A lot of people are wondering when courts will reopen to in-person court settings. Here is the latest guidance from the state Office of Court Administration. Non-essential in-person court settings of any size should be delayed until at least June 1, 2020. They may be delayed even longer than that though, as the guidelines lay out some pretty stringent requirements for Texas counties to meet before they’ll be permitted to start having regular in-person court appearances. I’d love to tell you more about those stringent requirements, but the Office of Court Administratin’s website is down, so I can’t even find the guidelines as of this writing. This is a perfect snapshot of trying to keep the justice system going during the pandemic – we’re all trying but it’s not perfect to say the least. Suffice to say Texas counties must meet with all the stakeholders, tailor a plan as to how they can safely reopen, and submit the plan to the state before being allowed to reopen to regular in-person court settings. The bottom line is all this isn’t like to happen by June 1st, especially with COVID-19 numbers steadly rising in Dallas Counties (in essentially all major Texas counties as well as nation-wide). Hang in there folks.

At the Law Office of Mike Howard, we continue to work for you even as we work from home and social distance in the office. We’re here to answer our questions questions and continue to fight to get them the best possible outcomes in their legal matters.

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