What must the county court do with a Texas justice-court inability-contest appeal?

Obtain the actual notice filed in the justice court and written order sustaining the contest.

Preserve when all related documents were forwarded and received by the county court.

Obtain the actual county hearing setting, notice and de novo decision.

1. Obtain the actual notice filed in the justice court and written order sustaining the contest.
2. Preserve when all related documents were forwarded and received by the county court.
3. Obtain the actual county hearing setting, notice and de novo decision.
4. The rule states the sequence and county court’s fourteen-day setting duty. It does not make a party’s guessed forwarding date an independently verified fixed trigger or set the hearing automatically. Read the actual court records and directions; this guide computes no setting date.
5. Check the actual court calendar and complete the required act.

Rule 500.4 excludes the triggering day and counts every intermediate day, including Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, even for periods of five days or less. A final Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next eligible day. If the last filing day is a day the court closes before 5:00 p.m., filing moves to the court’s next business day. Establish that actual closure separately. Do not import Rule 4’s short-period exclusion or the distinct Rule 510 eviction procedure.

The guide explains the court sequence without choosing an unproved fourteen-day trigger or publishing an actual hearing date.

Covered case and actual court directions

Rules 500.1(a)–(c) identify the covered small-claims, debt and repair-and-remedy cases and any controlling special rule. Rule 500.1(d) places eviction under Rule 510. Other Civil Rules and Evidence Rules apply only as specified by law or these rules, or as the judge determines necessary for fairness under .1(e).

De novo means a new contest hearing

Rule 506.1(d)(3) requires hearing as if there had been no previous hearing. The county court must resolve the contest rather than treating the justice court’s findings as an automatic outcome.

Grant and denial lead to different next acts

If relief is granted, (d)(3) requires the stated transmission direction. If the county court denies the appeal, (d)(4) addresses the separate bond-or-cash option. Neither occurs merely from a calculated setting date.

• Actual service, receipt, signing, historical editions, legal holidays and court instructions require separate assessment.
• This guide does not establish a favorable ruling or automatically extend an excluded period.

• Obtain the actual notice filed in the justice court and written order sustaining the contest.
• Preserve when all related documents were forwarded and received by the county court.
• Obtain the actual county hearing setting, notice and de novo decision.
• Rules 500.1(a)–(c) identify the covered small-claims, debt and repair-and-remedy cases and any controlling special rule. Rule 500.1(d) places eviction under Rule 510. Other Civil Rules and Evidence Rules apply only as specified by law or these rules, or as the judge determines necessary for fairness under .1(e).
• Rule 506.1(d)(3) requires hearing as if there had been no previous hearing. The county court must resolve the contest rather than treating the justice court’s findings as an automatic outcome.
• If relief is granted, (d)(3) requires the stated transmission direction. If the county court denies the appeal, (d)(4) addresses the separate bond-or-cash option. Neither occurs merely from a calculated setting date.
• The justice court forwards all related documents. The county court sets and hears the contest de novo. If relief is granted, it directs transmission of the underlying transcript, records and papers. Preserve each actual court act rather than treating notice filing as completion of the hearing.