Travis County Civil District Courts Filing Rules
Official filing rules, court-wide sources, and procedure resources for Travis County Civil District Courts
For Travis County Civil District Courts filings, start with the official local rules and court-level instructions. Then confirm any division, department, clerk, or assigned-officer procedure that applies to the case.
- Court-level rules
Chapter 10 (administrative agency review) cases are excluded from referral to mediation under Chapter 13.
- Judge Jan Soifer
The first page of each exhibit must be pre-marked with the exhibit number.
- Judge Cory Liu
To remove an MSJ setting, a party must file a Notice of Withdrawal that includes the date the original MSJ was filed and the date of the original setting.
- Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel
The first page of each exhibit must be marked with the party designation and exhibit number matching the PDF file name.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble
Documents provided to the Court should include operative pleadings (if pertinent to the hearing), motions, responses, and replies with their exhibits, and controlling case law with pertinent passages highlighted.
- Court-level rules
Documents intended for a judge that are delivered by email must be sent to the judge's submission email address or the judge's staff, not to the judge directly.
- Judge Cory Liu
Excessively emailing chambers (e.g., to chase a pending hearing request) will likely cause the Court to deprioritize the party's case.
- Judge Jan Soifer
Technical assistance with Box is available from Courts-Help by email or phone.
- Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel
Technical assistance with Box is available from Courts-Help by email at courts-help@traviscountytx.gov.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble
Court staff may not be contacted to set hearings or trials or to make docket announcements for Central Docket matters; the Local Rules govern those procedures.
- Court-level rules
The court does not send setting notices; the party obtaining the setting must notify all parties of the time, date, and total hearing time as required by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Rule 1.4.
- Judge Jan Soifer
Judges do not set hearings or send notices, so lawyers and self-represented litigants must set matters with the Court Administrator, specify the time needed, provide all parties with notice of hearings or trials, and make proper announcements, failing which the hearing or trial may be passed by the Court.
- Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel
Exhibits cannot be downloaded from Box, so parties must exchange exhibits with each other on their own prior to any hearing or trial.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble
Trial exhibits must be exchanged with opposing counsel prior to trial.
- Court-level rules
A party may not request a setting unless the motion with required certifications is already filed or is filed no later than 24 hours after obtaining the setting.
- Judge Jan Soifer
For cases assigned shortly before a hearing, the Court will be flexible in allowing time for electronic exhibits to be uploaded to Box.
- Judge Cory Liu
Responses to MSJ motions must be filed within 21 days after the motion is filed, and failure to respond is taken as a representation of no opposition.
- Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel
Exhibits must be uploaded to Box at least 24 hours before a hearing or trial.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble
Proposed jury questions and instructions are due at the pretrial conference or on or before the first day of trial.
- Court-level rules
Documents provided to a judge for action (e.g., motions) must first be filed with the District Clerk, and then a copy provided to the judge's staff; providing documents to a judge does not file them.
- Judge Cory Liu
Hearing requests, jury trial requests, and readiness announcements must be submitted through the 250th District Court's website web forms; the Court, not the parties, schedules cases.
- Judge Laurie Eiserloh
Exhibits must be submitted only via Box and not through any other channel.
- Judge Jan Soifer
The Court strongly prefers that exhibits be provided electronically, and electronic exhibits become the official exhibits once admitted.
- Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel
Uploading an exhibit to Box is not an offer into evidence; unoffered exhibits will be deleted from the record, and exhibits not intended for evidence need not be uploaded.
- Court-level rules
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.
- Judge Jan Soifer
Each exhibit must be uploaded as a separate PDF; multiple exhibits may not be combined into a single PDF.
- Judge Cory Liu
Both the movant and nonmovant must email a draft proposed order in Word and PDF formats to 250.submission@traviscountytx.gov.
- Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel
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.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble
Trial exhibits must be pre-marked with a party abbreviation and number (e.g., P-1, D-2, R-3).
- Court-level rules
A party who needs to bring a document to a judge's attention must deliver a courtesy copy of the file-marked document to the judge's staff rather than simply filing it.
- Judge Laurie Eiserloh
Counsel are encouraged to bring a paper copy of their proposed order to the hearing for the Judge's signature.
- Judge Jan Soifer
A courtesy copy of the file-marked document must be delivered to the judge's staff when a document must be brought to a judge's attention.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble
If paper exhibits are used alongside electronic upload, at least one courtesy paper copy of any documents the party wants the Court to review must be brought.
- Court-level rules
Before asking a particular judge to accept assignment of a case, all parties must previously confer and agree to jointly make the request.
- Judge Laurie Eiserloh
Attorneys are strongly encouraged (but not required) to confer by phone or in person before hearings on non-dispositive issues, especially discovery disputes.
- Judge Jan Soifer
Certain agreed and uncontested matters may be heard at the times and days posted on the Travis County District Courts' website.
- Judge Cory Liu
All filed MSJ motions are automatically set for hearing by submission on the Travis County Standing Order dates, with oral argument only if a party requests it and the Court wishes to schedule it.
- Court-level rules
Matters that the court determines cannot reasonably be heard within the announced time will be rescheduled at the court's discretion.
- Judge Cory Liu
A responding party seeking an extension of time to respond to an MSJ must file a motion requesting the extension and title it to state whether it is unopposed, agreed to, or opposed.