Fourth Administrative Judicial Region
Verified judges, local rules, standing orders, and controlling division-assignment orders for Aransas County, Atascosa County, Bee County, Bexar County, Calhoun County, DeWitt County, Dimmit County, Frio County, Goliad County, Jackson County, Karnes County, La Salle County, Live Oak County, Maverick County, McMullen County, Refugio County, San Patricio County, Victoria County, Webb County, Wilson County, Zapata County, Zavala County — every entry cites its official source with a last-verified date.
Official site: https://www.txcourts.gov/4ajr/
196
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326
published rules
22
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assignment orders
Rules by category
- Standing Orders119
- Local Rules49
- Divisional Instructions31
- Administrative Orders30
- Case Management27
- Self-Represented Litigants18
- Judge Preferences15
- E-Filing9
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Source health (19 registered)
Counties in this circuit
Bench (196 judicial officers)
District judges
County-level judges
Justices of the peace
Associate judges, masters & magistrates
Titles shown as district judges, county-level judges (constitutional county courts, statutory county courts at law, probate courts), justices of the peace, and associate judges or masters per the Office of Court Administration roster and each court's own pages.
Recently verified rules
Search all rules →Instructions to Pro Se Litigants in Divorce Cases (24th, 135th, 267th and 377th District Courts; Victoria County; signed 2025, filed August 7, 2025)
The district judges' 2025 instructions to self-represented divorce litigants in Victoria County: pleadings and decrees must be neat, fully completed one-sided 8½×11 forms with inapplicable provisions removed; vehicles and real estate must be described by identifier and legal description; decrees with children must provide conservatorship, a possession schedule, health insurance and guideline child support (which cannot be waived without the Court's rare approval), with certified copies of any prior paternity or possession orders presented at the final hearing; the completed final decree must be submitted when the docket is called; settings are obtained from the court coordinator only after service and the answer date (or an answer or waiver) — the Court never sets cases on its own and unfinished cases go to the dismissal docket; the District Clerk gives a copy to every pro se filer. Court staff cannot give legal advice.
JP2 Standing Orders — compilation of the standing orders of the Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2, Aransas County (compliance dismissals, amendment and refiling, bonds, community service, records corrections, court settings, deferred disposition, discovery, driving safety course, extensions, fines, indigent hearings, jail credit, juveniles, payment plans, recording, jury summons, records, theft, warrants, fine reductions; signed January 1, 2023)
The Precinct 2 justice court's 46-page book of standing orders, each signed January 1, 2023 by Judge Diana McGinnis: the State's standing motion for compliance dismissals (child seats, defective equipment, disabled placards, license restrictions, driving safety, expired registration and licenses, address changes, failure to display, insurance, tobacco, no license, rabies tags, parking, window tint, plates and insignia, duplicates, clerical amendments, ten-year-old cases); amendment versus refiling of complaints; surety, personal, attorney and cash bonds, surrenders, forfeitures and release before magistration; community service at $150 per eight hours; corrections of names and dates of birth; court settings, pleas, bonds, continuances (one per party as of right, written three days out), attorney vacation letters, motions to withdraw and substitute, out-of-town defendants, ex parte contact and show-cause notices; deferred disposition eligibility, fees ($334 moving, $310 non-moving), mandatory-show offenses and compliance; Article 39.14 discovery; the driving safety course ($144, three months); extensions; window fines and payment methods; indigency documentation; jail credit at $150 a day; juvenile procedures; 30-day and limited-time payment plans with a $15 time-payment fee; no photography or recording; jury-summons exemptions; records requests; theft restitution; warrant handling; and $100 fine reductions on proof of insurance or a license.
Administrative Order — Procedure for Obtaining Probate/Guardianship Hearings in Victoria County Courts at Law No. 1 and No. 2 (signed November 14, 2024)
To obtain a probate or guardianship hearing in the Victoria County Courts at Law: get the probate docket schedule from the Court Coordinator, e-file an Order Setting Hearing (specific to the application or motion, with current contact information for all parties, and e-mail addresses for any Zoom participant), Zoom only for uncontested matters, special settings for hearings over thirty minutes, the signed order serves as the only notice of hearing, and cancellations require Court approval with a signed agreement of all parties in contested matters.
