When must an ordinary Texas production request receive a written response?

Obtain the actual request, recipient and proof of proper completed service.

Check whether a Family Code defendant received the request before the answer was due, and whether qualifying mail service requires extra time.

Distinguish the written-response date from the requested, stated, agreed or ordered actual production time.

1. Obtain the actual request, recipient and proof 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 production or inspection request 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.

Production is a separate act

Under Rules 196.1(b) and 196.3(a), the request specifies a reasonable production time on or after the response is due. Subject to objections, actual production occurs at the requested or stated time and place, unless agreement or order changes it. A written response alone does not establish completed production.

Response content

Rule 196.2(b) requires the appropriate objections, privileges and statement of whether production is permitted, copies accompany the response, an alternate time and place apply, or a diligent search identified no responsive items.

Nonparty medical records

Rule 196.1(c) requires its separate nonparty notice for requested medical or mental-health records, subject to the stated release, nondisclosure-of-identity and court-order exceptions. Confidentiality law still applies.

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 the actual request, recipient and proof of proper completed service.
• Check whether a Family Code defendant received the request before the answer was due, and whether qualifying mail service requires extra time.
• Distinguish the written-response date from the requested, stated, agreed or ordered actual production time.
• Under Rules 196.1(b) and 196.3(a), the request specifies a reasonable production time on or after the response is due. Subject to objections, actual production occurs at the requested or stated time and place, unless agreement or order changes it. A written response alone does not establish completed production.
• Rule 196.2(b) requires the appropriate objections, privileges and statement of whether production is permitted, copies accompany the response, an alternate time and place apply, or a diligent search identified no responsive items.
• Rule 196.1(c) requires its separate nonparty notice for requested medical or mental-health records, subject to the stated release, nondisclosure-of-identity and court-order exceptions. Confidentiality law still applies.
• 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.