Hopkins County Court at Law Service and Proof of Service Rules

CRITICALCivil cases

Service

Publication

Citation must be published in the county where the proceeding is commenced and, if different, the decedent’s last-residence county in every heirship proceeding, even if no unknown heir is evident.

Citation must be published in both the county where the proceeding is commenced and the county of the decedent's last residence (if different). See Tex. Est. Code 202.052. Citation by publication is required in all heirship proceedings, even if there is no evidence that an unknown heit exists. See Tex. Atty. Gen. Op. No. KP-0074.

CRITICALCivil cases

Service

Mail

Citation in an heirship proceeding must be served by registered or certified mail on qualifying distributees aged 12 or older and on the specified parent, managing conservator, or guardian of qualifying distributees younger than 12.

Citation in a proceeding to declare heirship must be served by registered or certified mail on (1) each distributee who is 12 years of age or older and whose name and address are known or can be ascertained through the exercise of reasonable diligence and (2) the parent, managing conservator, or guardian of each distributee who is younger than 12 years of age if the name and address of the parent, managing conservator, or guardian are known or can be reasonably ascertained. Tex. Est. Code. 202.051.

CRITICALCivil cases

Service

Email to opposing party

When requesting a hearing setting, copy the other side on the email to the coordinator.

To set a hearing, please email the coordinator, and copy the other side.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Petition to terminate withholding for child support

In non-agreed cases, the Obligee must be served with the Petition or file a waiver of service and answer.

2. Obligee must be served with the Petition or file a waiver of service/answer

CRITICALCivil cases

The party scheduling a hearing must notify the other side and provide the court sufficient proof of notice; court email reminders do not replace that duty, and the hearing may be reset if notice is insufficient.

It is the responsibility of the parties, not the court or the clerk's office, to provide the other side with notice of any scheduled hearings. The party who schedules the hearing with the court coordinator must notify the other side and provide sufficient proof of notice to the court. Otherwise, the case will be reset and the party will be instructed to provide sufficient notice for the next hearing. As a backup form of notice, the court will make efforts to send email reminders to all parties of court settings, if valid email addresses are provided to the court. However, this does not relieve the parties of their obligation to provide notice themselves.

CRITICALCivil cases

Service

Email to all parties

For remote Zoom hearings, parties must email proposed exhibits to the coordinator and any party before the hearing; time spent providing or reviewing an unexchanged exhibit is deducted from that side's time.

Remote Hearings by Zoom – Parties are required to email all proposed exhibits to the court coordinator and any party prior to the start of the hearing. If an exhibit is not exchanged prior, time needed to provide or review the exhibit during the hearing will be deducted from that side’s total time.

CRITICALCivil cases

If the children receive government health insurance, the Attorney General must be given notice of the pleadings.

If the children are receiving health insurance through a government program such as CHIP or Medicaid, the Attorney General must be provided notice of the pleadings

WARNING

Applies to

Notice of new court date

The clerk sends notice of the new court date to the address on file.

The Clerk will send notice of the new court date to the address on file.

WARNINGCivil cases

Service

Personal service

The court may, in its discretion, require personal service of citation on some or all distributees named in the heirship application.

The court may in its discretion require that service of citation be made by personal service on some or all of those named as distributes in the application for proceeding to declare heirship. Tex. Est. Code 202.054.