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A standing order of the Williamson County District Courts adopted under Texas Family Code section 54.012 governing the conduct of juvenile proceedings (detention hearings) as remote proceedings, including remote participation, cross-examination, camera and confrontation requirements, and the presentation of physical evidence.
Applies to juvenile remote proceedings (detention hearings) before the Williamson County District Courts. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
In the 277th District Court of Williamson County, Texas STANDING ORDER FOR REMOTE PROCEEDINGS IN JUVENILE DETENTION HEARINGS AND RELATED HEARINGS Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 54, Texas Family Code, as amended by HB422 (88th Regular Legislative Session), the 277th District Court, sitting as the Juvenile Court for Williamson County, adopts this order in compliance with the requirements of 54.012(a-2), Texas Family Code. 1. OPEN COURTS Juvenile proceedings will ordinarily take place in-person, in an open courtroom unless a request for closed courtroom is made and granted or the court, sua sponte, determines this is necessary. 2. REMOTE PROCEEDINGS In the interest of justice, the Court may permit one or more participants, including the judge, counsel, party/litigant, witness, court reporter, interpreter, or other individual to attend a court hearing remotely ("remote proceeding"). Except for instances where the courtroom is ordered closed, any element of a proceeding that takes place remotely will be broadcast live into the courtroom, in compliance with the requirement of open and accessible courts. A party who identifies a need should make such a request through the Court Administrator no less than 48 hours before the hearing, in order to ensure access to technology. Failure to make a timely request may result in denial of the request or delay of the hearing. The Court uses Microsoft Teams as the primary tool for conducting remote proceedings, and the link to join the proceeding shall be provided by Juvenile Services. 3. CONDUCT WHILE ONLINE An individual providing testimony from a remote proceeding shall remain within the view of the camera at all times. Remote proceedings are courtroom proceedings and the local rules of court apply to individuals participate remotely. Remote participants should act accordingly. 4. EVIDENCE While the Court does not require a party to divulge proposed exhibits in advance of a trial, recognizing that admission of exhibits in a remote proceeding can be time-consuming, the court strongly urges a party intending to offer exhibits during such a proceeding to provide them via electronic mail to the court, opposing counsel, and the court reporter in advance to facilitate sharing the evidence with any remote participants. The subject line should read: Cause Number, Respondent's initials, Exhibit number (i.e. "Petitioner's Exhibit 1"). One exhibit shall be sent in each email to ensure that exhibits are opened and entered as intended. When provided, documents must be submitted as PDFs, audio and video files, which may not exceed 5GB, shall be provided in a format with any of the following extensions: avi, .wmv, .wav, .avi, .wmv, .wav, .mpg, .mid, .asf, .mpeg, .mpl, ..mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .mp4v, .mpg, .ogg, .oga, .ogv, .webm. Physical evidence may be submitted via photograph. [File stamp: FILED at 2:15 [handwritten] o'clock P [handwritten] M, NOV 30 2023, District Clerk, Williamson Co., TX., with the clerk's signature] Signed this 27th [handwritten] day of November [handwritten], 2023 [year digits handwritten]. [signature] Hon. Stacey Mathews, 277th District Court, Williamson County, Texas
In the 277th District Court of Williamson County, Texas STANDING ORDER FOR REMOTE PROCEEDINGS IN JUVENILE DETENTION HEARINGS AND RELATED HEARINGS Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 54, Texas Family Code, as amended by HB422 (88th Regular Legislative Session), the 277th District Court, sitting as the Juvenile Court for Williamson County, adopts this order in compliance with the requirements of 5
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-06 from the TOPICs custody scan (image-only; standard Family Code 54.012 remote-hearing plan). Bound to Williamson County (juvenile). [TRANSCRIBED BY EYE 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P12): every page of the registered file (sha256 bc7160d383f7..., 2 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]
3 verbatim requirements on remote appearances in CALEB S. JOHNSTON's division.
6 verbatim requirements on remote appearances in MICHAEL G. KAPLAN's division.