431st District Court (Denton County) — Trial Docket Guidelines… — TX · BenchPath

431st District Court (Denton County) — Trial Docket Guidelines: Announcement Procedures (Jan. 13, 2025; written Ready/Not Ready 5–15 days before trial or claims dismissed; pretrial matters and continuances by the Friday before; proposed charge, witness and exhibit lists by the Friday before; settlement orders within 30 days)

High confidence· verified September 6, 2026Case Management431st District Court — Denton County, Texas, Trial Docket Guidelines, Re: Announcement Procedures (Judge Jim Johnson, Jan. 13, 2025) — posted as 'Jury Trial Guidelines' on the court's page

Summary

Judge Jim Johnson's memorandum to all parties with cases set on the 431st District Court jury docket (Jan. 13, 2025): each attorney and self-represented party submits a written announcement of Ready or Not Ready to the court administrator not less than five nor more than fifteen days before trial, and a party who does not announce at least five days out has its affirmative claims or defenses dismissed with prejudice, costs taxed at the court's discretion; no agreed passes or continuances except as the Denton County local rules permit, and a motion for continuance must be heard by the Friday before trial; short pretrial matters at 8:30 a.m. the morning of trial, lengthy ones by the Friday before; the proposed charge (Word format, in the exact form for the jury, following the TRCP and the Pattern Jury Charges) and the witness and exhibit lists are due to the administrator and court reporter respectively by the Friday before trial; on settlement the administrator is notified promptly and a final judgment, decree or nonsuit must be entered within 30 days of the trial date or the case is dismissed for want of prosecution; backup cases are not released until the administrator's notice on the Monday of trial.

Applies to

Texas > Denton County > 431st District Court — all parties with cases set on the jury docket.

Source of truth

"1. Each attorney and pro se party must submit a written announcement of 'Ready' or 'Not Ready' to the Court Administrator at chrissy.kirkpatrick@dentoncounty.gov not less than five (5) nor more than fifteen (15) days prior to trial. 2. If a party does not submit a written announcement of 'Ready' or 'Not Ready' at least five (5) days prior to trial, the Court will dismiss that party's affirmative

Official source: Denton County District Courts — dentoncounty.gov (county site tree)
Source health: Healthy · checked September 9, 2026
Effective date: January 13, 2025
Last verified: September 6, 2026benchpath-tx-ajr8-denton-ownsite-2026-09-06

Reviewer note: Own-site document (text layer, 1 p, 2,121 chars) read in full 2026-09-06; quoted verbatim; dated Jan. 13, 2025 and signed by Judge Jim Johnson. Composed benchpath-ajr8-denton (own-site lane).