronically filed original petition missing the required order, the Clerk must decline to issue citation until the petition is resubmitted with the order attached.
At the time an original petition is filed electronically, if the Petitioner has failed to attach a copy of this order to the petition and any copy of the petition, the Clerk shall decline to issue citation until the petition is resubmitted with a copy of this order attached in conformity with this section.
The steps and deadlines stated in the Notice of Dismissal Setting must be followed for the case to avoid dismissal at the hearing.
The Notice of Dismissal Setting contains specific steps, and deadlines for those steps, that must be taken in order for the case not to be dismissed at the time of the hearing.
The Court Administrator cannot provide hearing dates until the pleading appears on the Court’s system.
The Court Administrator is unable to provide dates until a pleading appears on the Court’s system.
A Scheduling Order filed electronically before the case is set for trial will be rejected.
If the scheduling order is e-filed before the case has been set for trial with the Court Administrator, the scheduling order will be rejected.
Motions for summary judgment must be both filed and heard at least 30 days before the final trial.
Please note that Motions for Summary Judgment must be filed AND heard 30 days prior to final trial.
All pretrial motions must be filed ten days before the formal pretrial conference and will be heard at that conference.
All Pre-Trial motions (Motions in Limine, etc.) shall be filed 10 days before the formal pretrial conference and will be heard at the formal pretrial conference.
The witness list, exhibit list, documentary evidence, and premarked exhibits must be provided to the court reporter and served on all other parties by 3 p.m. on the day before the pretrial conference.
Each party is directed to produce the following to the Court Reporter Deana Scobee at Deana.Scobee@dentoncounty.gov (and served upon all other parties) no later than 3 p.m. on the day before the Pre-Trial Conference: a. A completed Witness List. The completed Witness List located on the Court’s website at 442nd District Court. Civil Scheduling Order and Discovery Control Plan Page 1 ===== PAGE 2 ===== b. All documentary evidence and exhibits. The Exhibit List located on the Court’s website at 442nd District Court. c. All pre-marked for identification exhibits must be submitted to the Court Reporter on a USB drive AND by email. THE EXHIBITS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DENTON COUNTY STANDING ORDER REGARDING EVIDENCE. ADDITIONALLY, hard copies must be provided for the Judge and the witness stand. Please be prepared to consider stipulations as to the authenticity and admissibility of exhibits with the judge. *Exception: The USB for the Court Reporter and Exhibit Binders for the Judge and Witness Stand may be brought to the pre-trial conference as long as all counsel have received a copy.
The trial summary, proposed jury instructions and issues, and proposed pretrial orders must be provided to the court administrator and served on all other parties by 3 p.m. on the day before the pretrial conference.
Each party is directed to produce the following to the Court Administrator Ali Hayslip at Ali.Hayslip@dentoncounty.gov (and served upon all other parties) no later than 3 p.m. on the day before the Pre-Trial Conference:
All discovery must be completed by the scheduling-order deadline unless modified by Rule 11 agreement.
All discovery must be completed by this date unless modified by Rule 11 agreement.
The attorney or party filing an expert challenge must obtain a timely court-coordinator setting at least 60 days before trial.
and heard prior to this date. The attorney or party filing the challenge is obligated to obtain a timely setting through the court coordinator pursuant to the local rules. This date must be at least 60 days prior to the trial date.
All pleading amendments and supplements must be filed by the scheduling-order deadline unless modified by Rule 11 agreement.
All amendments and supplements to pleadings must be filed by this date unless modified by Rule 11 agreement.
If the case is not reached for trial on its scheduled date, the existing deadlines are not extended without court approval and a new scheduling order.
In that event, these deadlines will NOT be extended without approval by the Court and entry of a new scheduling order.
The attorney ad litem’s selfie email is due no later than 3 p.m. on the day before the hearing.
Attorney Ad Litem shall email to the court admin with ALL counsel, caseworker and CASA included on the email their selfie with the child according to the Court’s selfie requirement no later than 3 p.m. the day prior to the hearing.
- Deadline
- 61 calendar days
The divorce finalization documents may be filed beginning 61 days after filing the original petition.
On the 61st day after filing the original petition for divorce or any time thereafter, please file the waiver or answer for the Respondent, the prove up affidavit, and the completed agreed final decree of divorce.
