How to Fill Out and File the Texas Order Setting Hearing Form

The Texas Order Setting Hearing form is a proposed court order you draft, get a date for from the court coordinator, and e-file so the judge can sign it and put your motion on the docket. Texas doesn’t publish a single statewide template, so the form itself usually comes from your local court’s website or from a caption you build yourself to match that court’s format. Check your court’s preferences before you start; a rejected filing almost always traces back to a local-rule detail the drafter didn’t confirm.

Where to Get the Form

Texas has very few standardized legal forms, and this is one of the gaps.¹ If an official version exists for your court, it’s usually on the court’s or district clerk’s website. Some counties publish fillable PDFs through their law library pages; Tarrant County, for example, hosts a downloadable fillable version.² If your county doesn’t post one, search for “[county name] order setting hearing form,” ask the court coordinator whether the court has a preferred template, or draft a proposed order from scratch using the caption format used on other filings in your case.

What Goes on the Form

The top of the form uses the same caption block that appears on every document in the case. Pull it straight from the original petition so it matches exactly:

Cause number: the docket number the clerk assigned when the case was filed.
Style of the case: the parties’ names, formatted the way they appear on the petition.
Court and county: the specific court (for example, “96th Judicial District Court”) and the county where the case is pending. A District Court and a County Court at Law are separate courts, even in the same courthouse.

In the body of the order, name the motion that needs a hearing. Be specific — “Defendant’s Motion to Compel Discovery” or “Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment” — so the clerk and judge know which filing you’re asking to schedule. Leave the date, time, and courtroom blank; the court coordinator or judge fills those in. Leave the judge’s signature line blank as well.

At the bottom, include your name, bar number if you’re an attorney, address, phone number, and email. Rule 21 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure requires an attorney’s or unrepresented party’s email address on every electronically filed document.³

Getting a Date From the Court Coordinator

Before you file the proposed order, contact the court coordinator to get an available hearing date. The coordinator manages the judge’s docket and is the person who actually assigns hearing slots. Most coordinators take requests by email, fax, or phone; check your court’s website for the preferred method.⁴ Provide the cause number, party names, the type of motion, and how much hearing time you expect to need.

Don’t assume your requested date is confirmed just because you asked. The coordinator will contact you to confirm the actual date and time.⁴ Once confirmed, insert that information into your proposed order before filing. Some courts reverse this workflow and want you to file the proposed order with the date blank, then fill it in after signing. Ask the coordinator which approach your court prefers. Getting this wrong is one of the easiest ways to have a filing bounced back.

Certificate of Conference

Many Texas courts require a certificate of conference attached to any motion set for hearing. The certificate states that you tried to resolve the dispute with the other side before asking the judge to weigh in. Some courts treat it as a hard requirement: no certificate, no hearing.

A typical certificate requires at least three contact attempts with opposing counsel on at least two separate business days during regular business hours.⁵ If you conferred but couldn’t agree, the certificate says so. If opposing counsel never responded, you document the attempts. Tarrant County’s local rules phrase it as certifying that “a reasonable effort has been made to resolve the dispute without the necessity of court intervention and the effort failed.”⁶

Certain motions are commonly exempt, including motions for summary judgment, default judgment, voluntary dismissal, new trial, and pleas to the jurisdiction.⁵ Agreed or unopposed motions also skip the step if the proposed order is signed by all counsel and the title includes “Agreed” or “Unopposed.” Exemption lists vary by court, so read your local rules.

E-Filing the Proposed Order

E-filing is mandatory for all attorneys filing civil cases in Texas district and county courts.⁷ Self-represented filers are encouraged to e-file but aren’t currently required to. You’ll submit the proposed order through eFileTexas.gov using an approved electronic filing service provider such as File & ServeXpress or TexFile.

When you build the filing envelope, select the filing code “Proposed Order” for the unsigned order.⁸ That flags the document for the judge’s review rather than routing it like a standard pleading. Upload the order as a text-searchable PDF; scanned images are accepted, but directly converted PDFs are preferred under Rule 21.³ Most courts charge no separate filing fee for a proposed order because you paid when you filed the underlying motion, though your e-filing provider may add a service fee.

