When must ordinary Texas admission requests be answered to avoid deemed admissions?

Obtain each actual admission request and evidence of proper completed service.

Check the defendant’s Family Code status, answer due date and actual service method.

Prepare and properly serve the responses required by Rule 198.2(b). Filing an unserved response does not establish timely service.

1. Obtain each actual admission request and evidence of proper completed service.
2. Confirm the stated ordinary branch applies and no different agreement or court order controls.
3. Exclude the event and count thirty calendar days.
4. Check the final day and complete the actual required act.

Rule 4 excludes the triggering event. Count thirty calendar days and include the final day. Its exclusion of intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays for periods of five days or less does not apply to this thirty-day period.

Rule 4 moves a final Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday to the next day that is none of those. The calculator uses the encoded Texas calendar for 2026 through 2028. Establish the actual applicable legal holidays and any additional closure or controlling order. The fictitious holiday example assumes the court is open September 7, 2027, after Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day.

Rule 21a distinguishes service completion from filing. Mail and commercial delivery use proper prepaid deposit. Fax is complete on receipt, with service after 5 p.m. recipient local time deemed served the following day. Electronic service is complete on transmission to the serving party’s electronic filing service provider. Rule 21a(c) adds three days to qualifying mail-based response periods, not automatically to commercial delivery, fax or electronic service. This calculator does not add that mail adjustment.

Fictitious example

Fictitious facts. The stated ordinary thirty-day branch governs. No different order, agreement or extension applies. Service is properly completed electronically, and the Family Code early-service and mail-adjustment branches do not apply. Proper completion of service of the requests for admissions is independently established as August 2, 2027.

Fictitious facts. No exception, different order or additional closure applies. The separate closed-day example assumes the court is open September 7, 2027. The material-event example distinguishes the controlling event from a different event.

Automatic consequence of an untimely response

Rule 198.2(c) treats an untimely response as an admission without needing a court order. Do not assume an opponent must first obtain an order deeming it admitted.

Required response content

Rule 198.2(b) requires an admission, denial or detailed explanation why the matter cannot be admitted or denied, subject to its good-faith and reasonable-inquiry requirements. Lack of information alone does not satisfy those requirements.

Withdrawal or amendment requires findings

Rule 198.3 requires good cause and findings that the relying party will not be unduly prejudiced and that presenting the merits will be served. An admission is conclusively established unless withdrawal or amendment is permitted. Late service alone does not establish that relief.

Family Code defendant served before the answer is due

The current response rule permits fifty days after service for a Family Code defendant served before the answer is due. This ordinary thirty-day calculator does not select that branch. Establish the case type and actual answer due date before using the ordinary branch.

Mail and service completion

Rule 21a distinguishes service completion from filing. Mail and commercial delivery use proper prepaid deposit. Fax is complete on receipt, with service after 5 p.m. recipient local time deemed served the following day. Electronic service is complete on transmission to the serving party’s electronic filing service provider. Rule 21a(c) adds three days to qualifying mail-based response periods, not automatically to commercial delivery, fax or electronic service. This calculator does not add that mail adjustment.

Agreement, order or enlargement

Read the actual discovery plan and any permitted agreement or order. Rule 191.1 permits its stated discovery modifications. Rule 5 distinguishes an application before expiry from good-cause relief after expiry. A request for relief is not an automatic extension.

• This calculator does not decide the case type, service validity, exemptions, disputed receipt, a court order or entitlement to relief.
• The result remains provisional until the actual applicable requirements are checked.

• Obtain each actual admission request and evidence of proper completed service.
• Check the defendant’s Family Code status, answer due date and actual service method.
• Prepare and properly serve the responses required by Rule 198.2(b). Filing an unserved response does not establish timely service.
• Rule 198.2(c) treats an untimely response as an admission without needing a court order. Do not assume an opponent must first obtain an order deeming it admitted.
• Rule 198.2(b) requires an admission, denial or detailed explanation why the matter cannot be admitted or denied, subject to its good-faith and reasonable-inquiry requirements. Lack of information alone does not satisfy those requirements.
• Rule 198.3 requires good cause and findings that the relying party will not be unduly prejudiced and that presenting the merits will be served. An admission is conclusively established unless withdrawal or amendment is permitted. Late service alone does not establish that relief.
• The current response rule permits fifty days after service for a Family Code defendant served before the answer is due. This ordinary thirty-day calculator does not select that branch. Establish the case type and actual answer due date before using the ordinary branch.
• Rule 21a distinguishes service completion from filing. Mail and commercial delivery use proper prepaid deposit. Fax is complete on receipt, with service after 5 p.m. recipient local time deemed served the following day. Electronic service is complete on transmission to the serving party’s electronic filing service provider. Rule 21a(c) adds three days to qualifying mail-based response periods, not automatically to commercial delivery, fax or electronic service. This calculator does not add that mail adjustment.
• Read the actual discovery plan and any permitted agreement or order. Rule 191.1 permits its stated discovery modifications. Rule 5 distinguishes an application before expiry from good-cause relief after expiry. A request for relief is not an automatic extension.
• Serve the required written response on the requesting party and all parties of record, as Rule 191.5 requires, through an authorized method under Rule 21a. Preserve transmission, receipt or other proper proof. Rule 191.4 ordinarily does not require filing discovery responses with the clerk. A filed document or draft that was not properly served does not establish timely response.