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The Travis County District Courts' standing order for family law cases (effective for cases filed on or after January 1, 2020), protecting the parties and their children and preserving the parties' property while a divorce or parent-child suit is pending.
Applies automatically to the parties in every divorce and parent-child suit filed in the Travis County District Courts. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
[Seal: County of Travis, State of Texas] [File stamp: Filed In The District Court of Travis County, Texas, DEC 13 2019 JG, At 10:25 AM [handwritten], Velva L. Price, District Clerk] File No. GN-61-121012 (Local Rules and General Orders) TRAVIS COUNTY STANDING ORDER FOR FAMILY LAW CASES Effective for All Family Law Cases Filed on or after January 1, 2020 This is an Order of the Travis County District Courts. The purpose of this Order is to protect the parties and their children and to preserve the parties' property while a divorce case or suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR) is pending before the Court. This Order was not requested by any party. THIS ORDER MAY BE ENFORCEABLE BY CONTEMPT. 1. GENERAL ORDERS 1.1 Who Must Obey this Order The Court ORDERS the parties in every divorce and every suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed in Travis County to obey this Order. A SAPCR includes, but is not limited to, modification cases, paternity cases, and original suits affecting the parent-child relationship. The Court further ORDERS any person who acts in concert with or participation with a party, or a party's agent or attorney, who receives actual notice of this Order, to obey this Order. 1.2 If this Order Conflicts with a Different Order If any part of this Order conflicts with any part of an active court order, including a protective order, Child Protective Services order, or a temporary or final order in a divorce case or SAPCR, then the parties must obey that part of the active court order. 1.3 When this Order Starts and Ends This Order takes effect (starts) when an original petition is filed in a divorce case or SAPCR. This Order remains in full force and effect as a temporary restraining order for fourteen days after the original petition is filed. If no party contests this Order by presenting evidence at a hearing on or before the fourteenth day after the original petition is filed, this Order shall continue in full force and effect as a temporary injunction until further order of the Court. This order terminates (ends) when the Court signs a final order or the case is dismissed. 1.4 Petitioner Must Attach Copy of this Order to Petition The petitioner in a divorce case or SAPCR shall attach a copy of this Order to the original petition filed in the case and each copy of the petition. At the time the petition is filed, if the petitioner has not attached a copy of this Order to the petition, the District Clerk shall ensure that a copy of this Order is attached to the petition and every copy of the petition presented. 1.5 Attorneys' Fees The Court may order a party who violates this order to pay another party's reasonable and necessary attorneys' fees incurred to enforce this order. An award of attorneys' fees is in addition to any other remedies available to enforce this order. 2. ORDERS ABOUT CHILDREN The following orders are about any child who is the subject of this case. All parties are ORDERED: 2.1 Do NOT hide the child from another party. 2.2 Do NOT change the child's current residence unless: (a) all parties agree in writing to the change, (b) the Court orders the change, or (c) an active court order gives you the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence and the new residence is within the geographic area, if any, allowed in that order. 2.3 Do NOT disrupt or withdraw the child from the school or day-care facility where the child is presently enrolled unless: (a) all parties agree in writing to the change, (b) the Court orders the change, (c) an active court order gives you the exclusive right to make decisions about the child's education, or (d) an active court order gives you the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence and the withdrawal is related to designating a new primary residence for the child. 2.4 Do NOT make derogatory comments about another party, another party's family members, or another party's dating partner, in the presence of or within hearing of the child or on social media accessible to the child. 3. ORDERS ABOUT CONDUCT DURING THE CASE All parties are ORDERED: 3.1 Do NOT communicate with any other party in a way that is threatening or harassing. 3.2 Do NOT threaten to take unlawful action against any party, member of a party's family or household, a party's pet or companion animal, or a party's property. 3.3 Do NOT call, email, text, or use any other electronic communications to contact another party at an unreasonable hour, in an offensive or repetitious manner, anonymously, or without a legitimate purpose of communication. 3.4 Do NOT open or divert mail addressed to any other party. 3.5 Do NOT access any other party's email account, financial account, social media account, or any other electronic account. 3.6 Do NOT illegally intercept or record any other party's electronic communications. 3.7 Do NOT harm or interfere with the care or custody of a pet or companion animal that belongs to another party, another party's family or household member, or any child the subject of this case. 4 ADDITIONAL ORDERS THAT APPLY IN DIVORCE CASES 4.1 Orders about Property and Use of Money during Divorce Cases "Property" includes personal property and real property, without regard to whether the property is claimed as separate property or community property. Divorcing spouses are ORDERED: (a) Do NOT destroy, remove, conceal, encumber, transfer, or otherwise harm or reduce the value of the property of one or both spouses. (b) Do NOT hide property from your spouse. Do NOT misrepresent or refuse to disclose to your spouse or the Court, on proper request, the existence, amount, or location of any property of one or both spouses. (c) Do NOT damage, destroy, or tamper with the tangible or intellectual property, of one or both spouses, including any document that represents or embodies anything of value. (d) Do NOT sell, transfer, assign, mortgage, encumber, or alienate in any manner property of either spouse, unless specifically authorized by this Order. (e) Do NOT incur any debt, other than legal expenses in connection with this case, unless the debt is specifically authorized by this Order. (f) Do NOT withdraw or transfer money from any account in any financial institution for any purpose, except as specifically authorized by