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Local rules of the 8th and 62nd Judicial District Courts and the County Court-at-Law of Hopkins County, effective August 1, 2023: adoption of the Tenth Administrative Judicial Region's rules; rules of decorum (dress, courtroom conduct, food and devices, conduct at trials and hearings); the District Clerk's allocation of civil, tax, CPS, Attorney General child-support, family law and felony criminal cases among the courts; assignment of judges and concurrent jurisdiction; disqualification of a judge; the annual dismissal docket for family law and other civil cases; and a general reservation of the judges' authority.
Texas > Tenth Administrative Judicial Region > Hopkins County > 8th District Court, 62nd District Court, County Court at Law.
LOCAL RULES FOR THE DISTRICT COURTS AND COUNTY COURT-AT-LAW OF HOPKINS COUNTY, TEXAS Effective the 1st day of August, 2023 TO ALL APPEARING IN THE COURTS OF HOPKINS COUNTY, TEXAS: The following rules have been adopted by the judges of the 8th and 62nd Judicial District Courts and the County Court-at-Law of Hopkins County, Texas, pursuant to Rule 3a, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, and shall govern in all cases filed in these courts. When the terms “attorney” and “counsel” are used in these Local Rules, they include litigants who appear pro se representing themselves. 1. RULES OF THE TENTH ADMINISTRATIVE JUDICIAL REGION The Rules of the Tenth Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, as they are amended from time to time, are hereby adopted and made a part of these Local Rules. A copy of the current version, as approved by the Supreme Court of Texas, is attached to and made a part of these Local Rules. 2. RULES OF DECORUM A. General 1. All attorneys, litigants, and witnesses shall appear in court in appropriate dress. However, the judge of any court may relax the rules of dress in order to accommodate weather conditions. 2. Court is in session at all times when the judge is on the bench. When court is in session, the following rules of decorum apply: a. No unnecessary noise is allowed; b. No cell phone usage is allowed without permission from the judge c. All media devices must be turned off 3. Food, drinks, and tobacco are not allowed in the courtroom at any time, with the exception that counsel and parties are allowed to have water at counsel tables and jurors are allowed to have bottled water. B. Trials and Hearings 1. Unless authorized by the judge, attorneys shall address the court from counsel table, stand when addressing the court, stay away from the bench, and speak so they can be heard by opposing counsel and the court. Attorneys may approach the bench only with permission. 2. Counsel may never lean on the bench or act in a way that appears they are engaging with the judge in a confidential manner. 3. Counsel’s remarks shall be to the court and not to the judge as an individual. 4. Once the court has rules on any matter, no further argument is allowed unless expressly invited and allowed by the court. 5. During the trial of a case, counsel shall address their questions to the witnesses and their comments to the court, not to the opposing counsel or party. Side-bar comments are not permitted and will be considered an act of contempt of court. 6. The court may censure attorneys for side-bar remarks and attempted post-ruling arguments in the presence of the jury; such censure shall include in part that counsel is violating the court’s rules furnished prior to commencement of the trial. 7. Counsel will receive a reasonable opportunity to present their arguments prior to the court’s ruling, but counsel may not utilize such opportunity to bring matters to the jury’s attention that are not in evidence. 8. Attorneys are responsible for knowing dates and times for court settings and shall be punctual in attendance at such proceedings. 9. Counsel shall comply strictly with Rules 8 and 10, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, in order to withdraw from a case. 10. Unless expressly excused by the court, all persons present during jury trials (including observers) shall remain seated in the courtroom until the court announces the court is in recess. 3. COURT ASSIGNMENTS IN CIVIL CASES The District Clerk shall allocate all civil cases between the 62nd Judicial District Court and the Hopkins County Court-at-Law on a percentage of cases filed. For every five cases filed, the 62nd Judicial District Court will receive four cases and the Hopkins County Court-at-Law will receive one case. Effective August 1, 2023, civil cases shall be assigned between the 62nd District Court and the Hopkins County Court-at-Law without regard to amount in controversy. Notwithstanding the preceding allocation, all civil law cases that are refiled following nonsuit or other dismissal shall be filed in the same court previously assigned. 4. COURT ASSIGNMENTS IN TAX CASES The District Clerk shall assign all tax cases to the Hopkins County Court-at-Law. 5. COURT ASSIGNMENTS IN CPS CASES The District Clerk shall assign all CPS cases to the 62nd Judicial District Court. 