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The county-wide Court Rules of Administration adopted by unanimous vote of the Ellis County district and statutory county court judges (signed Oct. 7, 2025; effective Dec. 1, 2025; superseding the Nov. 15, 2022 edition): the complete docket-assignment map for the 40th, 378th, 443rd, and 504th District Courts and County Courts at Law Nos. 1–3 — which court takes civil, family, juvenile, felony, misdemeanor, probate, mental-health, appeal, occupational-license, expunction, and warrant work — plus the bench-exchange, transfer, and recusal mechanics that route Motions to Recuse to the Presiding Judge of the First Administrative Judicial Region, and the rule that all family-law and juvenile cases are filed with the District Clerk.
Texas > Ellis County > the 40th, 378th, 443rd, and 504th District Courts and County Courts at Law Nos. 1–3 (the constitutional County Court and JP courts are not signatories; JP/municipal appeals routing is covered by the CCL sections). Signed Oct. 7, 2025 by Judges Bob Carroll (40th), William Wallace (378th), Grace Pandithurai (443rd), Jim Chapman (CCL 1), Gene Calvert (CCL 2), and Joe Gallo (CCL 3); the 504th's signature block reads "Position Vacant" (Judge Greg Wilhelm took the bench after signing), and Judge Calvert's signature carries a handwritten "#OBJECTION TO II.e" (the 378th associate-judge provision).
ADOPTION AND SUPERSESSION: adopted "by unanimous vote" effective December 1, 2025, "which shall supersede any previous local rules including the Court Rules of Administration dated November 15, 2022." Where courts have concurrent jurisdiction, by mutual consent the judges may "(i) exchange cases and benches without the necessity of a transfer order… (ii) transfer cases by formal transfer order; and (iii) substitute assignments as allowed by law." I. 40TH DISTRICT COURT: all civil cases filed with the District Clerk not otherwise specifically assigned; all ad valorem/personal-property tax delinquencies; Chapter 59 asset seizures/forfeitures; judgment nisi and bail-bond collections from felony cases pending in the 443rd and 504th; Bail Bond Board suits; felony criminal cases only on conflict/recusal of both the 443rd and 504th judges or by requested assignment; adult CSCD duties; Local Administrative District Court Judge duties and Indigent Defense Committee service when serving as LAJ; ARB trial de novo appeals; delayed birth certificates (Health & Safety Code § 192.027); library/board appointments, Auditor and court-reporter compensation duties (with the other district judges); Ellis County Juvenile Board membership. II. 378TH DISTRICT COURT: all divorce cases (including child support, conservatorship, possession/access, property division, protective orders); suits affecting the parent-child relationship; adoptions except those resulting from CPS cases; name changes; appointment and supervision of the Associate Judge; all juvenile cases and hearings (detention hearings, determinate sentences, certification hearings, directives to apprehend, criminal trials of certified juveniles); Family Code § 2.204 72-hour marriage-waiting-period waivers; all family-violence protective orders; abortion notification cases; Judicial Warrant Officer duties (TCCP Chapters 18, 18A, 18B — ping, geo-fencing, and stored-customer-data warrants, handled remotely where possible); Veterans Treatment Court; Juvenile Board. III. 443RD DISTRICT COURT and IV. 504TH DISTRICT COURT (parallel): each approximately one-half of all felony criminal cases and one-half of all felony writs and pre-indictment motions — "the Judges of the 443rd and 504th District Courts shall jointly agree upon and specify in writing to the Ellis County District Clerk how to divide up and equalize all pending and future-filed felony criminal cases," considering eleven enumerated factors including "minimizing the ability of non-judicial personnel from determining which court will preside over particular felony criminal cases" and "minimizing the opportunity for forum shopping." Both serve as primary Judicial Warrant Officers (Chapters 18/18A/18B); grand-jury organization for the January and July terms (443rd) with parallel duties in the 504th; Indigent Defense Plan duties; expunctions and non-disclosures where jurisdiction is mandatory (Chapter 55A expunctions from CCL No. 2 route to the 443rd, from CCL No. 3 to the 504th); occupational driver's license petitions from felony-case suspensions in the respective court; Bail Bond Board membership; Juvenile Board. V. COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 1: all probate cases (except limited prove-ups referred to CCL No. 2), guardianships with annual report review, mental-health cases, all civil cases filed with the County Clerk not otherwise assigned — noting CCL No. 1 "has concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts in civil cases regardless of the amount in controversy"; condemnation cases and pre-suit special commissioner panels; CPS cases including resulting adoptions; APS cases; civil appeals from the JP and municipal courts; juvenile back-up duty; Juvenile Board. VI. COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 2 and VII. COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 3 (parallel): each approximately one-half of misdemeanor criminal cases, misdemeanor writs, and criminal appeals from JP and municipal courts; CSCD and CCL Indigent Defense Plan duties; non-disclosure petitions, interlock petitions, judgment nisi, bond motions; occupational driver's license petitions from misdemeanor suspensions (even-numbered cases to CCL No. 2, odd-numbered to CCL No. 3); Judicial Warrant Officer duties for Chapter 18 warrants except those reserved to district courts; probate prove-up and emergency mental-health back-up (CCL No. 2); juvenile back-up; Juvenile Board. FILING AND TRANSFER: "All family law cases and juvenile cases shall continue to be filed with the Ellis County District Clerk's Office." In accordance with the standing orders of the First Administrative Judicial Region, a court may transfer a case to another court within the county and district with the receiving court's consent when the transferring judge voluntarily recuses and no Motion to Recuse has been filed; "In cases where a Motion to Recuse has been filed, the case shall be forwarded to the Presiding Judge of the First Administrative Judicial Region for action."
Reviewer note: Image-only scan read page-by-page through the vision lane (13 pages); operative provisions quoted verbatim from the rendered pages. Dual custody: the registered TOPICs instrument (sha256 ed25e5117d7c…, 1,351,938 B) and the county's own posting at elliscountytx.gov DocumentCenter/View/3849 (sha256 differs — separate scan of the same signed instrument, anchor "Local Rules Effective December 1, 2025" on the live 40th District Court page). Supersedes TOPICs doc 478 (the Nov. 15, 2022 edition, held as a superseded-edition record) which itself superseded a Jan. 1, 2021 edition. Composed benchpath-ajr1-p6.
Establishes a Traffic Violations Bureau within the Clerk of the County Court under Fla. R. Traf. Ct. 6.100(a) (Burnstein, C.J., Nov. 1, 1988).
Approves the National Highway Safety Council Defensive Driving course as a school to which traffic courts may require attendance (Fla. R. Traf. Ct. 6.110(a)).
Designates the D.W.I. Counterattack School (Broward County Commission on Alcoholism) as an approved school for court-ordered attendance (Fla. R. Traf. Ct. 6.110(a)).