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Part 4 of the Tarrant County Local Rules, effective June 1, 2023 and approved by Judges James Munford (322nd) and Kenneth Newell (233rd), governs the family district courts: pretrial conferences with lead counsel and in-person self-represented litigants (4.01(1)); three days' notice for temporary relief and no modification hearing before the answer deadline absent an affidavit (4.01(3)); Rule 21d notice content (4.01(4)); medical/dental support orders and income-withholding writs with every child-support order (4.01(6)–(7)); transfer and consolidation in the earliest-filed case and protective-order transfers (4.01(8)); a mandatory certificate of conference before any setting, two-business-day date-coordination attempts and immediate written notice of settings (4.01(10)); ex parte presentment order (CPS associate judges first in Chapter 262 cases; otherwise the assigned district judge, then that court's associate judge) with a signed certification (4.01(11)); amicus/ad litem copies within five days (4.01(12)); vacation letters 30 days ahead with a 10/22-business-day cap (4.01(14)); decorum and device rules (4.01(15)); daily first-come prove-ups and a no-judge-shopping rule (4.02); trial settings and associate-judge final trials by written waiver (4.03); a 15-minute appearance window, financial documents seven days before hearings and mediation, inventories within 120 days, orders within 60 days of rendition, and court reporters for associate judges only on enforcement days (4.05); continuances (4.06); deposition and production guidelines incl. drop-box certificates of written discovery (4.07); custody-evaluation confidentiality with a seven-day presumption and 30-day pre-trial distribution (4.08); and a ban on filing judges' or attorneys' personal contact information (4.09).
Texas > Tarrant County > the Family District Courts (231st, 233rd, 322nd, 324th, 325th and 360th District Courts and their associate judges) — every family-law case; self-represented litigants are bound equally (Rule 4.01(16)).
Rule 4.01(3) Notice: "Unless specifically shortened by the Court, and except when a party’s motion makes the allegations contained in and otherwise complies with Section 156.006 of the Texas Family Code, a party responding to a request for temporary relief contained in an original action shall be entitled to at least three (3) days’ notice of any court proceeding. … no court proceeding for relief, temporary or final, shall be conducted prior to the deadline for a party to file an answer in any Motion to Modify child support and/or possession of or access to the child, unless special circumstances set forth by attached affidavit exist." 4.01(6): "Every final order submitted to the Court for approval that contains provisions for child support shall be accompanied by a Medical Support Order and Dental Support Order in conformity with the requirements of 154.181 of the Texas Family Code." 4.01(7): "… every final order … that contains provisions for child support shall be accompanied by an order or writ for income withholding in accordance with Chapter 158 of the Texas Family Code and a completed Tarrant County Child Support Office Record of Support Form." 4.01(10) Motion Practice: "b. No attorney or self-represented litigant may seek to have a court proceeding set unless the moving party shall have certified in such motion or in a letter substantially the following: “A conference was held on (date) with (self-represented litigant or name of attorney for opposing party) on the merits of this motion. A reasonable effort has been made to resolve the dispute without the necessity of court intervention and the effort failed. Therefore, it is presented to the Court for determination.” OR “A conference was not held with (name of opposing attorney or self-represented litigant) on the merits of this motion because (explanation of inability to confer).” … d. Court coordinators are responsible for scheduling the dates and times for court proceedings. The moving party shall make a reasonable attempt in writing to secure agreed-upon dates for hearings prior to setting the same. If the opposing counsel or self-represented litigant does not respond within two business days, the moving party may schedule the court proceeding without regard to the opposing counsel or self-represented litigant’s availability. … Upon receiving confirmation of the date and time of the court proceeding from the Court, the moving party shall immediately notify all other parties in writing as to the date, time, modality, and subject matter of the court proceeding …" 4.01(11) Ex Parte Orders: "a. In all cases where there is a pending CPS court case under Chapter 262 of the Texas Family Code, all attorneys and self-represented litigants shall first attempt to present applications for ex parte orders regarding the children to the associate judges of the Child Protection Courts. b. Except as provided by these local rules, all attorneys and self-represented litigants shall first attempt to present applications for ex parte orders in non-CPS court cases to the district judge of the court in which the case is pending to promptly review same, second to the associate judge of such court … and only if both such judges are unavailable, the applications may it be presented to another Court. … e. All applications for ex parte orders shall certify in writing, signed by the party or attorney, one of the following, which is to be completed as to each opposing counsel …" (the certification form follows). "For purposes of this rule, representation of counsel ends thirty-one (31) days following entry of a final order." 