When must a Texas eviction party request a jury and pay the jury fee?

Actual trial day and actual service of citation and petition

Obtain the actual trial setting and any reset.

Establish the valid citation-and-petition service date.

Prepare the written demand and actual fee payment or Rule 510.7 Statement.

1. Compare three days before trial with three days after citation-and-petition service; use the later anchor
2. One backward interval and one forward interval, then comparison
3. Identify actual court closure and the required act before applying a period.

Rule 510.4 excludes the event day and counts every intermediate day, including weekends and state or federal holidays. A final weekend or state or federal holiday moves to the next eligible day. If the last filing day falls when the court is closed for all or part of that day, filing moves to the court’s next business day. Check actual closure separately. Express business-day periods and backward minimum notice require their own assessment. The general Rule 4 short-period exclusion does not apply.

Rule 510.5(c) separately requires service of noncitation papers on all other parties and a signed written certificate stating manner and date. Email uses an address expressly provided by the receiving party; after 5:00 p.m. recipient local time it is deemed served the following day. This text does not state the ordinary Rule 501.4 written-consent requirement. Mail-only service adds three days to a document-response period, not automatically to every signing or filing period. Party-requested court proceedings ordinarily require all-party notice at least three days before the proceeding. Citation and petition service instead follows Rule 510.8.

Fictitious facts. Late citation service makes the after-service anchor later than the before-trial anchor. Assess the full comparison and complete demand and fee or Statement.

The single-anchor preset and existing short-period counting do not support a verified combined result.

Demand and payment

A demand alone does not complete Rule 510.15(c). Complete the actual written demand and fee payment or inability Statement, with required service and receipt.

Both anchors

The before-trial interval cannot replace the after-service alternative. Count under Rule 510.4, including intermediate weekends and holidays, rather than general Rule 4 short-period exclusions.

Actual lawsuit edition

The amended order, Misc. Docket No. 25-9105, paragraphs 4 and 6, makes the amendments effective January 1, 2026 and applies rewritten Rule 510 only to eviction lawsuits filed on or after that date. Earlier lawsuits use the earlier rules even when a hearing, judgment or appeal occurs later. The order is titled preliminary approval but expressly establishes effectiveness. Check later amendments and the actual lawsuit filing date. The October 1 consolidation date is not this transition date.

Eviction has a standalone procedure

Rule 510 governs the eviction lawsuit under Property Code Chapter 24. It does not govern pre-lawsuit notices to pay rent or vacate or notices to vacate. Rule 510.1(b) excludes other Civil and Evidence Rules unless specifically provided by law or these rules and prohibits a justice court from modifying or suspending Rule 510. The ordinary Rules 500–507 fairness and extension provisions are not an independent eviction extension power.

• The jury procedure requires two timing anchors and two completed acts. A single backward three-day preset does not establish the result.
• The single-anchor preset and existing short-period counting do not support a verified combined result.

• Obtain the actual trial setting and any reset.
• Establish the valid citation-and-petition service date.
• Prepare the written demand and actual fee payment or Rule 510.7 Statement.
• A demand alone does not complete Rule 510.15(c). Complete the actual written demand and fee payment or inability Statement, with required service and receipt.
• The before-trial interval cannot replace the after-service alternative. Count under Rule 510.4, including intermediate weekends and holidays, rather than general Rule 4 short-period exclusions.
• Rule 510.5 generally requires a written, signed document actually filed with the court, except oral motions when all parties are present. Personal delivery, commercial delivery, mail and electronic filing if allowed are specified methods. Electronic filing follows Rule 21 and its ordinary court-time-zone before-midnight boundary. Check actual permitted methods and hours. Rule 510.4(b) warns that the court may act if a mailed filing is not received by its due date. Do not import the ordinary justice-court ten-day mailbox procedure.
• Rule 510.5(c) separately requires service of noncitation papers on all other parties and a signed written certificate stating manner and date. Email uses an address expressly provided by the receiving party; after 5:00 p.m. recipient local time it is deemed served the following day. This text does not state the ordinary Rule 501.4 written-consent requirement. Mail-only service adds three days to a document-response period, not automatically to every signing or filing period. Party-requested court proceedings ordinarily require all-party notice at least three days before the proceeding. Citation and petition service instead follows Rule 510.8.
• The amended order, Misc. Docket No. 25-9105, paragraphs 4 and 6, makes the amendments effective January 1, 2026 and applies rewritten Rule 510 only to eviction lawsuits filed on or after that date. Earlier lawsuits use the earlier rules even when a hearing, judgment or appeal occurs later. The order is titled preliminary approval but expressly establishes effectiveness. Check later amendments and the actual lawsuit filing date. The October 1 consolidation date is not this transition date.