When must Texas findings of fact and conclusions of law be requested after a nonjury trial?

Establish that the case was tried without a jury in a covered district or county court.

Obtain the signed judgment and actual signing record.

Prepare the titled request and service on all other parties. Check any separate Rule 306a claim before changing the start.

1. Establish that the case was tried without a jury in a covered district or county court.
2. Confirm the stated branch and actual triggering record.
3. Exclude the event and count 20 calendar days.
4. Check the final day and complete the specific required act. A court ruling, operation-of-law event and party filing are distinct.

Rule 4 excludes the triggering event and counts intermediate calendar days for these periods longer than five days. A final Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next day that is not one of those days. Establish the actual legal holidays, court calendar and any additional closure. Government Code 662.021 identifies the checked Labor Day holiday in the examples; an ordinary office schedule alone does not establish every legally eligible expiry day.

Enter signing after the covered nonjury trial. A hearing, rendition or later receipt does not replace it. This preset does not prove Rule 306a relief.

Fictitious example

Fictitious ordinary facts. Signing of the judgment after the covered nonjury trial occurred August 6, 2027. The stated ordinary branch applies without a different start, exception, additional closure or controlling order.

Fictitious facts and the stated ordinary branch only. Actual orders, case facts and legal holidays require separate checking. The closed-day example assumes the next identified day is otherwise eligible.

Late notice requires proof

Under Rule 306a(4), an adversely affected party or attorney who had neither the prescribed notice nor actual knowledge within twenty days may establish a later start from the first notice or knowledge. No period starts more than ninety days after signing. Rule 306a(5) requires sworn motion, notice and proof in the trial court. This calculator uses ordinary signing and does not determine that relief.

Covered nonjury trial

Rule 296 addresses a case tried without a jury in district or county court. A request after another disposition does not automatically create the same required findings or preservation effect.

Request and service

The rule specifies the request’s title, clerk filing and service on all other parties under Rule 21a. Filing alone does not establish completed service.

Court sending period is separate

Rule 297 ordinarily requires the court to send findings within twenty days after the timely request is filed, not twenty days after judgment signing.

Past-due notice has its own event

If findings are not timely sent, Rule 297 requires the requesting party to file and serve the specified past-due notice within thirty days after the original request was filed.

• This preset does not establish jurisdiction, preservation, legal sufficiency, proof of a different start or the actual local calendar.
• The result remains provisional until the required facts, rule and order are checked.

• Establish that the case was tried without a jury in a covered district or county court.
• Obtain the signed judgment and actual signing record.
• Prepare the titled request and service on all other parties. Check any separate Rule 306a claim before changing the start.
• Under Rule 306a(4), an adversely affected party or attorney who had neither the prescribed notice nor actual knowledge within twenty days may establish a later start from the first notice or knowledge. No period starts more than ninety days after signing. Rule 306a(5) requires sworn motion, notice and proof in the trial court. This calculator uses ordinary signing and does not determine that relief.
• Rule 296 addresses a case tried without a jury in district or county court. A request after another disposition does not automatically create the same required findings or preservation effect.
• The rule specifies the request’s title, clerk filing and service on all other parties under Rule 21a. Filing alone does not establish completed service.
• Rule 297 ordinarily requires the court to send findings within twenty days after the timely request is filed, not twenty days after judgment signing.
• If findings are not timely sent, Rule 297 requires the requesting party to file and serve the specified past-due notice within thirty days after the original request was filed.
• File the document entitled Request for Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law with the clerk and serve it on all other parties under Rule 21a. Rule 296 requires the clerk to immediately call it to the trial judge’s attention. Preserve the request’s actual filing date for the later Rule 297 procedure. File the actual required document with the clerk and complete the required service under Rule 21a. Rule 21(f)(5) ordinarily requires electronic filing before midnight in the court’s time zone; preserve transmission to the electronic filing service provider, actual receipt and service proof. Read any leave, specific time or technical-failure order. Filing does not establish a favorable ruling or independently verify the document’s legal sufficiency.