Ector County Courts at Law Policy Change on Motions for… — TX · BenchPath

Ector County Courts at Law Policy Change on Motions for Continuance

High confidence· verified September 25, 2026Case ManagementEctor County Courts at Law Policy Change on Motions for Continuance, Ector County, Texas; posted on the Ector County website (https://www.ectorcountytx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/234/Policy-Change-on-Motion-for-Continuances-PDF), fetched 2026-09-24.

Summary

Notice of the Ector County Courts at Law on motions for continuance: the heading must state which numbered continuance it is (the county clerk rejects unnumbered ones); each must give a clear reason or it is denied; and, except in verifiable emergencies, each must be e-filed before the docket call it concerns, or it is denied and the case treated as a non-appearance.

Applies to

Texas > Seventh Administrative Judicial Region > Ector County > County Court at Law, County Court at Law No. 2.

Requirement

TO ALL ATTORNEYS WHO PRACTICE IN THE ECTOR COUNTY COURTS AT LAW: There has recently been an extreme increase in bland, generic continuances being filed with our courts. Most of these are form continuances which are filed with complete disregard to how many have been filed in a particular case, and referencing the same "copy and paste" reasons needed for the continuance as the case's previous continuances, or, in some cases, no real reason given at all. Furthermore, many of these are not being filed until the day of the hearing to which they apply, with some even being submitted AFTER the hearing has already passed. Thus, in an effort to make all attorneys aware of exactly how many continuances they have filed in their cases, to make them more cognizant of submitting timely filings, and to encourage thoughtful articulation of valid reasons for the motion, the Ector County Courts at Law are making the following changes with respect to the filing of these continuances: 1.) The Courts will now require that all motions for continuance MUST include, in the Motion heading, the number with regard to which continuance is being filed in each respective case, regardless of whether the continuance is agreed to or not. (ex.: "Defendant's Third Motion For Continuance"; "State's Fourth Agreed Motion for Continuance", "Defendant's First Motion for Continuance", etc.). We are instructing the County Clerk's office to reject the filing of any continuances in the Courts at Law that are not numbered in this manner. 2.) All continuances must state a clear, concise explanation of the need for each continuance. Failure to do so will result in an automatic denial of the motion. 3.) All Continuances (except in cases of a VERIFIABLE emergency) must be filed with the Courts (via the Ector County E-file system) PRIOR to the docket call for which that motion is applicable. Any continuances filed in violation of this rule will be denied, and the case will be treated as a "non-appearance" at the hearing. Thank you. Christopher M. Clark Presiding Judge, Ector County Court at Law #2 300 N. Grant Ave., Room 235 Odessa TX 79761 Telephone: (432) 498-4120 Fax: (432) 498-4121 Brooke D. Hendricks Presiding Judge, Ector County Court at Law Ector County Courthouse 300 N. Grant, Room 234 Odessa, Texas 79761 Office: (432) 498-4110 Fax: (432) 498-4112

Source of truth

TO ALL ATTORNEYS WHO PRACTICE IN THE ECTOR COUNTY COURTS AT LAW: There has recently been an extreme increase in bland, generic continuances being filed with our courts. Most of these are form continuances which are filed with complete disregard to how many have been filed in a particular case, and referencing the same "copy and paste" reasons needed for the continuance as the case's previous cont

Official source: Ector County Courts - www.ectorcountytx.gov (county website; District Court Judges, district court, County Courts at Law, Probate Department, District Clerk and Justice of the Peace pages)
Source health: Healthy
Effective date: —
Last verified: September 25, 2026benchpath-tx-ajr7-p4-2026-09-25

Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-25 (AJR-7 Seventh Region build, own-site layer) from BenchPath custody ajr7 corpus sources/documents/fa8c51a4b9c77933-policy-change-on-motion-for-continuances-pdf.pdf (64,667 bytes, sha256 fa8c51a4b9c77933d2d7afabf68d8b5d70a19fa208c978c1b4d20c988e94a072; 1 page(s)) - the document the Ector County website posts (https://www.ectorcountytx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/234/Policy-Change-on-Motion-for-Continuances-PDF), not registered with the Office of Court Administration's TOPICs registry as of 2026-09-25: the digital text layer of the file, read against every rendered page and corrected by eye (paragraphs, list structure, signature blocks, fill-ins); signature, seal and file-stamp blocks bracketed. Signed: Brooke D. Hendricks and Christopher M. Clark, Presiding Judges (undated).