Rules & Forms

Rules & Standards 

Statewide Rules

The rules listed below are the most current version approved by the Supreme Court of Texas. For any questions about the rules, please call (512) 463-4097.

Texas Court Rules: History and Process - Excerpted from Nathan L. Hecht & E. Lee Parsley, Procedural Reform: Whence and Whither (Sept. 1997), updated by Robert H. Pemberton (Nov. 1998)

How Texas Court Rules Are Made - By Nathan L. Hecht, Martha G. Newton, and Kennon L. Wooten (May 2016)

Local Rules, Forms, and Standing Orders

The Office of Court Administration’s Local Rules, Forms, and Standing Orders website holds searchable local rules, forms, and standing orders. This website was created in response to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 3a, Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 1.2, and Texas Rule of Judicial Administration 10, which require (effective January 1, 2023) that courts post their local rules, forms, and standing orders to this website to be effective. All local rules, forms, and standing orders are uploaded by court clerks or court staff and are currently viewable by the public.

Questions about the substance of a court’s local rule should be directed to the relevant court’s clerk.

Complaints that a local rule, form, or standing order conflicts with other laws or rules, is ineffective, or is unfair or unduly burdensome may be presented first in writing to the presiding judge of the administrative judicial region in which the court is located, then in writing to the Supreme Court of Texas at rulescomments@txcourts.gov.

To learn how to contact the presiding judge of the administrative judicial region in which the court is located, please visit the Administrative Judicial Regions section of our website.

Statewide Standards

Standards
Last Amended
Proposed Changes