Rules of Administration of the Justice Courts of Victoria County (adopted December 29, 2011 under Gov't Code § 27.061; effective January 1, 2012)
The six rules of administration adopted by a majority of Victoria County's justices of the peace under Government Code § 27.061: the nearest justice temporarily serves a vacant or absent precinct; justices may exchange benches or hear each other's cases on request without an order; any justice may sign citations, warrants, writs and process for an absent justice; the rules are kept at each office and posted on the county website; effective January 1, 2012; amendable by majority vote.
County Court at Law No. 2 — Court Rules for Remote Hearings (Zoom; Victoria County)
Victoria County Court at Law No. 2 conducts hearings by Zoom when the parties have the technology: the court reporter or coordinator e-mails the link; telephone-only participants must coordinate with the court reporter the day before; e-mail addresses must reach the reporter and coordinator by 4 p.m. the day before; the court reporter hosts every hearing; proceedings stream publicly on YouTube and recording is strictly prohibited.
Civil and Probate E-Filing Requirements — Victoria County Courts at Law (County Clerk requirements under the Supreme Court e-filing mandate; updated October 26, 2016)
Requirements for e-filing civil and probate documents in the Victoria County Courts at Law (mandatory since July 1, 2015): text-searchable, unlocked PDFs with complete signature-block contact information, 8.5×11 pages, 14-point minimum font, bookmarked exhibits, a cover letter and civil case information sheet with each new-case envelope, every pleading, notice of hearing and proposed order filed as its own lead document (orders under the "Proposed Order" code), accurate party data in the portal, the closest filing code with a description, fee codes matched to the document, the occupational-license filing sequence, and the grounds on which filings are rejected or returned for correction.
A.I. Certification required on all pleadings — Civil District Courts Local Rule 4.O.1 and the 225th District Court's Artificial Intelligence Certification (Bexar County; effective July 1, 2026)
All pleadings in the Bexar County civil district courts must include a certificate, on the form approved by the Civil District Court Judges and posted on the Presiding Court website, signed by counsel or the self-represented litigant, attesting (a) that all drafted language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analyses produced by generative A.I. will be verified before submission by counsel licensed in Texas (or admitted to appear) or the self-represented litigant as accurate through traditional, non-A.I. legal sources, and (b) that the signer understands they are responsible for any failure to comply. The 225th District Court's own procedures repeat the requirement for pleadings filed in that court.
285th District Court Local Rules and Court Procedures (Bexar County; effective July 1, 2026)
Random assignment by the District Clerk with cases staying in the 285th unless officially transferred (by agreed order with the receiving judge's consent, recusal, or consolidation in the court of the first-filed case); all settings coordinated through the court clerk, with a Notice of Setting stating the matter, contact details, date, hour and time announcement; a certificate of conference detailing efforts to resolve the dispute before any contested motion (dispositive motions, motions for new trial and ex parte matters excepted); temporary orders reduced to writing within 10 days and final judgments within 30 days or the case may be set or placed on the dismissal docket; summary judgments considered on submission with a hearing at the court's discretion and proposed granting and denying orders with each motion and response; agreed orders e-filed for staff-attorney review; unopposed orders lacking a signature presented at the morning docket; mediation of all contested issues before any jury trial with parties and settlement-authority agents attending; DWOP procedure; emergency matters through the clerk; the court honors all trials set through Monitoring Court for 2026, requires a docket control order, and passes settings only by announced settlement, agreed dismissal with court approval, or a granted continuance.
