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| Texas Court Records- Listed below is contact information and/or links to websites containing resources to help in a search for Texas court records. | |||
| Texas Courts Online - Access State and County Court Records Databases | |||
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As the American state with both the second-highest population (nearly 24 million; California is first) and second-largest land mass (261,797 square miles; Alaska is larger), the court system in Texas serves a far-flung and diverse citizenry. Two courts co-occupy the top spot in the Texas legal food chain. The Supreme Court of Texas is the final appellate jurisdiction in civil and juvenile cases, but the Court of Criminal Appeals holds that role for adult criminal proceedings. Both courts are nine-member panels. Supreme Court of Texas Composed of a chief justice and eight other justices, the Supreme Court of Texas is the “court of last resort” for civil matters in the state. The court is located in Austin, adjacent to the state capitol. Justices are elected by statewide ballot to staggered, six-year terms. When a vacancy arises, the governor may appoint a justice, subject to conformation by the state Senate, and that justice will serve out the remainder of an unexpired term until the next general election. All members of the court must be at least 35 years of age, citizens of Texas, licensed to practice law in the state, and must have practiced law in the state (or have been a lawyer and a judge of a court of record) for at least 10 years. By statute, the court has administrative control over the State Bar of Texas. The court also holds sole authority over licensing attorneys in the state and appoints members to the Board of Law Examiners, which administers the Texas bar exam. The Supreme Court of Texas promulgates the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Texas Rules of Evidence and other state legal rules and standards. Presently, the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court is Wallace B. Jefferson. The court’s physical address is 201 W. 14th St., Room 104, Austin, Texas 78701. Its mailing address is: Supreme Court of Texas; P.O. Box 12248; Austin, TX, 78711. The main phone number for the court is (512) 463-1312 and the fax number is (512) 463-1365, but filings are not accepted by fax. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the state’s highest court for criminal cases. It consists of a presiding judge, currently Judge Sharon Keller, and eight other judges. The court’s judges are elected by statewide ballot and hold office for a term of six years. After Texas trial courts have decided a criminal case, the prosecution or defense might appeal to a higher court. That appeal might eventually be heard in the Court of Criminal Appeals. All Texas capital punishment cases come directly to the Court of Criminal Appeals from the original trial court. The appeals of non-capital cases first go to one of the state’s 14 Courts of Appeals, and then their decisions might later be reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ physical address is 201 West 14th St., Room 106, Austin, Texas, 78701. Its mailing address is: Court of Criminal Appeals; P.O. Box 12308; Austin, TX, 78711. Contact the court by phone at (512) 463-1551. Texas Courts of Appeals The Texas Courts of Appeals system consists of 14 courts with intermediate appellate jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases that are appealed from district or county courts. Each court of appeals has jurisdiction for a specific geographical region of the state, and is presided over by a chief justice who is joined by at least two other justices. The specific number of justices on each appellate court at this level is determined by statute and can range from three (including the chief) to 13. At present there are 80 justices authorized to serve in the 14 Courts of Appeals jurisdictions. Appeals are usually heard by a panel of three justices, unless in a particular case an “en banc” hearing is ordered. Then all justices of that appellate district’s court will hear and consider the case. The Council of Chief Justices is an association formed by the chiefs of the 14 appellate districts. The council serves as a forum for discussion of issues the 14 courts have in common. The council was established in the late 1970s as a means of coordinating the courts’ legislative budget requests; it meets several times annually to discuss such areas of common concern. Cases from the same county might end up being referred to different courts of appeal. For instance, cases originating in Wood County might be referred either to the Sixth or the Twelfth court of appeals. Also, both the First and Fourteenth districts are located in Houston, hear cases from the same 10 counties, and occasionally transfer or reassign cases between them. Texas’ 14 Courts of Appeals districts are as follows: Texas First Court of Appeals: Based in Houston; covers the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller and Washington. Texas Second Court of Appeals: Based in Fort Worth; covers Archer, Clay, Cooke, Denton, Hood, Jack, Montague, Parker, Tarrant, Wichita, Wise and Young counties. Texas Third Court of Appeals: Based in Austin; covers Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Comal, Concho, Fayette, Hays, Irion, Lampasas, Lee, Llano, McCulloch, Milam, Mills, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Sterling, Tom Green, Travis and