Michael G. Dickens

477th District Court (Denton County) — Practice Tips of Judge Michael Dickens (e-mail the administrator; full names, not initials; hearings set by e-mail after conferring; temporary hearings 30 minutes per side; docket call Fridays 8:30 a.m.; prove-ups by submission; mandatory mediation with DCAP exhibits attached; entry docket Fridays 1:30 p.m.)

Judge Michael Dickens's practice tips for the 477th District Court: e-mail is the preferred and, for hearing dates, cancellations and settlement announcements, the required mode of communicating with the court administrator, and no one contacts the judge unless directed; parties' and children's full names, not initials, in the style and body of pleadings (Family Code); Monday–Wednesday mornings for jury trials and long hearings, Thursdays and Fridays for hearings of an hour or less; hearings are set by e-mailing the administrator, conferring with the other side on the offered dates without the administrator copied, then confirming and e-filing a notice of hearing; temporary hearings limited to 30 minutes per side absent special circumstances raised at the start; docket call on a Friday at 8:30 a.m. about ten days before full-day or jury trials or pro se enforcement motions; divorce prove-ups accepted by submission with all signatures on the decree and a prove-up affidavit on file, or in person by appointment; conferencing on dates is required in ongoing cases, availability defined, and failure to confer may forfeit the hearing; mediation is mandatory before final hearing, not mediating does not continue the trial, fees may be assessed for forcing a motion for mediation, DCAP orders must attach each party's completed exhibits or are rejected, and the outcome letter places settled cases on the entry docket; the entry docket (about twice monthly, Fridays 1:30 p.m.) is a built-in motion to enter, not a dismissal docket, and counsel must attend if the order is not entered first.