When must a Texas presuit deposition petition and hearing notice be served?

Obtain the actual verified petition, proper county and hearing setting.

Identify every proposed deponent and, where suit is anticipated, every expected adverse-interest person.

Read the service branch and any order shortening, lengthening or extending notice before choosing the ordinary fifteen-day interval.

1. Obtain the actual verified petition, proper county and hearing setting.
2. The ordinary fifteen-day minimum precedes the petition hearing, not the proposed deposition. Rule 202.3(b) separately uses more than fourteen days after first publication and two consecutive weekly publications. Rule 202.3(d) allows court-modified notice. These events and procedures cannot be replaced with one fifteen-day subtraction.
3. Read any signed order and establish the actual required act, recipients and completion method.
4. Check closed days without silently shortening the required interval.

These periods exceed five days, so Rule 4’s exclusion of intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays for short periods does not apply. Do not move a latest date forward toward trial, a hearing or discovery closure merely because the nominal date is closed. That can leave less than the required lead time. Check Rule 4, the controlling order and actual court calendar. This source guide applies no automatic backward closed-day adjustment and supplies no computed last date.

Complete actual service under the applicable rule. Rule 21a distinguishes permitted service methods from filing. Electronic service completes on transmission to the serving party’s electronic filing service provider. Fax received after 5 p.m. in the recipient’s time zone is deemed served the next day. The three-day qualifying-mail addition in Rule 21a(c) concerns a prescribed period after service, not an automatic addition to a backward trial or discovery limit. Preserve recipients, method and completion evidence.

The ordinary fifteen-day preset cannot select all notice branches, the separate probate posting procedure, a modified notice order or deposition authorization. It also does not resolve a closed-day last date. This guide explains the procedure without a calculated result.

Named-person recipients

Rule 202.3(a) requires the petition and hearing notice on all proposed deponents and, if suit is anticipated, all persons expected to have adverse interests. Notice to a single prospective defendant does not cover all required recipients.

Publication is a different branch

Rule 202.3(b) addresses unnamed expected adverse persons, with the hearing more than fourteen days after first publication and publication once each week for two consecutive weeks in the specified newspaper. It is not ordinary fifteen-day personal service.

Probate and court modifications

Rule 202.3(c) separately permits posting before an anticipated will-probate application and directs notice to all parties interested in the estate. Its retained Probate Code 33(f)(2) reference maps to Estates Code 51.053, and the relevant notice-content provisions in 33(c) map to 51.003. Posting must follow the actual officer, return and notice requirements. Under Rule 202.3(d), the court may shorten, lengthen or extend notice as specified. This guide does not calculate that separate posting branch.

Required deposition authorization

Rule 202.4(a) requires the stated prevention-of-failure-or-delay-of-justice finding or the potential-claim benefit-versus-burden finding. The order must provide appropriate protections. Rule 190.6 prohibits using Rule 202 to circumvent the discovery limits.

• This guide does not establish the actual discovery endpoint, hearing or trial setting, service validity, court calendar or terms of an order.
• A timing explanation does not establish discovery compliance or permission to take the requested action.

• Obtain the actual verified petition, proper county and hearing setting.
• Identify every proposed deponent and, where suit is anticipated, every expected adverse-interest person.
• Read the service branch and any order shortening, lengthening or extending notice before choosing the ordinary fifteen-day interval.
• Rule 202.3(a) requires the petition and hearing notice on all proposed deponents and, if suit is anticipated, all persons expected to have adverse interests. Notice to a single prospective defendant does not cover all required recipients.
• Rule 202.3(b) addresses unnamed expected adverse persons, with the hearing more than fourteen days after first publication and publication once each week for two consecutive weeks in the specified newspaper. It is not ordinary fifteen-day personal service.
• Rule 202.3(c) separately permits posting before an anticipated will-probate application and directs notice to all parties interested in the estate. Its retained Probate Code 33(f)(2) reference maps to Estates Code 51.053, and the relevant notice-content provisions in 33(c) map to 51.003. Posting must follow the actual officer, return and notice requirements. Under Rule 202.3(d), the court may shorten, lengthen or extend notice as specified. This guide does not calculate that separate posting branch.
• Rule 202.4(a) requires the stated prevention-of-failure-or-delay-of-justice finding or the potential-claim benefit-versus-burden finding. The order must provide appropriate protections. Rule 190.6 prohibits using Rule 202 to circumvent the discovery limits.
• Serve both the petition and hearing notice under Rule 21a on the Rule 202.3(a) recipients. Preserve complete service evidence and any publication or modified-notice order. File the verified petition and applicable hearing material through the actual court’s procedure, with Rule 21(f)(5)’s ordinary electronic filing boundary before midnight in the court time zone. The deposition requires the separate Rule 202.4 findings and order. If that order omits deposition time and place, give the Rule 199 or 200 deposition notice separately.