6. COURT ASSIGNMENTS IN ATTORNEY GENERAL CHILD-SUPPORT CASES The District Clerk shall assign all Attorney General child-support cases to the Hopkins County Court-at-Law. 7. COURT ASSIGNMENTS IN FAMILY LAW CASES The District Clerk shall allocate all family law cases between the 62nd Judicial District Court and the Hopkins County Court-at-Law on a percentage of cases filed. For every five cases filed, the Hopkins County Court-at-Law will receive three cases and the 62nd Judicial District Court will receive two cases. Notwithstanding the preceding allocation, all family law cases that are refiled following nonsuit or other dismissal shall be filed in the same court previously assigned. Similarly, all requests for custody modification shall be filed in the same court in which the original custody order was entered, if the original order was entered in Hopkins County. If the original order of custody was entered in a county other than Hopkins County, the District Clerk shall file the case in accordance with the general allocation procedure prescribed above. Nothing in these rules prohibits a party from filing a motion to recuse or disqualify a judge. 8. COURT ASSIGNMENTS IN FELONY CRIMINAL CASES The District Clerk shall assign all felony criminal cases to the 8th Judicial District Court in those cases in which the Grand Jury returns true bills of indictments and in those cases where the District Attorney files the case upon Information after, or contemporaneously with, a waiver of Indictment signed by the Defendant and filed with the Clerk. 9. ASSIGNMENT OF JUDGES & STATUTORY CONCURRENT JURISDICTION The judges of the 8th Judicial District Court and the 62nd Judicial District Court have been assigned to the Hopkins County Court-at-Law and the judge of the Hopkins County Court-at-Law has been assigned to the 8th Judicial District Court and the 62nd Judicial District Court. The local administrative district court judge and the local administrative statutory county court judge independently promulgate the same local rule for Hopkins County. An assigned judge may hear any matter in any court they have been assigned to. Each of these courts retains their full scope of subject matter jurisdiction provided by the Texas constitution and by statute, including any areas of concurrent jurisdiction between the courts. 10. DISQUALIFICATION OF JUDGE There may be times when the judge of the court to which a case is assigned pursuant to these Local Rules is disqualified from sitting in the case pursuant to Rule 18b(a), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The grounds for disqualification will be submitted to the judge for determination prior to transfer of the case to another court with concurrent jurisdiction. When transfer is appropriate, the District Clerk will reassign the case based on the next available court in rotation. This rule does not alter or interfere with the requirements under Rule 18a, Texas Rule of Civil Procedure, that all motions to recuse and to disqualify must be forwarded to the Presiding Judge of the First Administrative Judicial Region for determination and reassignment regardless of whether the judge voluntarily recuses. 11. DISMISSAL DOCKETS: FAMILY LAW AND OTHER CIVIL CASES Once each year, the District Clerk shall notify attorneys and pro se litigants in writing that their cases will be dismissed for want of prosecution unless good cause is shown, in writing, and within 30 days from the date shown on the District Clerk’s notification, why the case should not be dismissed for want of prosecution. This notification applies as follows: For divorce cases on file for over 12 months without entry of a final order and for all other civil cases on file for over 24 months without entry of a final judgment. 12. GENERAL Nothing contained in these rules shall restrict the right of the district and county court-at-law judges to make other orders, not inconsistent with the laws of Texas, which are necessary in the judge’s discretion for the orderly disposition of court business. Effective the 1st day of August, 2023 [signature] HON. EDDIE NORTHCUTT 8th JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT [signature] HON. WILL BIARD 62nd JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT [signature] HON. CLAY HARRISON HOPKINS COUNTY COURT-AT-LAW [File stamp: FILED, JUL 18 2023, Cheryl Fulcher, District Clerk, Hopkins County, Texas (the hour is left blank on the stamp)]
LOCAL RULES FOR THE DISTRICT COURTS AND COUNTY COURT-AT-LAW OF HOPKINS COUNTY, TEXAS Effective the 1st day of August, 2023 TO ALL APPEARING IN THE COURTS OF HOPKINS COUNTY, TEXAS: The following rules have been adopted by the judges of the 8th and 62nd Judicial District Courts and the County Court-at-Law of Hopkins County, Texas, pursuant to Rule 3a, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, and shall gov
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-20 (AJR-10 Tenth Region build, own-site layer) from BenchPath custody ajr10 corpus sources/county/hopkins/591d3fc2df67267b.pdf (210,408 bytes, sha256 591d3fc2df67267b73e518c4d49c4eb9c6e2d854053e5d3ed89ab20b0504c6e6; 5 page(s)) - the document the county posts on its own website, not registered with the Office of Court Administration's TOPICs registry as of 2026-09-20: transcribed by eye from the rendered pages of the scanned PDF (no text layer in the file was relied on), machine OCR draft corrected page by page; signature and file-stamp blocks bracketed. Posted on the County Court, 8th and 62nd Judicial District Court pages of the county website; signed by Judges Eddie Northcutt (8th), Will Biard (62nd) and Clay Harrison (County Court-at-Law) and file-stamped July 18, 2023. This is the current edition; the copy registered with the Office of Court Administration (TOPICs 136) is the earlier edition effective October 1, 2019, which is archived as the earlier edition. The 2019 edition adopted the First Administrative Judicial Region; this 2023 edition adopts the Tenth Region (Rule 1), Hopkins County's current region. As printed, Rule 10 still refers a motion to recuse or disqualify to 'the Presiding Judge of the First Administrative Judicial Region', and Rule B.4 reads 'Once the court has rules on any matter'. Five-page scan read page by page.