After the clerk accepts the filing, it goes to the judge. Turnaround depends on the judge’s workload — some sign the same day, others take a week or more. You’ll get an electronic notification through the e-filing system once the order is signed and entered into the case record.

Serving the Signed Order

Once the judge signs, you’re responsible for making sure every other party in the case gets a copy. People need to know when and where they’re expected to appear. Some courts have the coordinator handle notification and expect the moving party to follow up.⁶ Either way, confirm with the coordinator who is expected to notify the other parties. If it falls to you and you skip it, the judge may strike the hearing.

Rule 21a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure governs how you serve documents. If the other party’s email address is on file with the electronic filing manager, you serve electronically through the e-filing system; that’s the default in e-filed cases. If no email is on file, you can serve in person, by regular mail, by commercial delivery, by fax, or by email.⁹ The rule doesn’t specifically require certified mail, though it creates a stronger paper trail if service is later disputed.

Certificate of Service

Every document you file must include a signed certificate of service describing how and when you served the other parties.¹⁰ It states the date of service, the method used, and the name of each person served. A certificate signed by a party or their attorney is treated as proof of service; if someone disputes receiving the document, the court looks to the certificate first.¹¹

Timing of Notice

Under Rule 21(b), notice of a hearing must be served on all other parties at least three days before the hearing, unless another rule sets a longer period or the court shortens the timeframe.¹⁰ Three days is the floor for a routine motion hearing. Local rules often require more, so check the ones posted for your court before you cut it close.

Summary Judgment Hearings Have Extra Deadlines

If you’re setting a hearing on a motion for summary judgment filed on or after March 1, 2026, a separate set of deadlines applies under the amended Rule 166a. The hearing or submission date can’t be set within 35 days of the motion’s filing date. Unless the motion is withdrawn, the court must set the hearing within 60 days of filing, or within 90 days if the docket requires it, good cause exists, or the movant agrees.¹²

The briefing deadlines under the amended rule run from the filing date, not the hearing date. The nonmovant’s response is due 21 days after the motion is filed; the movant’s reply is due 7 days after that. These can be modified by leave of court or agreement of the parties. Keep the windows in mind when picking a hearing date with the coordinator. Too early doesn’t give the other side enough time to respond, and too late bumps up against the outer limit.

Justice Courts Work Differently

If your case is in a Justice of the Peace court, this process doesn’t apply cleanly. Justice courts follow Part V of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules 500–510), and the general rules — including Rules 21 and 21a — do not automatically apply.¹³ A justice court judge can choose to follow a general rule when fairness requires it, but don’t assume the same procedures apply. E-filing is permitted in some justice courts but not universally required.⁷

Debt claims (Rule 508), repair-and-remedy cases (Rule 509), and evictions (Rule 510) each have their own procedural tracks that override the general Part V rules when there’s a conflict.¹³ For those case types, start with the specific rule rather than the general motion procedures, and contact the justice court clerk for their preferred forms and scheduling process. Many of these courts handle scheduling in-house without a formal proposed order from the parties.

1
Texas State Law Library. Children and Family Law – Commonly Requested Legal Forms
2
Tarrant County, TX. Fillable Order Setting Hearing
3
South Texas College of Law Houston. Rule 21 Filing and Serving Pleadings and Motions (2023)
4
506th Judicial District Court. Civil Setting Requests and Procedures
5
Grimes County Court at Law. Certificate of Conference
6
Tarrant County, TX. Local Rules of Court – Tarrant County
7
eFileTexas.Gov. Official E-Filing System for Texas
8
Dallas County District Clerk. eFile FAQs
9
South Texas College of Law Houston. Rule 21a Methods of Service (2014)
10
South Texas College of Law Houston. Rule 21 Filing and Serving Pleadings and Motions (2015)
11
Harris County Justice of the Peace Courts. CV-Certificate of Service
12
Supreme Court of Texas. Misc. Docket No. 26-9012 Final Approval of Amendments to Rule 166a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure
13
Harris County Justice of the Peace Courts. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure Part V – Rules of Practice in Justice Courts