this Order. (g) Do NOT spend any cash in either spouse's possession or subject to either spouse's control for any purpose, except as specifically authorized by this Order. (h) Do NOT withdraw or borrow from any retirement, profit-sharing, pension, death, or other employee benefit plan or employee savings plan or from any individual retirement account or Keogh account, except as specifically authorized by this Order. (i) Do NOT sign or endorse your spouse's name on any negotiable instrument, check, or draft, such as tax refunds, insurance payments, and dividends. Do NOT attempt to negotiate any negotiable instrument payable to your spouse without your spouse's personal signature. (j) Do NOT take any action to terminate or limit credit or charge cards in your spouse's name or possession or lines of credit in your spouse's name. (k) Do NOT enter, operate, or exercise control over the motor vehicle in your spouse's possession. (l) Do NOT alter withholding for federal income taxes on your wages or salary while this case is pending. (m) Do NOT cancel or change utilities or contractual services in any way or attempt to withdraw any deposits for utilities or contractual services. Utilities include, but are not limited to, water, electricity, gas, telephone, Internet, and cable television services. Contractual services include, but are not limited to, security, delivery, pest control, landscaping, or yard maintenance. (n) Do NOT exclude your spouse from the residence you and your spouse currently share or have shared within the 30 days before the original petition for divorce was filed in this case. (o) Do NOT enter any safe deposit boxes in the name of, or subject to the control of either spouse, whether owned individually or jointly, unless authorized by later court order or written agreement signed by both spouses permitting such entrance. (p) Do NOT delete any data or content from any social network profile used or created by either spouse or any child who is the subject of this case. 4.2 Orders about Personal and Business Records in Divorce Cases "Records" include, but are not limited to: • Family records (including photographs, calendars, journals and diaries); • Property records; • Financial and business records; • Any records of income, debts, or other obligations (including a canceled check, deposit slip, and other records from a financial institution, a record of credit purchases or cash advances, a tax return, or a financial statement); and • Emails, text messages, videos or chat messages, or other digital or electronic data, whether stored on a computer hard drive, diskette, in a removable storage device, in cloud storage, or other electronic storage medium. Divorcing spouses are ORDERED: (a) Do NOT conceal or destroy any record. (b) Do NOT falsify any record. (c) Do NOT modify, change, or alter the native format or metadata of any record. 4.3 Orders about Insurance in Divorce Cases Divorcing spouses are ORDERED: (a) Do NOT withdraw or borrow in any way all or any part of the cash surrender value of life insurance policies on the life of either spouse, except as specifically authorized by this Order. (b) Do NOT change or alter in any way the beneficiary designation on any life insurance on the life of either spouse or any child who is the subject of this case. (c) Do NOT cancel or alter in any way the casualty, automobile, or health insurance policies insuring you, your spouse or any child who is the subject of this case or any property owned by or in the possession of you, your spouse or any child who is the subject of this case. 4.4 Specific Authorizations in Divorce Cases Divorcing spouses are specifically authorized by this Order to: (a) Engage in acts reasonable and necessary to the conduct of that spouse's usual business and occupation. (b) Spend and incur debt for reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses in connection with this case. (c) Spend and incur debt for reasonable and necessary living expenses for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, school, and medical care, including reasonable and necessary expenses for minor children. (d) Withdraw money from financial institution accounts only for the purposes authorized by this Order. This ORDER is effective as of January 1, 2020. Signed by all Civil District Judges and filed with District Clerk's Office on December 13 [handwritten], 2019. [signature] JUDGE SCOTT H. JENKINS, 53rd District Court [signature] JUDGE RHONDA HURLEY, 98th District Court [signature] JUDGE DARLENE BYRNE, 126th District Court [signature] JUDGE DUSTIN M. HOWELL, 200th District Court [signature] JUDGE AMY CLARK MEACHUM, 201st District Court [signature] JUDGE KARIN CRUMP, 250th District Court [signature] JUDGE LORA J. LIVINGSTON, 261st District Court [signature] JUDGE JAN SOIFER, 345th District Court [signature] JUDGE TIM SULAK, 353rd District Court [signature] JUDGE CATHERINE A. MAUZY, 419th District Court [signature] JUDGE MAYA GUERRA GAMBLE, 459th District Court [Running footer: STANDING ORDER FOR FAMILY LAW CASES]
Travis County Standing Order for Family Law Cases, effective for all family law cases filed on or after January 1, 2020 (an Order of the Travis County District Courts), enforceable by contempt. The purpose is to protect the parties and their children and to preserve the parties' property while a divorce case or suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR) is pending. 1. GENERAL ORDERS — 1.
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-06 from the TOPICs custody scan (text layer read). County-wide Travis District Court family standing order; bound to Travis County. [RECOMPOSED 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P7, digital-layer lane): the full text of the registered file (sha256 c95838a7fa5c..., 7 pages) replaces the earlier 1,132-character abstract. Method: pypdfium2 text layer reflowed page-aware, cross-checked word-by-word against PyMuPDF (4 substantive difference(s), 2 page-furniture), owner-corpus candidate sentences 100% (5/5) matched, 0 running header/footer line(s) removed, no U+FFFD/U+FFFE/form-feed debris. NOT yet checked page by page against the render, so confidence is medium with an open re-verification task; flip to high when a reviewer has read every page against the PDF. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p7-2026-09-21] [BY-EYE CHECK 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P11): every page of the registered file (sha256 c95838a7fa5c..., 7 page(s)) read against the rendered PDF; file-stamp, caption and signature-block defects of the text layer corrected from the render; confidence lifted to high. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p11-2026-09-21]
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.