When must a defendant answer Texas district or county court citation by publication?

Obtain the issued citation and its recorded issuance date.

Establish that publication is authorized for this proceeding and inspect the actual service record.

Read the citation’s specified weekday, calendar date and hour, and establish the actual court.

1. Obtain the issued citation and its recorded issuance date.
2. Exclude issuance and identify expiry of forty-two days, then apply the first Monday after expiry and the 10:00 a.m. command. Publication dates do not replace issuance. The complete calculation requires the named-weekday stage and relevant holiday analysis; no isolated forty-two-day result is published.
3. Read the actual order and confirm every stated condition.
4. Complete the act required by the rule, not merely a date calculation.

Rule 4 excludes the triggering event and counts intermediate calendar days for periods longer than five days. It addresses final Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. This guide calculates no final date or hour, and does not replace a named-weekday step, actual court order or required receipt with an isolated period. Establish the applicable legal holidays and actual court calendar.

The isolated forty-two-day preset lacks the first-following-Monday stage and specified hour. No computed publication answer date or paid record is released.

Authorized publication is required

Rule 114 begins where citation by publication is authorized. It specifies citation contents and incorporates Rules 15 and 99 insofar as consistent. A date calculation does not establish entitlement to use publication.

Publication service is a separate procedure

Rule 116 prescribes publication locations and the stated newspaper exceptions. The actual required publication and return remain separate from the issuance-based answer command.

Court-specific command

Rule 114 expressly supplies the district or county court Monday-and-hour command. Current justice-court answers must be assessed under their governing Part V rules, including Rule 502.5.

• This guide does not establish the actual pleadings, service, calendar, legal entitlement or terms of a signed order.
• The current consolidation date does not decide historical applicability of an individual amendment.

• Obtain the issued citation and its recorded issuance date.
• Establish that publication is authorized for this proceeding and inspect the actual service record.
• Read the citation’s specified weekday, calendar date and hour, and establish the actual court.
• Rule 114 begins where citation by publication is authorized. It specifies citation contents and incorporates Rules 15 and 99 insofar as consistent. A date calculation does not establish entitlement to use publication.
• Rule 116 prescribes publication locations and the stated newspaper exceptions. The actual required publication and return remain separate from the issuance-based answer command.
• Rule 114 expressly supplies the district or county court Monday-and-hour command. Current justice-court answers must be assessed under their governing Part V rules, including Rule 502.5.
• File the written document with the proper clerk and preserve its actual transmission and receipt. Complete separately required service and retain the signed certificate. Rule 21(f)(5) distinguishes ordinary midnight filing from a document due at a specified time of day. A 10:00 a.m. answer does not acquire a midnight cutoff merely because it is filed electronically.