Matagorda County District Courts Document Format Requirements

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

Civil cases

Every drug-test filing must have a notice of confidentiality affixed.

DFPS shall file all drug tests, including, but not limited to, urinalysis, hair follicle and fingernail with the Court, within five (5) business days of receipt, with a notice of confidentiality affixed.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

Civil cases

Audio exhibits may not exceed 100 MB.

Audio exhibits may not exceed 100Mb.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

The movant must provide the discovery template in xls format identifying each discovery item in dispute.

B. The Movant must email the “130th District Court Discovery Template.xls” (in xls form) which will show information about each discovery item in dispute.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

Every page of every exhibit must be pre-marked with the hearing date, title, exhibit number, offering party, cause number, and page numbering.

All exhibits shall be PRE-MARKED with the hearing date, title, exhibit number, offering party name, cause number and the page number and number of pages (i.e. Page 1 of 20). All pages of the exhibit shall include this information.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

Proposed jury questions and instructions or proposed findings must use the specified title, be in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format, and be emailed to the Court Coordinator by the Formal Pre-trial Conference.

The pleading should be named "[Name of Party]'s Proposed Jury Questions and Instructions" or "[Name of Party]'s Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format and emailed to the Court Coordinator at 130thDistrictCourt@co.matagorda.tx.us by the date of the Formal Pre-trial Conference.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

An exhibit larger than 8½ by 11 inches must be accompanied by a copy of that size; after trial the clerk retains the copy and returns the original to the offering party.

B. Large Exhibits. Exhibits exceeding 8 ½" x 11" in size will be accompanied by an 8 ½" x 11" copy. After completion of trial, the clerk will retain only the 8 ½" x 11" copy and the original exhibit will be returned to the offering party.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 5, 2026CRITICAL

Before trial, deposition or video testimony must be submitted to the court reporter officially transcribed, or video excerpts must be submitted to the Court Reporter in MP3 format.

E. Deposition Testimony. Before trial begins, any deposition or video that will be presented during the trial will need to be submitted to the court reporter already officially transcribed, or if video excerpts are used, the video excerpts in MP3 format will need to be submitted to the Court Reporter.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

Civil cases

Media must be submitted in one of these file extensions: .avi, .wmv, .wav, .mpg, .mid, .asf, .mpeg, .mpl, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .m4v, .ogg, .oga, .ogv, or .webm.

A list of valid extensions that the media must be submitted in are: .avi, .wmv, .wav, .mpg, .mid, .asf, .mpeg, .mpl, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .m4v, .mpg, .ogg, .oga, .ogv, .webm.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

Civil cases

Audio or video media may contain only the segments offered as exhibits.

Only segments offered as an exhibit can be on the audio or video media.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

Civil cases

If an offered exhibit cannot be opened by the court of appeals, the sponsoring party must provide the court reporter with an acceptable-format copy.

If at any time in the future the case is on appeal and the court of appeals cannot open the exhibit that was offered, the sponsoring party that offered the exhibit will be responsible to provide the court reporter with the exhibit that is in the acceptable format.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

Exhibits larger than 8 ½ by 11 inches must be accompanied by an 8 ½ by 11-inch copy, which the clerk will retain after trial instead of the original.

Exhibits exceeding 8 ½" x 11" in size will be accompanied by an 8 ½" x 11" copy. After completion of trial, the clerk will retain only the 8 ½" x 11" copy and the original exhibit will be returned to the offering party.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

Parties with more than twenty-six exhibits must use numbered rather than lettered exhibit designations.

If a party has more than twenty-six exhibits, the exhibits shall be numbered and not lettered.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

The proposed jury questions and instructions must use the prescribed filename, be submitted in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format by the formal pretrial conference, and contain the jury-facing text without signature blocks.

The document should be named “[Name of Party]’s Proposed Jury Questions and Instructions” in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format and emailed to the Court Coordinator at 130thDistrictCourt@co.matagorda.tx.us by the date of the Formal Pre-trial Conference. This document should be exactly as it would be presented to a jury without signature blocks.

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

The discovery-dispute letter must use 12-point font.

A. The party seeking Court intervention must file a letter not to exceed three pages (12 point font) explaining the nature of the dispute and include the date, time, and place of prior out-of-court discovery or scheduling discussion(s) and the name of all counsel/parties participating in the discussion(s).

Checked against the court's document on Oct 5, 2026WARNING

The responding party’s discovery response must use 12-point font.

E. The responding/non-movant party will have an opportunity to e-mail a two page (12 point font) response, along with their updates to the Movant's "130th District Court Discovery Template.xls," detailing whether the objections will be removed or if the requested item is within the care, custody, and control of the non-movant. This information should be added into the spreadsheet under "Non-Movant."

Not confirmed. Read the court's wording below.CRITICAL?

Civil cases

Format

PDF

Documents: PDF

Summary: Exhibit documents must be submitted in PDF format.

Not confirmed. Read the court's wording below.CRITICAL?

Civil cases

Video files may not exceed 5GB.

Summary: Video files may not exceed 5 GB.

Not confirmed. Read the court's wording below.CRITICAL?

Civil cases

If it does not have any of those extensions, the sponsoring party shall convert it.

Summary: Media without one of the court’s valid extensions must be converted by the sponsoring party.

Not confirmed. Read the court's wording below.INFO?

Civil cases

If an exhibit has any of those extensions, the sponsoring party does not have to convert it to a .mp3 or .mp4 file.

Summary: Media already using one of the court’s valid extensions does not have to be converted to .mp3 or .mp4.

Not confirmed. Read the court's wording below.INFO?

Civil cases

Physical evidence may be submitted via a photograph.

Summary: Physical evidence may be submitted by photograph.