Williamson counties. Texas Fourth Court of Appeals: Based in San Antonio; covers the counties of Bandera, Bexas, Brooks, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, La Salle, Mason, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Real, Starr, Sutton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Wilson, Zapata and Zavala. Texas Fifth Court of Appeals: Based in Dallas; serves Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. Texas Sixth Court of Appeals: Based in Texarkana; serves the counties of Bowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Fannin, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Hunt, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Panola, Red River, Rusk, Titus, Upshur and Wood. Texas Seventh Court of Appeals: Located in Amarillo; covers the counties of Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Cochran, Collingsworth, Cottle, Crosby, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Dickens, Donley, Floyd, Foard, Garza, Gray, Hale, Hall, Hansford, Hardeman, Hartley, Hemphill, Hockley, Hutchinson, Kent, King, Lamb, Lipscomb, Lubbock, Lynn, Moore, Motley, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, Terry, Wheeler, Wilbarger and Yoakum. Texas Eighth Court of Appeals: Stationed in El Paso; covers Andrews, Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Pecos, Presidio, Reagan, Reeves, Terrell, Upton, Ward and Winkler counties. Texas Ninth Court of Appeals: Situated in Beaumont; serves the counties of Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto and Tyler. Texas Tenth Court of Appeals: Located in Waco; covers the counties of Bosque, Brazos, Burleson, Coryell, Ellis, Falls, Freestone, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, Leon, Limestone, Madison, McLennan, Navarro, Robertson, Somervell and Walker. Texas Eleventh Court of Appeals: Based in Eastland; serves the counties of Baylor, Borden, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Dawson, Eastland, Ector, Erath, Fisher, Gaines, Glasscock, Howard, Jones, Knox, Martin, Midland, Mitchell, Palo Pinto, Scurry, Schackelford, Stephens, Stonewall and Taylor. Texas Twelfth Court of Appeals: Stationed in Tyler; hears appeals from the counties of Anderson, Angelina, Cherokee, Gregg, Henderson, Houston, Nacodoches, Rains, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Smith, Trinity, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood. Texas Thirteenth Court of Appeals: Located in Corpus Christi; hearing appeals from Aransas, Bee, Calhoun, Cameron, De Witt, Goliad, Gonzales, Hidalgo, Jackson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Lavaca, Live Oak, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton and Willacy counties. Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals: Like the First, is based in Houston and covers the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller and Washington. District Courts of Texas The district courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state of Texas. Geographical areas served by each court are established by the state legislature, but each county must be served by at least one district court. In more sparsely populated areas of the state, a number of counties might be served by a single court district. Urban counties, however, often are served by many court districts. District courts have original jurisdiction in all Texas felony criminal cases, divorce cases, those cases involving title to land, contested elections, civil matters in which the amount in contested (money or damages involved) equals $200 or more, and any matters in which jurisdiction is not specifically given to another trial court by law. While most district courts try matters both criminal and civil, in more densely populated counties each district court might specialize in civil, criminal, juvenile or family law matters. There are 437 district courts in the state of Texas. A searchable database including the contact information of all district courts is located at the Texas Office of Court Administration’s Web site, which can be accessed via this link: http://dm.courts.state.tx.us/OCA/DirectorySearch.aspx. Also searchable via that same link are contact information for Administrative Judicial Regions, Child Protection courts, Child Support courts, county courts, municipal courts, local justices of the peace and numerous other institutions and agencies. A searchable database of various monthly reports filed by Texas district courts is available at this link: http://www.dm.courts.state.tx.us/oca/reportselection.aspx. Texas County Courts Under Texas law, each of the state’s 254 counties maintains a single county court, presided over by a county judge. These courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the justice of the peace and district courts in civil cases in which the amount in controversy is small. Jurisdiction is said to be “concurrent” when two levels of courts have the authority to try the same type of case. Texas constitutional county courts generally hear probate cases filed within the county. They have original jurisdiction over all Class A and Class B misdemeanors, which are considered to be more serious minor offenses. County courts usually have appellate jurisdiction in cases appealed from a justice of the peace or municipal court, except in counties where the county courts at law have been established. Unless said appeal is one from a designated municipal court of record (trial proceedings are recorded by a county reporter), the appeal