Articles Posted in Kaufman County Court Information

Texas Divorce Law is changing in 2021. Starting on 1/1/21 there will be new discovery rules that will apply to all family law cases, including child custody and divorce. What does this mean for people starting the process? It means it’s time to get organized. If you are going to meet with a Texas Family Lawyer in 2021 you must have certain documents and information ready from the start.

What’s changed?

Starting in January 1st, 2021 all parties to a divorce will be required to turn over certain documents within 30 days. So as soon as you are served with a divorce or child custody case you will have 30 days to respond, and as soon as you file a divorce case you will have 30 days to turn documents over to the other party.

Courts are working to head off problems with custody orders caused by the Coronavirus.  If you have a custody order you must keep up with these orders, since they apply to you. The most recent order on family cases in Kaufman County is from March 25th.

Standing Order Governing Possession and Access During the Shelter in Place Order of Kaufman County Judge Signed March 24, 2020

For all cases arising from the Family Law Courts of Kaufman County, the Court ORDERS that:

There are several courts within Kaufman County, but only two of them hear divorce, custody, Child Protective Service (CPS), and IV-D or Attorney General cases.  If you file for divorce or custody in Kaufman County, the case would be filed in the Kaufman County District Clerk’s office and then the clerk randomly assigns the cases between the 86th Judicial District Court and the 422nd Judicial District Court.  Because of this random assignment, you cannot choose which court your case will be assigned in.

While some CPS and IV-D cases are heard by our district judges, most are heard by the Associate Judges.  Judge Snarr is the current Associate Judge on the CPS cases and Judge Martinez is the current Associate Judge on the IV-D cases.  IV-D or Attorney General cases are all child support cases started by the Attorney General’s office meaning the Attorney General is the petitioner.  The courtroom for CPS and IV-D is the same one and it is located at the South Campus in Kaufman County, not the actual courthouse on the square.

As you can imagine, all four of the judges have different policies/standards in these types of cases.

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