All pretrial motions must be filed ten days before the formal pretrial conference and will be heard at that conference.
All Pre-Trial motions (Motions in Limine, etc.) shall be filed 10 days before the formal pretrial conference and will be heard at the formal pretrial conference.
All pretrial motions must be filed 10 days before the formal pretrial conference and will be heard at that conference.
All Pre-Trial motions (Motions in Limine, etc.) shall be filed 10 days before the formal pretrial conference and will be heard at the formal pretrial conference.
An attorney expecting to be unavailable for a vacation must file a vacation letter with the appropriate clerk no later than 45 days before the vacation and serve all attorneys and parties; a timely letter prevents new settings and Rule 1.13 orders during the vacation but does not affect existing settings.
If an attorney will be unavailable for Court appearances due to a vacation, the attorney of record shall file a vacation letter with the District Clerk or County Clerk, as applicable, and shall serve all attorneys of record and parties with the vacation letter. If a vacation letter is filed not later than 45 days prior to the start of the attorney' s designated vacation, no hearings or trials shall be set in a case during the attorney' s vacation, and no orders shall be submitted under Rule 1.13 during the attorney' s vacation. However, the filing of a vacation letter shall not affect any settings that exist at the time of filing of the letter.
If a proposed order is neither approved nor challenged in writing with specific objections within five days after submission, the Court presumes no form objections.
If an order is not approved as to form and no specific objections are filed within 5 days of the submission of the proposed order, the Court will presume that there are no objections as to form.
Proposed orders should not be submitted as an initial filing or envelope and must instead be filed subsequently.
5.3.7 (k) Proposed orders should not be filed as an initial filing/envelope. They must be filed as a subsequent filing/envelope.
When an electronically submitted document is deficient, the clerk must notify the filer as soon as practicable that it will not be filed and state the reason.
5.3.8 If a document submitted electronically for filing is found to be deficient by the clerk for any reason, the clerk shall notify the filer as soon as practicable that the document will not be filed and the reason why the document will not be filed.
The order becomes effective when the original petition is filed and remains effective as a temporary restraining order for fourteen days after service.
This order is effective upon the filing of the original petition and shall remain in full force and effect as a temporary restraining order for fourteen days after the date of service of the original petition.
A party required to complete an approved parent education and stabilization program must file proof of completion with the court when the requirement is met.
Proof of completion of the program must be filed with the court upon meeting this requirement.
An email about a motion should be sent only after the file-marked motion is returned from the District Clerk.
Please note that only once the file-marked motion is received back from the District Clerks should an email be sent.
An agreed order may be removed from the Court’s Entry Docket only after it is received in the e-file queue.
Only once the agreed order is received in the e-file queue, may it be removed from the Court’s Entry Docket.
The courtesy email must be sent after the proposed order is received in the court’s queue.
That is when you will need to send your courtesy email.
- Deadline
- 2 working days
A proposed order should be provided to the opposing party at least two working days before submission to the Court.
Proposed orders should be tendered to the opposing party at least 2 working days before they are submitted to the Court.
When an electronic submission is accepted, the clerk applies the official date-and-time file-mark or stamp and the electronic filing system confirms the accepted filing.
5.3.8 Conversely, when a document submitted electronically for filing is accepted, the clerk shall affix the clerk's official date and time file-mark or file-stamp to the document and the electronic filing manager or eFiling system will provide the filer with confirmation of the accepted filing.
When is a filing treated as filed in Denton County District Courts?
The rule addresses filing timing, filing status, or cure windows. The steps and deadlines stated in the Notice of Dismissal Setting must be followed for the case to avoid dismissal at the hearing.
When is a filing treated as filed in Denton County District Courts?
The rule addresses filing timing, filing status, or cure windows. A Scheduling Order filed electronically before the case is set for trial will be rejected.
Related categories
Back to all rules for this courtPage & Word Limits
Maximum page counts and word limits for motions, briefs, and other filings by judge.
Courtesy Copy Requirements
When and how to deliver courtesy copies to chambers, including triggers, timing, and formatting.
Electronic Filing Rules
Electronic filing requirements, permitted filing channels, EFSP portals, and exceptions.
Service and Proof of Service Rules
E-service, mail, personal service, proof of service, certificate, and timing requirements.