Pt. 2: Can I have a family law hearing in a pandemic?
Some Texas courts are adapting to the new normal by completely changing the way hearings are held.
NOTE: Texas courts are adapting quickly to the pandemic… in my last post, I covered how the courts in Austin (Travis County) and North Austin (Williamson County) are handling the Coronavirus crisis by converting to “virtual courtrooms” and “teleconferences,” aka webcam and phone hearings. In this post, I cover the area south of Austin, in Hays County.
What about the San Marcos area (including Kyle, Buda, Wimberly, and all those places south of Austin but north of San Antonio, but not New Braunfels – you-know-what-I-mean) can I have a hearing there?
If you’re asking if you can have a family law hearing in Hays County, TX, you’ve come to the right place.
Hays County has made it pretty simple and clear in a one page notice on their website. I gotta say, I appreciate the brevity. No rambling PDFs quoting 25 different TX Supreme Court orders, no links to links to other links. They say it right there in black and white,
“…all non-jury dockets are cancelled through April 12111, 2020. Essential hearings will be conducted. Essential hearings are criminal matters such as magistration, writs of habeas corpus, civil matters such as mental health commitments, juvenile detentions, emergency CPS removals, family violence protective orders, temporary restraining orders, habeas corpus proceedings arising under the Texas Family Code and any other matter that may be deemed an essential matter by the Court.”
I’m not saying it’s perfect or free from typos (neither am I). I’m pretty sure April 12111 doesn’t exist. But you get the gist. Dockets are canclllddd through April 12th, and hopefully not till April 1, 2111.
Here’s the link if you want it, Hays County District Courts. Remember this is your small-town lawyer’s blog. This is not the Washington Post. (Note: I’m from a small town just off of I-35. You may have heard of it, remember the Alamo? It’s made up of 1.5 million of your closest friends).
I particularly like how they make clear what the judges are willing to hear during this CoronavirusCrisis. They specifically define “essential hearings,” as mental health commitments, juvenile detentions, emergency CPS removals, family violence protective orders, temporary restraining orders, habeas corpus proceedings,” things-have-gotten-crazy-and-only-a-judge-can-save-us-type hearings. In other words, it has to be pretty serious; involving life, limb, or freedom, to require a hearing now.
They go on to say that, “ Video conferencing is currently being evaluated for use in the courtrooms to conduct hearings by this method.” Wow, how mysterious, Hays County, how mysterious. Will they settle on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or… something else?
After that, it goes on to repeat itself. It looks like the same orders are accidentally cut-and-pasted twice. The short of it is:
Non-jury dockets (regular hearings) are cancelled through April 12, 2020 (I’m assuming, remember there was that weird April12111 typo)
If there is an agreed matter, call the court to get a hearing date.
Pending future public health developments, the District Courts will resume normal operations April 13, 2020 for hearings and June 1, 2020 for jury trials.
As of the date of the writing of this blog-icle (April 5th), I think April 13th to resume regular bench hearings, may be a little, just a wee bit, just a teeny-tiny bit optimistic. They put that, “pending future public health developments” in there for a reason. If I had to guess, they may mean that they will begin regular webcam hearings after April 13th. Again, I have no inside knowledge of this, I’m just trying to read the tea leaves.
I especially appreciate this part:
“Attorneys and parties are expected to recognize the emergency and public health nature of this situation and to cooperate in presenting to the Courts only those matters that must be resolved immediately and that are fully ready to be resolved. The Courts strongly recommend to all litigants to take this time to work a solution to your cases.” (emphasis added by me)
Hays County is not messing around. Now is the time to settle guys. Book that Zoom mediation.
-M
