When is the appellate record due in an ordinary Texas civil appeal?

Obtain the actual signed judgment and its signing date.

Confirm the ordinary sixty-day record branch and check every party’s qualifying Rule 26.1(a) filings.

Establish the separate clerk, reporter, fee and request conditions and whether an appendix election changes the procedure.

1. Obtain the actual signed judgment and its signing date.
2. 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. Count sixty days from signing, not from the notice of appeal, record request or payment.
3. Apply Rule 4.1 and establish the actual clerk calendar.
4. 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.

Fictitious example

Fictitious facts. The ordinary judgment is signed and no qualifying Rule 26.1(a) filing applies. The actual triggering date is July 3, 2027. Required notice, record requests and fee conditions are satisfied. No Rule 34.5a appendix, extension order, additional closure or timetable restart applies.

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

Clerk and reporter have conditional filing duties

Rule 35.3(a) assigns the clerk’s record to the trial clerk when its notice and fee, arrangement or no-fee-entitlement conditions are satisfied, except the Rule 34.5a appendix branch. Rule 35.3(b) separately assigns the reporter’s record when notice, request and fee, arrangement or entitlement conditions are satisfied.

The appellant’s request is a separate act

Rule 34.6(b) requires the written reporter’s-record request at or before perfecting the appeal and a copy filed with the trial clerk. Designate the required exhibits and, for the stated reporter branch, portions of proceedings. The later record-filing deadline is not permission to postpone that request.

An appendix replacing the clerk’s record has another procedure

Rule 34.5a(a) uses an election notice within ten days after the appellant files the notice of appeal. Its original appendix and appellant brief use the separate later-of election-or-reporter event under 34.5a(b). Rule 34.5a(h) excludes preparing or filing a clerk’s record when its appendix is filed. Establish that branch separately.

Qualifying postjudgment filings change the record branch

Rule 35.1(a) uses 120 days after signing when Rule 26.1(a) applies. The same actual timely qualifying-filing inquiry matters; a motion’s ruling does not itself become the 120-day trigger.

Record extension is separate from appeal perfection

Under Rule 35.3(c), trial and appellate courts jointly ensure timely record filing. The appellate court may extend on the clerk’s or reporter’s request, with each ordinary or restricted extension limited to thirty days. It must allow late filing when delay is not the appellant’s fault and may do so when it is. Establish the actual order; the calculator does not grant relief.

• 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.

• Obtain the actual signed judgment and its signing date.
• Confirm the ordinary sixty-day record branch and check every party’s qualifying Rule 26.1(a) filings.
• Establish the separate clerk, reporter, fee and request conditions and whether an appendix election changes the procedure.
• Rule 35.3(a) assigns the clerk’s record to the trial clerk when its notice and fee, arrangement or no-fee-entitlement conditions are satisfied, except the Rule 34.5a appendix branch. Rule 35.3(b) separately assigns the reporter’s record when notice, request and fee, arrangement or entitlement conditions are satisfied.
• Rule 34.6(b) requires the written reporter’s-record request at or before perfecting the appeal and a copy filed with the trial clerk. Designate the required exhibits and, for the stated reporter branch, portions of proceedings. The later record-filing deadline is not permission to postpone that request.
• Rule 34.5a(a) uses an election notice within ten days after the appellant files the notice of appeal. Its original appendix and appellant brief use the separate later-of election-or-reporter event under 34.5a(b). Rule 34.5a(h) excludes preparing or filing a clerk’s record when its appendix is filed. Establish that branch separately.
• Rule 35.1(a) uses 120 days after signing when Rule 26.1(a) applies. The same actual timely qualifying-filing inquiry matters; a motion’s ruling does not itself become the 120-day trigger.
• Under Rule 35.3(c), trial and appellate courts jointly ensure timely record filing. The appellate court may extend on the clerk’s or reporter’s request, with each ordinary or restricted extension limited to thirty days. It must allow late filing when delay is not the appellant’s fault and may do so when it is. Establish the actual order; the calculator does not grant relief.
• Confirm the clerk and reporter have the required notice, requests and fee arrangements or no-fee entitlement. The responsible clerk and reporter prepare, certify and file their respective records under Rule 35.3(a)–(b). Obtain the actual appellate docket filing confirmations. 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. Rule 9.5(a) states that outside original proceedings a party need not serve a copy of the record. Do not mistake record preparation, payment or a request for actual filing.