takes the form of a “trial de novo,” that is, a completely new trial. In addition to performing judicial functions, county judges serve as the administrative head of county government. In more-populated counties, the administrative duties occupy most of the judge’s time, and the legislature has created county courts at law and statutory probate courts that relieve the judge of most, if not all, of the judicial duties usually performed by his or her office. Because the Texas constitution limits each county to only one court, county courts at law are created by statute in larger counties, to aid the single county court in its judicial functions. The legal jurisdiction of these special county-level trial courts can vary considerably and is established by the specific statute that created each court. The jurisdiction of these courts is usually concurrent with the jurisdiction of the county and district courts within the same county. Civil jurisdiction of most county courts at law will vary, but usually it is greater than that of the justice of the peace court, and less than that of district court. County courts at law usually do have appellate jurisdiction in cases appealed from justice of the peace and municipal courts. Both constitutional county courts and county courts at law can be located through the contact information available in the Texas Office of Court Administration’s searchable database at http://dm.courts.state.tx.us/OCA/DirectorySearch.aspx. There naturally are 254 constitutional county courts (equal to the number of counties in Texas), 222 county courts at law created by statute, and 18 statutory probate courts within the state of Texas. Texas Justice Courts There are more than 800 justice of the peace courts within the state of Texas. State statute requires that each county establish and maintain at least one and up to eight justice of the peace precincts, depending upon county population. Also depending on population, either one or two justice of the peace courts are to be established within each precinct. Thus, some counties might have only one justice of the peace court (one court in one countywide precinct) while others might have up to 16 courts two courts in each of the maximum eight precincts). Justice of the peace courts have original jurisdiction in cases involving Class C misdemeanors, which are considered to be less serious criminal offenses. The courts also have jurisdiction in minor civil matters. A justice of the peace has the authority to issue search or arrest warrants and might even serve as the coroner in counties where there is no provision for such a medical examiner. These courts also function as small claims courts. Searchable databases are available both for locating a justice of the peace court and for finding and reading their monthly reports. Texas Municipal Courts More than 900 Texas cities employ more than 1,400 judges in the state’s municipal courts. These courts have been created by the state legislature under its authority to create “such other courts as may be necessary.” Each of the incorporated cities in the state maintains such a court; larger cities are served by multiple locations and additional personnel depending on the needs of the public. Municipal courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over violations of city ordinance and, within the city limits, have concurrent jurisdiction with justice of the peace courts over Class C misdemeanors where the crime is punishable by no more than a small fine. When city ordinances related to fire safety, zoning, public health or sanitation are found to be violated, municipal courts can levy fines up to $2,000, as authorized by the governing body of that city. Municipal judges also have the authority to issue search and arrest warrants. Municipal courts, however, do not have jurisdiction in most civil cases, though they do have limited civil jurisdiction in cases involving the owners of dangerous dogs. Contact information for the more than 900 Texas municipal courts can be located at the searchable database maintained by the Administrative Office of Courts. Reports filed by the municipal courts also are searchable. Texas Courts Online Extensive information about all Texas courts can be found at the Texas Courts Online Web site. Among the many sites supported and/or linked there are the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Task Force on Indigent Defense and the Texas State Law Library. |
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| Texas Courts Online - Access State and County Court Records Databases | |||
Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Opinions Texas Judicial - Supreme Court of Texas Tenth District Court of Appeals, Texas United States District Court - Northern District of Texas United States District Court - Western District of Texas US District Court - Eastern District of Texas United States Bankruptcy Court - Northern District of Texas US District & Bankruptcy Courts - Southern District of Texas US District & Bankruptcy Courts - Southern District of Texas Texas State Law Library - Search the collection, new books or research Texas Laws online. Texas Court Judicial Management System - Search the court directory by court type or county or download the "published" version of the judicial system directory. Texas eFiling - Process court pleadings and documents online through e-filing. Texas Online - Search and locate various court related online services. |
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