4.01(12): amicus attorneys, ad litems and dual-role attorneys must receive copies of all pleadings, motions, orders, reports and evaluations "within five days (5) of notice of the appointment." 4.01(14) Vacation Letters: designated vacation/CLE days require written notice to "the auxiliary coordinator of the courts … at least 30 days prior"; "Absent good cause shown, if an attorney is going to be unavailable for more than 10 consecutive business days and/or more than 22 business days per calendar year, the attorney must provide alternative counsel to cover for days in excess of those days and is not excused from hearings." 4.02(3): "Once a motion, request, or application has been presented to a judge and that judge has made a ruling denying all or any portion of the request for relief or otherwise deferred all or a portion of a ruling, the same motion, request, or application may not be presented to a judge other than the judge who denied all or any portion of the request for relief … without the approval of the judge that denied the motion, request, or application." 4.03(2): "Upon agreement of the parties and counsel of record, the Court may refer a case for final disposition by the associate judge of that court if the parties agree in writing to waive their right of appeal to the referring court pursuant to 201.015 and 201.1042 of the Texas Family Code." 4.05(1): "Failure to appear or check in with the associate judge or Court within 15 minutes after the scheduled court proceeding time may result in a default being granted or the court proceeding being passed, as appropriate." 4.05(2): in every case where support of a spouse or child is in issue each party provides, at temporary hearings and "not later than seven (7) days prior to trial," a written summary of relief requested, a monthly income-and-expense summary, three months of pay stubs, self-employment financials for 12 months, two years of tax returns, and financial statements given to lenders within two years (the same documents go to opposing counsel seven days before mediation); 4.05(4): sworn inventories and appraisements exchanged "not later than 120 days after the filing of the first answer or general appearance"; 4.05(5): "Within 60 days after rendition of a decision by the judge or associate judge, counsel shall, unless ordered otherwise, cause all orders, decrees, or judgments of any kind to be reduced to writing and delivered to the Court for signature" (motion for entry heard no sooner than 10 days after filing; the responding party presents an alternative order or written objections three days before). 4.05(6): "A court reporter will be furnished to the associate judges for hearings only on the days that enforcement or contempt matters are to be heard, unless special arrangements are made with the referring judge." 4.07(1)(c): presumptively unreasonable — "Notice of less than 10 days under Rules 21a and 199.2"; depositions on weekends or Family Law Center holidays; depositions "scheduled to begin before 8:00 a.m. or to extend past 6:00 p.m." 4.07(2)(c): drop-box or link production requires "a certificate of written discovery" and availability "from the date it is produced until plenary power expires in the case." 4.08 Custody Evaluations: "Custody evaluations should not be filed with the clerk. … neither the attorneys nor parties may disclose the contents of a custody evaluation to any third party without a specific order of the Court … The Court shall presume seven (7) days shall constitute a “reasonable time” for purposes of Section 107.112(c) of the Texas Family Code. Full copies of the custody evaluation shall be given to all attorneys of record and each self-represented litigant no less than 30 days before trial." 4.09: "Unless otherwise mandated by law, parties and attorneys may not file any motion or pleading that contains the personal telephone number or home address of any attorney, judge, or other elected official. The clerk of the Court shall immediately seal from view to the public all documents containing [such information] … A party or attorney that knowingly violates this rule shall be subject to sanctions." "The prior Tarrant County Family Law local rules are revoked as of the effective date of these rules. These rules are effective beginning June 1, 2023." Approved: Judge James Munford, 322nd District Court; Judge Kenneth Newell, 233rd District Court.
Rule 4.01(3) Notice: "Unless specifically shortened by the Court, and except when a party’s motion makes the allegations contained in and otherwise complies with Section 156.006 of the Texas Family Code, a party responding to a request for temporary relief contained in an original action shall be entitled to at least three (3) days’ notice of any court proceeding. … no court proceeding for relief,
Reviewer note: Text-layer registration (16 pages, 27,337 chars, OCR-quality text with a District Clerk filing stamp of May 23, 2023) read in full 2026-09-05; quotations verbatim with obvious OCR breaks repaired only inside brackets. Composed benchpath-ajr8-tarrant. County-site receipt(s) in custody 2026-09-06: https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/content/dam/main/family-courts/Documents/famrules.pdf (same edition); https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/content/dam/main/district-clerk/famrules.pdf (same edition); https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/content/dam/main/family-courts/233rdFDC/FamilyLawLocalRules-EffectiveJune1-2023.pdf (same edition).
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)).