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County Court at Law No. 1 Zoom Policies & Procedures (effective January 4, 2023) — Fort Bend County. The operative requirements are quoted verbatim from the governing document (registered/posted 02/23/2023); the document in custody is the controlling text.
Texas > Fort Bend County > County Court at Law No. 1
VIDEO CONFERENCING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR HEARINGS IN COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 1 OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS (CCL1 ZOOM POLICY AND PROCEDURES) County Court at Law No. 1 of Fort Bend County, Texas has updated its policies and procedures and is conducting certain hearings via video conference through the Zoom application. The following policies and procedures apply to County Court at Law No. 1 and are effective immediately until further order of the Court. County Court at Law No. 1 will conduct certain video conferencing dockets through the Zoom platform. To participate in a Zoom hearing, you must have an electronic device with an internet connection. You must use a smart phone, iPad/tablet, or desktop/laptop computer with a built-in webcam/microphone. It shall be the responsibility of counsel and self-represented parties to download the Zoom app prior to the proceeding and to ensure that all participants have the ability to participate. Zoom is a FREE DOWNLOAD at: https://zoom.us/download. In accordance with the Open Courts Provision of the Texas Constitution, ALL hearings are livestreamed to the Court's YouTube Channel at County Court at Law No. 1's YouTube Channel. HEARINGS THAT CANNOT TAKE PLACE BY VIDEO CONFERENCE: 1. Criminal Plea; 2. Criminal Discovery Compliance Dockets; 3. Criminal Pre-Trial Conference Dockets; 4. Misdemeanor Mental Health Court Docket; 5. Juvenile Dockets; 6. Civil, Criminal and Juvenile Bench/Jury Trials; 7. Document Intensive Civil, Probate, Guardianship or Criminal Hearings; or 8. Hearings with more than two (2) Witnesses. I. STEPS TO OBTAIN A HEARING: A. FOR ALL CIVIL HEARINGS: 1. Request a hearing date and time by contacting the Court Coordinator, Sarah Toler, at sarah.toler@fortbendcountytx.gov. You MUST indicate in your hearing request the following: a. The type of hearing requested; b. Whether an interpreter is necessary and the required language; c. The anticipated length of the entire hearing; and d. The names of all those (attorneys, litigants/defendants, and witnesses) who will be participating in the hearing. If counsel of record will be sending co-counsel, local counsel or an associate to conduct the hearing, you MUST notify the Court of the attorney's name at least two (2) business days prior to the hearing. The Court will not let anyone into the virtual courtroom that is not listed as counsel on the pleadings or in communications with the Court. 2. You will receive a confirmation email from Ms. Toler with the Zoom meeting link. 3. The scheduling party is responsible for noticing other party/parties of the video conference hearing and details for login. Additionally, in all civil matters: a. The Notice of Hearing MUST be e-filed; and b. The Notice shall state: 1. The hearing is taking place by video conference, and 2. MUST contain the Zoom conference details generated by the Court Coordinator. B. FOR PROBATE, GUARDIANSHIP & CIVIL MENTAL HEALTH HEARINGS: 1. Request a hearing date and time by contacting the Probate Auditor, Anita Ayala, at anita.ayala@fortbendcountytx.gov. You MUST indicate in your hearing request the following: a. The type of hearing requested (i.e. uncontested prove up, contested motion, etc.); b. Whether an interpreter is necessary and the required language; c. The anticipated length of the entire hearing; and d. The names of all those (attorneys, litigants/defendants, and witnesses) who will be participating in the hearing. 2. You will receive a confirmation email from Ms. Ayala with the Zoom meeting link. 3. The scheduling party is responsible for noticing other party/parties of the video conference hearing and details for login. Additionally: a. The Notice of Hearing MUST be e-filed; and b. The Notice shall state: 1. The hearing is taking place by video conference, and 2. MUST contain the Zoom conference details generated by the Probate Auditor. II. PROCEDURES FOR ZOOM HEARING: 1. The scheduling party is responsible for noticing all parties. 2. The scheduling party is responsible for cancelling the setting with the Court if a hearing is no longer necessary, and shall notify all other parties of cancellation. 3. Official Exhibits must be submitted to the Court's Court Reporter, Stephanie Webb, no later than three (3) days prior to the hearing via email at stephanie.webb@fortbendcountytx.gov and regular mail by flash drive to Stephanie Webb, Official Court Reporter, County Court at Law No. 1, 301 Jackson St., Richmond, Texas 77469. The only formats accepted are PDF for documents, JPG and PNG for images, and MP4 for audio and videos. No DOC formats or executables will be accepted. Please ensure the cause number and style of your case appear in the email subject line when submitting your exhibits. DO NOT E-FILE EXHIBITS. E-FILE ONLY THE EXHIBIT LIST. Parties/Counsel should attempt to reach stipulations regarding exhibit admissibility before the hearing. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THIS PROCEDURE MAY RESULT IN EXHIBIT EXCLUSION. 4. Parties are responsible for providing exhibits to opposing counsel/parties prior to the hearing. 