Travis County Civil District Courts Document Format Requirements
25 rules from official source documents
Font, margin, spacing, and file format requirements for court filings. This page is scoped to Travis County Civil District Courts; use the court rules overview to switch categories without leaving this court.
Orders setting a case that are presented for a judge's signature must be on a separate page and must not be combined with a pleading.
Any show cause or other order setting a case presented for signature to a judge must be on a separate page and not combined with a pleading.
If a spreadsheet is used instead of the Proposed Property Division form, an editable electronic copy must be provided to the court at the beginning of trial.
If a spreadsheet is used in lieu of the Proposed Property Division form, then a copy of such spreadsheet must be provided to the court in an editable electronic format at the beginning of the trial.
Orders to Appear before answer day must be on a separate page.
Orders to Appear before answer day must be on a separate page and must contain the language in the form posted on the Travis County Civil District Courts’ website.
Orders setting cases may be presented to a judge for signature only when a show cause order or a rule of law requires it, must appear on a separate page not combined with a pleading, and do not substitute for making the setting with the Court Administrator's office.
Judges must not be requested to sign orders setting cases except when a show cause order is necessary, or when some rule of law requires that an order for a setting be signed by a judge. Any show cause or other order setting a case presented for signature to a judge must be on a separate page and not combined with a pleading. Even if a judge signs such an order, the setting must be made with the Court Administrator's office.
A draft order must not be typed on the same page as a pleading, motion, certificate of service, or any part thereof.
A draft of an order must not be typed on the same page with a pleading, motion, certificate of service, or any part thereof
The judge's signature line on proposed orders must be on a page with other text, not on a separate page.
The signature line for the judge to sign proposed orders must not be on a separate page, but must be on a page with other text.
The word "entered" must not be used to show the date on which a judgment, decree, or order is signed.
The word "entered" must not be used to show the date on which a judgment, decree, or order is signed.
A party using a spreadsheet instead of the Proposed Property Division form must provide a copy to the court in editable electronic format at the beginning of trial.
If a spreadsheet is used in lieu of the Proposed Property Division form, then a copy of such spreadsheet must be provided to the court in an editable electronic format at the beginning of the trial.
Orders to Appear filed before answer day must be placed on a separate page.
Orders to Appear before answer day must be on a separate page
Both the movant and nonmovant must email a draft proposed order in Word and PDF formats to 250.submission@traviscountytx.gov.
Both the movant and nonmovant must send a draft proposed order in Word and PDF formats to 250.submission@traviscountytx.gov.
- Format
Each exhibit must be uploaded as a separate PDF; multiple exhibits may not be combined into a single PDF.
Each exhibit must be uploaded as a separate PDF. Do not combine multiple exhibits into a single PDF;
- Format
- DOCX
If a matter is taken under advisement, a proposed order in Word format must be emailed to the Staff Attorney.
If the matter is taken under advisement, email a proposed order in Word format to the Staff Attorney.
- Format
Each exhibit must be uploaded as a separate, text-searchable PDF; exhibits may not be combined into one PDF and Word/Excel files must be converted to PDF.
2) Each exhibit must be uploaded as a separate text-searchable PDF file. Do not combine multiple exhibits into a single PDF. Word and Excel documents must be converted to PDF.
Exhibit files may not be password-protected, encrypted, or protected by rights management.
The computer file must not be password-protected, encrypted, or protected by rights management.
Exhibits offered in court must be numbered with numerals only; no letters, hyphens, or dots may be added to exhibit numbers.
4) Exhibits must be marked with numerals, not letters. While A, B, C is often used for exhibits attached to pleadings, numerals must be used for exhibits offered in court. No letters, hyphens, or dots should be added to the exhibit numbers.
Exhibit file names must use three-digit exhibit numbers with the party designation (e.g., P-001, D-100), switching to four-digit numbering for all exhibits if numbers will exceed 999.
6) Each exhibit file name must be a three-digit exhibit number to keep exhibits in proper order within Box (i.e., P-001, P-010, P-100, D-001, D-010, D-100). If you anticipate exhibit numbers to go beyond 999, use four-digit numbering for all exhibits, i.e., P-0001, P-0010, P-0100, P-1000.
Lawyers must use the Court's jury charge and Exhibit List templates, which are provided once a case is assigned to the 459th District Court.
Lawyers must use the Court's jury charge and Exhibit List templates which will be provided once your case has been assigned to the 459th District Court.
A party may object to an Associate Judge hearing any trial on the merits, and the objection must be in writing.
A party may file an objection to the assignment of an Associate Judge to hear any trial on the merits. A trial on the merits is any trial in which a party seeks a final adjudication from which an appeal may be taken to a court of appeals. The objection must be in writing.
A party may move to have a matter heard by a District Judge instead of an Associate Judge, and the motion must be in writing.
A party may file a motion to have any other matter heard originally before a District Judge instead of an Associate Judge. The motion must be in writing and
Pages within each pre-marked exhibit should be separately numbered so the Court can quickly locate specific pages.
The pages of each pre-marked exhibit should be separately numbered so that the Court can quickly locate specific pages of each exhibit.
- Format
- DOCX
Proposed jury questions and instructions must be submitted in Word format with supporting citations and without boilerplate provisions.
Submit in Word proposed jury questions and instructions, with supporting cites to cases, statutes, and the PJC, at the pretrial conference or on or before the first day of trial, by uploading them to Box and/or by email to the Staff Attorney. Do not include boiler plate provisions; the Court will add those.
Scanned exhibits must be verified as searchable using OCR before uploading to Box.
Prior to uploading, make sure that any scanned documents are searchable using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool.
Audio (.mp3) and video (.mp4) files may be uploaded to Box, but each file is limited to 10GB.
7) Audio files (.mp3) and video files (.mp4) may be uploaded to Box, but each audio/video file may not exceed 10GB.
Trial exhibits must be pre-marked with a party abbreviation and number (e.g., P-1, D-2, R-3).
Pre-marked with party abbreviation and number (e.g., P-1, D-2, R-3)
Documents provided to the Court must be indexed, uploaded to Box, and, if paper copies are used, placed in binders with a copy of the index provided to opposing counsel.
Documents provided to the Court should be indexed and uploaded to Box and, if paper copies are used, placed in binders (with a copy of the index provided to opposing counsel)
What formatting rules apply to filings in Travis County Civil District Courts?
Travis County Civil District Courts' formatting rule includes file format PDF, one exhibit per pdf, and do not combine multiple exhibits into a single pdf. Each exhibit must be uploaded as a separate PDF; multiple exhibits may not be combined into a single PDF.
Related categories
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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.
Filing Timing and Cure Windows
Filing cutoffs, deemed-filed rules, rejection handling, cure periods, and outage procedures.