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The Hood County county courts' local e-filing rules, adopted by the county judges in 2010 under TRCP 3a and submitted to the Supreme Court of Texas (effective on approval), still posted on the County Court at Law's page: e-filing optional unless a court orders it in a case; non-juvenile civil filings with the County Clerk; excluded classes (sealed-court citations and writs, returns, bonds, wills, subpoenas, in-camera and Rule 76a-sealed documents); sworn, notarized and opposing-signature documents only as scanned images; Texas.gov/EFSP mechanics and convenience fees; the digital signature's effect under TRCP 8, 13 and 57; filing-time, ten-day late-receipt and Sunday rules; e-mail address and 8½×11 format requirements; electronic service only by agreement or order, complete on transmission, next-business-day if after 5:00 p.m., with three days added to response periods; electronic orders and free public viewing. The rules predate the Supreme Court's mandatory statewide e-filing program and state that they "do not supersede or replace any previously adopted local rules."
Texas > Hood County > County Court at Law and the county courts of Hood County > non-juvenile civil cases (including appeals from lower courts) filed with the County Clerk. Adopted in 2010 by the county judges of Hood County under TRCP 3a, effective upon approval by the Supreme Court of Texas; the signed day and month are illegible in the posted scan. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
PURPOSE AND EFFECT: adopted under TRCP 3a as the "Hood County Local Rules of the County Courts Concerning the Electronic Filing of Court Documents," governing electronic filing and service by any method other than fax filing; they apply "in addition to any other local rules of the county courts in Hood County" and "do not supersede or replace any previously adopted local rules." Electronic filing and service "is wholly optional" unless, on a party's motion and for good cause, a county court orders the parties in a particular case to e-file and e-serve documents permitted under Rule 3.3. SCOPE: all non-juvenile civil cases, including appeals from lower courts, before the county courts with jurisdiction in Hood County (including matters assigned to associate judges), and only filings with the county clerk (not documents filed directly with a judge under TRCP 74). Any document that may be filed traditionally may be e-filed EXCEPT citations or writs bearing the court's seal, returns of citation, bonds, wills and codicils, subpoenas and proofs of their service, in-camera submissions offered solely for a discoverability ruling, documents sealed under TRCP 76a, and documents whose access is otherwise restricted by law or order (including Family Code chapter 33 proceedings); a motion to seal and any response may be e-filed. Documents that must be verified, notarized, acknowledged, sworn or made under oath, and documents requiring opposing parties' signatures (such as a Rule 11 agreement), may be e-filed only as scanned images; a court may require the original to be filed traditionally, and a third party may ask the court to allow inspection of the filer's original. MECHANICS: filers register with Texas.gov and file through an electronic filing service provider (EFSP) to Texas.gov and then to the county clerk, needing valid EFSP and Texas.gov accounts; Texas.gov specifies permissible formats under JCIT standards; regular filing fees are paid through Texas.gov, and the EFSP, Texas.gov (within the DIR-approved amount) and the county clerk may each charge a convenience fee in addition to regular fees — a clerk's convenience fee is a court cost. The filer's confidential electronic identifier is a "digital signature" satisfying the signature requirements of the Rules of Civil Procedure and other law; the first name in an initial pleading's signature block is the attorney in charge for TRCP 8 and the signer for TRCP 13 and 57 unless otherwise designated, and the digital signature authorizes payment of filing fees. TIME OF FILING: transmission is available 24 hours a day except brief scheduled maintenance; a document is deemed delivered and filed when sent to the filer's EFSP; a document transmitted on or before the last day for filing and received by the clerk "not more than ten days tardily" is filed timely, the filer's transmission report being prima facie evidence of date and time; Texas.gov acknowledges receipt, and "not later than the first business day after receiving a document" the clerk accepts or rejects it (a document is deemed accepted if the clerk does neither in time), handling documents filed with an affidavit of inability under TRCP 145; acceptance produces a file-marked confirmation showing the transmission time, rejection an alert with the reason; except in injunction, attachment, garnishment, sequestration or distress proceedings, a suit-commencing document transmitted on Sunday is deemed filed the following Monday. E-filing "does not alter any filing deadlines"; one document per transmission (with attachments such as a supporting brief allowed); the clerk's file may mix electronic and paper documents; every e-filed document must carry an e-mail address in addition to the TRCP 57 information and be formatted per Texas.gov for printing on 8½-by-11-inch paper (an e-filed pleading is deemed to comply with TRCP 45). SERVICE (other than citation): a filer may serve a party by transmitting the document to the party's e-mail address only where the party has agreed to receive electronic service or the court has ordered electronic service; e-filing does not by itself require e-service; a filer who e-files, e-serves or agrees to accept e-service must keep Texas.gov, the clerk and all parties informed of e-mail address changes; service is complete on transmission, is dated the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday if completed after 5:00 p.m. recipient's time, and adds three days to any period that runs from service; documents are e-served before or when filed, with a written certificate stating the filer's e-mail address or fax number, the recipient's e-mail address, the date and time of service, and that the transmission was reported complete. ORDERS AND ACCESS: a judge may (but need not) sign orders with a digitized signature and forwards them to the clerk, who may treat the electronic or a scanned order as the official copy; the clerk must ensure all non-confidential court records can be viewed free in some format and may provide electronic viewing. DISPUTES: the court assigned to the case decides disputes about these rules; the rules "shall be liberally construed so as to avoid undue prejudice" to good-faith users.
These rules govern the electronic filing and service of court documents, by any method other than fax filing, in Hood County. These rules are adopted pursuant to Rule 3a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and may be known as the "Hood County Local Rules of the County Courts Concerning the Electronic Filing of Court Documents." … These rules do not supersede or replace any previously adopted local rules.
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-07 (re-audit F11) from the portal PDF (10 pp; text layer read in full — the scan duplicates its pages). Hood's TOPICs registrations (499, 1012, 1051) do not include it. The adoption date reads "day of …, 2010" with the day and month illegible and the Supreme Court approval date unstated, so no effective_date is asserted; the rules predate the Supreme Court's mandatory statewide e-filing program (eFileTexas) and are published as the county courts' still-posted local rules.
Judge Costello's AI section simply restates amended Rule 2.515(d)(2) — the post-AOSC26-12 statewide standard — a compliance model, not a local mandate: signers certify cited authorities exist and are accurately cited, with the rule's own sanctions.
The strongest in-the-wild confirmation of the 2026 statewide AI rule: Judge Bantner's page expressly states his prior AI requirements are REMOVED because of the May 28, 2026 amendment of Rule 2.515 — signing a filing now itself certifies the authorities exist and are accurately cited.