Tarrant County Family District Courts — Local Rule on… — TX · BenchPath

Tarrant County Family District Courts — Local Rule on Application for and Refusal of Title IV-D Child Support Services (adopted Dec. 18, 2006; approved Misc. Docket No. 07-9023, Jan. 30, 2007)

High confidence· verified September 22, 2026Local RulesLocal Rule for the Family District Courts of Tarrant County Regarding Title IV-D Child Support Services (adopted Dec. 18, 2006; approved Sup. Ct. Misc. Docket No. 07-9023, Jan. 30, 2007; supersedes Misc. Docket No. 00-9063) (TOPICs reg. doc 340)

Summary

Local rule of the Tarrant County Family District Courts, adopted by the seven family judges on Dec. 18, 2006 and approved by the Supreme Court of Texas (Misc. Docket No. 07-9023, Jan. 30, 2007): every final divorce decree signed on or after Oct. 16, 2000 that orders child support, and every final paternity decree not obtained by a IV-D agency that orders child support, is deemed to include an application for Title IV-D child support services through the Tarrant County Domestic Relations Office and the Office of the Attorney General (Family Code ch. 231); an obligee may decline by filing a written Refusal of Child Support Services and may later apply to the Attorney General directly. Supersedes the 2000 rule (Misc. Docket No. 00-9063).

Applies to

Texas > Tarrant County > the Family District Courts — every final divorce decree and non-IV-D paternity decree that orders child support; obligees who wish to decline IV-D services.

Requirement

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS Misc. Docket No. 07-9023 APPROVAL OF LOCAL RULE FOR THE FAMILY DISTRICT COURTS OF TARRANT COUNTY REGARDING TITLE IV-D CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES ORDERED that: Pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 3a, the following Local Rule for the Family District Courts of Tarrant County Regarding Title IV-D Child Support Services is approved. In Chambers, this day of January, 2007. [signature] Wallace B. Jefferson, Chief Justice [signature] Nathan L. Hecht, Justice [signature] Harriet O'Neill, Justice [signature] Dale Wainwright, Justice [signature] Scott Brister, Justice [signature] David M. Medina, Justice [signature] Paul W. Green, Justice [signature] Phil Johnson, Justice [signature] Don R. Willett, Justice Page 2 [Handwritten notation: Posted 2/7/07] ORDER FOR APPLICATION FOR AND REFUSAL OF TITLE IV-D CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES On this date the undersigned, the Family District Judges of Tarrant County, Texas, having determined that it is in the best interest of the children of Tarrant County in each final divorce decree that orders child support and is signed on or after October 16, 2000 by the presiding judge of a Tarrant County Family District Court and in each final paternity decree not based on an action initiated by a Title IV-D agency that orders child support and is signed by the presiding judge of a Tarrant County Family District Court after the effective date of the Local Rule that results from this order, find that the obligee in any such divorce decree or paternity order shall be deemed to have made an application for Title IV-D Child Support Services and that it is necessary to adopt local rules for the procedure. It is therefore ORDERED that the Proposed Local Rule for Tarrant County attached hereto and made a part of this order for all purposes is hereby adopted and shall include by reference the Local Rules of the District Courts of Tarrant County and shall pertain to all Title IV-D Child Support Services provided pursuant to said Local Rule. Signed this 18th day of December, 2006. [signature] Randy Catterton, Judge, 231st District Court (12-15-06) [signature] William Harris, Judge, 233rd District Court [signature] Frank Sullivan, Judge, 322nd District Court [signature] Jean Boyd, Judge, 323rd District Court [signature] Jerome S. Hennigan, Judge, 324th District Court [signature] Judith Wells, Judge, 325th District Court [signature] Debra Lehrmann, Judge, 360th District Court [signature] Hon. Jeff Walker, Presiding Judge, Eighth Administrative Judicial Region PROPOSED LOCAL RULE FOR TARRANT COUNTY Application for and Refusal of Title IV-D Child Support Services by the Domestic Relations Office a. Each final divorce decree that includes an order to pay child support and is signed on or after October 16, 2000 by the presiding judge or associate judge of a Tarrant County Family District Court and each final paternity decree not obtained by a Title IV-D agency that includes an order to pay child support and is signed by the presiding judge or associate judge of a Tarrant County Family District Court after the effective date of this local rule shall be deemed to include an application for Title IV-D child support services provided through the Tarrant County Domestic Relations Office and Office of the Texas Attorney General pursuant to Chapter 231 of the Texas Family Code. b. Unless required to accept such services pursuant to other laws, a recipient or obligee of child support entitled to receive Title IV-D child support services pursuant to this local rule may decline such services by filing a written Refusal of Child Support Services. c. Refusal of Title IV-D child support services pursuant to this local rule does not preclude that person from making a subsequent written application to the Office of the Texas Attorney General for Title IV-D child support services. d. The provisions of this local rule supercede in its entirety the Local Rule Regarding Application for and Refusal of Title IV-D Child Support Services, Tarrant County Family District Courts, Misc. Docket No. 00-9063, signed by the Supreme Court of Texas on April 12, 2000.

Source of truth

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS Misc. Docket No. 07-9023 APPROVAL OF LOCAL RULE FOR THE FAMILY DISTRICT COURTS OF TARRANT COUNTY REGARDING TITLE IV-D CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES ORDERED that: Pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 3a, the following Local Rule for the Family District Courts of Tarrant County Regarding Title IV-D Child Support Services is approved. In Chambers, this day of January, 2007

Official source: TOPICs — Texas local rules registry (topics.txcourts.gov)
Source health: Healthy · checked October 24, 2026
Effective date: January 30, 2007
Last verified: September 22, 2026benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p12-2026-09-21

Reviewer note: Image-only registration (4 pages: the Supreme Court approval order, the Dec. 18, 2006 adopting order signed by Judges Catterton 231st, Harris 233rd, Sullivan 322nd, Boyd 323rd, Hennigan 324th, Wells 325th, Lehrmann 360th and Presiding Judge Jeff Walker of the Eighth Region, and the one-page rule) read through the vision lane; rule quoted verbatim in full. Composed benchpath-ajr8-tarrant. [TRANSCRIBED BY EYE 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P12): every page of the registered file (sha256 bf43aff618ee..., 4 page(s), image-only scan; the OCR layer used as a typing base 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]

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