225th District Court Local Rules and Procedures (Bexar County; effective July 1, 2026)
Cases filed in the 225th stay there through disposition; counsel must confer (at least three legitimate attempts on non-emergency issues) before requesting a hearing; total time announcements; a docket control order within 45 days of the petition with trial within 18/12/6 months (civil jury/nonjury/family), amended agreed DCOs signable without a hearing if within those limits; hearings requested by e-mail to 225settings@bexar.org (under three hours: confirmed once all counsel reply; three hours or more: a brief Zoom or in-person conference, then confirmation the Thursday of the week before or the setting may be dropped); jury and multi-day bench trials set from the court's website with a docket call about three weeks out; motions for summary judgment set for submission 45 days from filing, hearing requests within 10 days; orders by submission with e-filing comments (staff-attorney review for substituted service, defaults and no-record relief); a DWOP docket the fourth Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.; emergency relief presented by calling (210) 335-2233 with notice to the other side; page numbers and complete signature blocks; the artificial-intelligence certification on all pleadings; ADA accommodations through Civil District Court Administration at (210) 335-2300.
Second Amended Administrative Order Regarding Notice Requirements for an Application to Probate a Copy of a Lost Will or a Lost Will Without a Copy (Aransas County Court at Law; signed June 21, 2023)
When a lost will or codicil is offered for probate, the court appoints an attorney ad litem for unknown or disabled heirs whenever a full or partial intestacy would otherwise result (not when a valid original codicil republished the lost will), the applicant deposits ad litem funds and supplies copies for the ad litem, the clerk attaches the court's Notice of Application to every § 258.002 citation, every devisee and every heir (or, for a lost codicil, the original will's beneficiaries) is personally served or signs an affidavit waiving citation, and a waiver affidavit must itself recite all the points of the notice; the court's sample affidavit is preferred but not mandatory.
Rules of Court of the Aransas County Court at Law (effective June 21, 2023; approved by the Presiding Judge of the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region June 22, 2023)
The County Court at Law's local rules: judicial vacation and a published calendar; civil time standards, settings through the Court Manager, telephone docket-control conferences and the consequences of missing one, ex parte relief, six-month dismissal and suspense dockets, pre-trial exchange of motions, witness and exhibit lists seven days out, submission or hearing of preliminary matters, severance, default judgments, summary judgments by submission with courtesy copies, ADR referrals, discovery motions with a certificate of conference, settlements and interpreters; the lost-will administrative order (Exhibit A); the five-county family standing order and parent-education course (Exhibits B and C), pre-trial conferral, income withholding, the VS-165 form, sworn inventories and proposed property divisions five days before trial, and district-court cases (Exhibit D); criminal arraignment within 20 days with a waiver form, the pre-trial hearing and plea deadline four weeks later, indigent appointments, personal appearance, interpreter requests 48 hours out, and no felony matters without two-thirds concurrence of the district judges; preferential settings, continuances ten days out with a reset in the order, conflicting engagements, readiness, juries at 9:00 a.m. Monday, agreed charges five days out; bailiff duties; attorney vacations (30 days a year) and withdrawal; decorum, dress code, electronics and security; ad litem appointments and orders within seven days; no recording without approval.
Policies and Procedures for the Judge of Aransas County Court at Law's Actions on Cases Pending in District Court in Aransas County (agreed by the 36th, 156th and 343rd District Judges and the County Court at Law Judge, February 6–9, 2015)
The County Court at Law acts in district-court cases only as these policies allow: no criminal arraignments, pre-trials or guilty pleas without written concurrence of two-thirds of the district judges presiding in Aransas County; family matters may be filed in either court (the District Clerk informs filers), the County Court at Law judge may sign status-quo TROs in original petitions but respondents', modification, protective-order, habeas and other non-status-quo TROs go to the district judges unless that judge approves, Rule 103 service authorizations are permitted and Rule 106 substituted service needs the district judge's approval; district judges may assign family cases temporarily or permanently with the County Court at Law judge's consent (the clerk carries permanently assigned cases on a special docket); CPS removal cases are filed in the court whose judge authorized the removal; IV-D master appeals go to the County Court at Law judge on the special docket; and incoming transferred family cases are docketed in the County Court at Law.