How long does ordinary Texas trial-court plenary power last without a qualifying postjudgment motion?

Obtain the actual signed judgment or challenged order and signing record.

Read every relevant motion and actual signed written determination.

Establish the stated ordinary branch and assess any separately proven Rule 306a start.

1. Obtain the actual signed judgment or challenged order and signing record.
2. Confirm the stated branch and actual triggering record.
3. Exclude the event and count 30 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.

Use signing and establish that no timely qualifying motion extends power. Appeal perfection alone does not select a longer period.

Fictitious example

Fictitious ordinary facts. Judgment signing without a timely qualifying motion extending plenary power occurred August 2, 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.

A timely qualifying motion changes the branch

A timely new-trial motion under Rule 329b(e), or a qualifying modification motion under (g), can change the endpoint. This ordinary preset assumes neither applies.

Appeal does not erase ordinary trial-court power

Rule 329b(d) expressly applies regardless of whether an appeal has been perfected. This court-power period is not itself the appeal filing period.

Relief after expiration is distinct

Rule 329b(f) separately addresses a bill of review for sufficient cause within the time allowed by law, clerical record correction under Rule 316 and a declaration concerning a void post-expiration order. It does not authorize unrestricted substantive revision at any time.

• 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.

• Obtain the actual signed judgment or challenged order and signing record.
• Read every relevant motion and actual signed written determination.
• Establish the stated ordinary branch and assess any separately proven Rule 306a 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.
• A timely new-trial motion under Rule 329b(e), or a qualifying modification motion under (g), can change the endpoint. This ordinary preset assumes neither applies.
• Rule 329b(d) expressly applies regardless of whether an appeal has been perfected. This court-power period is not itself the appeal filing period.
• Rule 329b(f) separately addresses a bill of review for sufficient cause within the time allowed by law, clerical record correction under Rule 316 and a declaration concerning a void post-expiration order. It does not authorize unrestricted substantive revision at any time.
• Establish the actual court action and signed order within the applicable plenary period. Party motion filing, a hearing or a pending draft does not prove the requested judicial relief occurred. After plenary power expires, assess the distinct Rule 329b(f) bill-of-review, Rule 316 clerical-correction or void-order provisions on their own terms.