Texas Family Code - Section 155.204. Procedure For Transfer

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Family Code > Texas Family Code - Section 155.204. Procedure For Transfer

§ 155.204. PROCEDURE FOR TRANSFER.  (a) A motion to 
transfer under Section 155.201(a) may be filed at any time.  The 
motion must contain a certification that all other parties, 
including the attorney general, if applicable, have been informed 
of the filing of the motion.
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (a) or Section 262.203, 
a motion to transfer by a petitioner or movant is timely if it is 
made at the time the initial pleadings are filed.  A motion to 
transfer by another party is timely if it is made on or before the 
first Monday after the 20th day after the date of service of 
citation or notice of the suit or before the commencement of the 
hearing, whichever is sooner.
	(c)  If a timely motion to transfer has been filed and no 
controverting affidavit is filed within the period allowed for its 
filing, the proceeding shall, not later than the 21st day after the 
final date of the period allowed for the filing of a controverting 
affidavit, be transferred without a hearing to the proper court.
	(d)  On or before the first Monday after the 20th day after 
the date of notice of a motion to transfer is served, a party 
desiring to contest the motion must file a controverting affidavit 
denying that grounds for the transfer exist.
	(e)  If a controverting affidavit contesting the motion to 
transfer is filed, each party is entitled to notice not less than 10 
days before the date of the hearing on the motion to transfer.
	(f)  Only evidence pertaining to the transfer may be taken at 
the hearing.   
	(g)  If the court finds after the hearing on the motion to 
transfer that grounds for the transfer exist, the proceeding shall 
be transferred to the proper court not later than the 21st day after 
the date the hearing is concluded.
	(h)  An order transferring or refusing to transfer the 
proceeding is not subject to interlocutory appeal.
	(i)  If a transfer order has been signed by a court 
exercising jurisdiction under Chapter 262, a party may file the 
transfer order with the clerk of the court of continuing, exclusive 
jurisdiction.  On receipt and without a hearing, the clerk of the 
court of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction shall transfer the 
files as provided by this subchapter.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, § 1, eff. April 20, 1995.  
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1150, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1999;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1390, § 14, eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 916, § 15, eff. June 18, 2005.

Last modified: August 10, 2007