Bexar County District Courts Adjournment & Extension Requirements

CRITICALCriminal cases

Requests for resets, postponements, and continuances are governed by Chapter 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

11.2 Requests for resets, postponements and Motions for Continuance will be governed as per Chapter 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

CRITICAL

Settings for final hearings on the merits cannot be continued or dropped without court approval.

A setting on any final hearing on the merits of a proceeding cannot be continued or dropped without court approval.

CRITICAL

Every request for a continuance of the trial setting—including agreed continuances—requires filing a motion, setting it for hearing before the Monitoring Judge, and appearing to obtain the judge's approval.

For all requests for a continuance of the trial setting, including agreed continuances, the parties must file a motion and set it for hearing before the Monitoring Judge. Available trial dates can be found at the following website and are updated each week: http://www.bexar.org/1813/Chief-Trial-Assignment-Clerk. Regardless of agreement, the counsel and/or self-represented litigants must appear and obtain approval of the continuance by the Monitoring Judge.

CRITICAL

A vacation or unavailability letter alone will not drop or reschedule existing settings; counsel must reschedule existing hearings by agreed order or by motion for continuance with a ruling from the Presiding Court.

Existing settings will not be dropped, postponed, or rescheduled solely on the basis of a vacation or unavailability letter. Counsel who desire to take a vacation or otherwise be unavailable must reschedule existing hearings by agreed order or by motion for continuance and ruling from the Presiding Court.

CRITICAL

A party announcing 'Not ready' must file a motion for continuance at or before the announcement and set it for hearing before the trial setting.

If a party announces “Not ready”, they must file a motion for continuance of the trial date at the time of or before making their announcement and set their motion for hearing prior to the trial setting.

CRITICAL

Litigants with more than two settings must confer at least two days in advance, notify opposing parties of the conflicts, discuss resetting, provide a day-of-hearing cell phone number, and advise the Presiding Judge of any unresolved conflict, or risk dropped settings or adverse rulings.

If counsel and/or self- represented litigants have more than 2 settings, counsel and/or self- represented litigants must confer with all counsel and/or self-represented litigants on all cases at least two days prior to the date of the settings. Counsel and/or self-represented litigants must notify opposing counsel and/or self-represented litigants of the multiple settings, discuss resetting hearings, and provide opposing counsel and/or self-represented litigants with a cell phone number to contact on the day of the hearing. If an agreement as to how to resolve the conflict cannot be reached, counsel and/or self- represented litigants must advise the Presiding Judge of the conflict when the case is called for hearing. Failure to comply with this section may result in the settings of the case(s) on the Presiding Court docket being dropped, an adverse ruling being entered, or such other action as the Presiding Judge deems appropriate.

CRITICAL

Trial settings may be passed or reset only by a settlement agreement announced in open court, an agreed order/agreement of all parties with Court approval, or a granted Motion for Continuance.

No setting shall be passed or reset except by: (a) settlement agreement announced in open court complying with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure; (b) Agreed Order to Dismiss/agreement of all parties with Court approval; or (c) a Motion for Continuance granted by the Court.

WARNING

Once a setting has been noticed, it may be dropped only with the agreement of all present parties.

Once noticed, a setting may be dropped only by agreement of all present parties.

WARNING

Requests for an amended docket control order extending the trial date beyond the suggested completion dates (18, 12, or 6 months) will require a hearing.

Any requests for an amended docket control order that extends the trial date further than the suggested completion dates listed above will require a hearing.