366th District Court — Civil, Family & Criminal Policies (Hon. Tom Nowak) · BenchPath

366th District Court — Civil, Family & Criminal Policies (Hon. Tom Nowak)

High confidence· verified August 28, 2026Judge Preferences366th District Court, Civil Case Policies (as of March 2023) and Information Related to Criminal Cases (eff. Jan. 31, 2021) (TOPICs reg. docs 1300, 1299, 1292)

Summary

The 366th District Court's policies (Hon. Tom Nowak): the civil/family case policies (proof-of-notice requirement, advance security requests, docket check-in, the fixed hearing/trial time limits — temporary orders 20 minutes per side, full-day bench trial 2.5 hours per side, 3-day jury trial 6 hours per side, bench trials without a scheduling order capped at 1 hour per side — the email-coordinator setting process with the form scheduling order, and the Wednesday-before-trial ready announcement and pre-trial deadlines) and the criminal case policies (three settings before final announcement, the 4-week-maximum interval, mandatory 9:00 a.m. appearance with limited waivers, the court's pass-slip form, and disposition after final announcement).

Applies to

Texas > Collin County > 366th District Court (Hon. Tom Nowak) — the court's civil/family and criminal policies; companion 366th instruments: the Jury and Bench Trial Discovery Control Plan/Scheduling Order forms, the courtroom decorum order, the remote-hearing rules (COVID-era), and the bond-reinstatement/nisi explainer

Source of truth

Official source: TOPICs — Texas local rules registry (topics.txcourts.gov)
Source health: Healthy · checked August 25, 2026
Effective date: March 1, 2023
Last verified: August 28, 2026benchpath-tx-ajr1-collin-2026-08-28

Reviewer note: Operative provisions composed verbatim from the registered documents (text layers); the bench (Tom Nowak) matches the OCA roster (tx-tomasz-nowak); the 366th courtroom decorum order (doc 1292) is folded in; the remote-hearing rules (doc 1297) are COVID-era and recorded separately, the bond-nisi checklist (doc 1298) and welcome letter (doc 1296) are informational records; the court's scheduling-order and pass-slip forms (docs 1293–1295) are forms; custody sha256s in the registry ledger (docs 1300, 1299, 1292).