5. During the hearing, the Court will not be responsible for displaying exhibits through the Zoom application. The attorneys will be responsible to ensure their exhibits are capable of being displayed via the 'Share Screen" feature of the Zoom app and will be expected to do so without delaying the hearing. 6. Parties are responsible for the logistics of their remote appearance. Technical difficulties that are not timely resolved, may result in a hearing being passed. III. PARTICIPATING IN THE ZOOM VIRTUAL COURTROOM 1. You will join the virtual courtroom 10 minutes before the scheduled time by clicking the link in the email provided by the Court Coordinator or Probate Auditor. 2. When you join a virtual setting, you will appear in a virtual waiting room with all other parties, attorneys, and witnesses. When your case is called, the Court will bring you into the virtual courtroom. Please be patient while in the virtual waiting room. The Court will bring you into the virtual courtroom when you are reached on the docket. 3. Because the Zoom application works on all modern smart phones, tablets, and computers, each attorney and litigant is expected to appear by video, rather than merely by voice. If you do not have the necessary equipment to participate via video, the Court has provided a login device in the attorney-client meeting room attached to the courtroom. All participants are welcome to use the device. 4. When you enter the virtual courtroom, your video is automatically activated and your audio muted, until the hearing begins. 5. Witnesses will be called as in any case, and the Court will bring them in one at a time from the waiting room. Only people on video will be permitted to testify. 6. Notes may be passed between lawyer and client, using the private chat feature. To do so, hit the "CHAT" button, and at the bottom of the chat window, pull down the recipient arrow and select your lawyer's name; however, such communication is prohibited during taking of client testimony. You are also prohibited from using the chat feature to communicate with witnesses. Witnesses are only permitted in the virtual courtroom while they are testifying. They are not to hold notes or paperwork in your hands while testifying, just as though they were on the witness stand. 7. You may, upon request, confer in private with your attorney. You should "slip a note" via the chat feature to your lawyer who will request time to confer. If your request is granted by the Court, you will be moved into a confidential breakout room to confer for no more than 5 minutes. 8. Zoom proceedings are actual Court proceedings conducted in a virtual courtroom. Hearings will be livestreamed to the public; therefore, participants must treat Zoom proceedings with the same respect as in-person court proceeding. All of the usual in-person courtroom decorum, demeanor, and dress code rules shall apply. Please refer to County Court at Law No. 1's Courtroom Etiquette & Rules. 9. Participants in the Zoom proceedings should minimize outside noise and distractions. 10. Attorneys and participants shall enter the hearing Waiting Room at least 10 minutes prior to the hearing start time. 11. All Zoom proceedings are streamed to the Court's YouTube channel for live viewing only. Witnesses placed under "the Rule" are prohibited from accessing the Court's YouTube channel at any time while placed under "the Rule." Livestreaming may be viewed at: Presiding Judge Christopher G. Morales YouTube channel - County Court at Law No. 1's YouTube Channel 12. IT IS ORDERED THAT RECORDING OF REMOTE ZOOM PROCEEDINGS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. Attorneys, self-represented parties, witnesses, and attendees participating in remote hearings, or members of the public viewing a livestream, are prohibited from recording, capturing, saving, broadcasting, televising, or photographing the proceeding in any manner. FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THIS ORDER MAY RESULT IN CONTEMPT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS. 13. All hearings conducted through the Zoom platform are subject to additional instructions as deemed appropriate by the Court during the time of hearing. Executed on 4th day of January, 2023 [signature] Hon. Christopher G. Morales, Judge Presiding, County Court at Law No. 1, Fort Bend County, Texas
VIDEO CONFERENCING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR HEARINGS IN COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 1 OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS (CCL1 ZOOM POLICY AND PROCEDURES) County Court at Law No. 1 of Fort Bend County, Texas has updated its policies and procedures and is conducting certain hearings via video conference through the Zoom application. The following policies and procedures apply to County Court at Law No. 1 an
Reviewer note: Operative mandatory-language provisions quoted verbatim from the registered document; the full document (sha256 77dca9615205…) is the controlling text. Registered twice (TOPICs docs 1086/1232); supersedes the COVID-era video-conferencing policies (doc 209). [TRANSCRIBED BY EYE 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P12): every page of the registered file (sha256 77dca9615205..., 5 page(s), digital layer that failed the machine checks; text taken from the layer and corrected word by word from the page) read against the rendered file; verbatim, source typos kept, stamps/signatures bracketed; the earlier abstract replaced by the full instrument; confidence high. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p12-2026-09-21]
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.