United States · Texas civil appeals

When is the appellee’s brief due in an ordinary Texas civil appeal?

In the ordinary branch, an appellee’s brief must be filed within thirty days after the appellant’s brief is filed. In a civil case where the appellant has not filed as provided, the appellee may file within thirty days after the appellant brief’s due date. Accelerated appeals use twenty days. This calculator covers only the independently established ordinary thirty-day branch and event.

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Calculate my deadline

Period: Thirty calendar days in the covered ordinary branch
Trigger: Actual appellant-brief filing, or its independently established due date in the stated no-brief civil branch
Rule: Texas appellate Rule 38.6(b)

Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure

Official consolidation dated February 6, 2026, with individual amendments and applicability provisions

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Calculate your deadline

Actual appellant-brief filing, or its independently established due date in the stated no-brief civil branch

Use for the ordinary civil thirty-day branch. Establish actual appellant filing or, when no brief was filed as provided, the actual applicable due date. The accelerated twenty-day branch is not calculated here.

Entry rules and timing exceptions

30 days from Date the appellant's brief was filed (or was due, if none filed)

TRAP 38.6(b)Binding

Calculation software, not legal advice. Check the current rule, orders and facts.

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Which actual event starts this appellate period?

Establish that the civil appeal uses the ordinary thirty-day appellee period.

Obtain the actual appellant-brief filing record and check whether a brief was filed as provided.

If no brief was filed as provided, independently establish the actual appellant due date, including a governing briefing order.

Texas appellate Rule 38.6(b)

How does this appellate period work?

Establish that the civil appeal uses the ordinary thirty-day appellee period.
Exclude the actual triggering event and count every intermediate calendar day under Rule 4.1(a). Do not import the Civil Rules’ short-period exclusion into appellate computation. A signing, rendition, filing or ruling date must be established from its own actual record. Add thirty days to the actual filing event or independently established due date in the stated absent-brief branch. Do not automatically replace late actual filing with the original due date.
Apply Rule 4.1 and establish the actual clerk calendar.
Complete the required act in the correct court.

Rule 4.1(a) moves a final Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday to the next eligible day. Rule 4.1(b) separately extends a filing period when the proper clerk is closed or inaccessible during regular hours on the final day, until the next open and accessible day. Preserve the required proof. The encoded Texas holiday calendar covers 2026 through 2028; it does not know additional local closure or system failure.

Texas appellate Rule 4.1

What does an independently derived example show?

Fictitious example

Fictitious facts. The appellant’s brief is actually filed in an ordinary civil appeal. The independently established input event is August 2, 2027. No different court order, additional closure or bankruptcy suspension applies.

Example counting steps
Step	What is counted	Date
Established event	Actual appellant-brief filing, or its independently established due date in the stated no-brief civil branch	August 2, 2027
Applicable period	Thirty calendar days in the covered ordinary branch	Wednesday, September 1, 2027

Example resultWednesday, September 1, 2027

Fictitious facts with the stated appeal classification and actual event independently established. No additional closure, order, disputed eligibility or unmodeled restart is assumed.

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Which appeal conditions and court directions matter?

Actual filing and an absent brief differ: Rule 38.6(b) first uses the actual appellant filing. Its civil alternative applies if the appellant has not filed as provided and permits appellee filing after the actual due date. Establish which factual branch applies.
Acceleration changes the period to twenty days: Rule 38.6(b) specifies twenty days in accelerated appeals for both its actual-filing and civil no-brief alternatives. This calculator is expressly limited to the ordinary thirty-day branch.
Appellee contents and cross-points remain separate: Rule 38.2(a) adapts Rule 38.1 with stated omissions and response ordering. Rule 38.2(b) separately addresses cross-points following judgment notwithstanding the verdict and its waiver condition. A deadline calculation does not establish compliance.
An actual briefing order can change filing time: Rule 38.6(d) permits extension on a Rule 10.5(b) motion filed before or after the brief is due, and permits shortening in the interests of justice. Obtain the actual order. This ordinary-period calculator does not grant relief or replace a changed timetable.

Texas appellate Rule 38.6(b)

The calculator does not decide appealability, disputed classification, the merits, entitlement to relief or sufficiency of a filing.
The consolidation date does not establish applicability of every historical amendment. Read the actual governing edition and orders.

What must be filed, served and preserved?

Establish that the civil appeal uses the ordinary thirty-day appellee period.
Obtain the actual appellant-brief filing record and check whether a brief was filed as provided.
If no brief was filed as provided, independently establish the actual appellant due date, including a governing briefing order.
Rule 38.6(b) first uses the actual appellant filing. Its civil alternative applies if the appellant has not filed as provided and permits appellee filing after the actual due date. Establish which factual branch applies.
Rule 38.6(b) specifies twenty days in accelerated appeals for both its actual-filing and civil no-brief alternatives. This calculator is expressly limited to the ordinary thirty-day branch.
Rule 38.2(a) adapts Rule 38.1 with stated omissions and response ordering. Rule 38.2(b) separately addresses cross-points following judgment notwithstanding the verdict and its waiver condition. A deadline calculation does not establish compliance.
Rule 38.6(d) permits extension on a Rule 10.5(b) motion filed before or after the brief is due, and permits shortening in the interests of justice. Obtain the actual order. This ordinary-period calculator does not grant relief or replace a changed timetable.
Prepare the appellee brief under Rule 38.2 and comply with its particular form and cross-point requirements where applicable. File with the proper appellate clerk. Under Rule 9.2(c)(4), ordinary electronic filing occurs on transmission to the filing party’s service provider before midnight in the court’s time zone, subject to a specified time of day, weekend or holiday transmission and a required leave order. Attorneys in civil cases must electronically file subject to Rule 9.2(c)’s stated exceptions. Preserve confirmation and seek appropriate court relief for technical failure under 9.2(c)(5). Rule 9.5 separately requires timely service on all parties, ordinarily their lead counsel, and proof of service; appellate records outside original proceedings have their stated service exception. A qualifying mailed filing under 9.2(b) requires timely deposit or delivery and receipt within ten days after the filing deadline. Those ten days do not permit late deposit.

Common questions about this appellate act