Texas Custody Deadline Calculator
Which remedy do you still have on a default custody judgment?
If a Texas custody order was entered without you, what you can do about it depends almost entirely on timing — and on when you actually found out. Enter two dates below.
Free, nothing to sign up for, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Whatever this says, do two things today.
- Order the return of service, the citation, the Rule 239a certificate of last known address, and the full docket sheet from the district clerk. These are what any challenge is built on, and requests take time.
- Write down how you learned of the order and keep anything that proves the date. That date drives Rule 306a and the diligence requirement.
Next reading: improper service · Rule 239a explained · bill of review · all four remedies compared · free and low-cost legal help
This happened because of a gap in Texas law.
Rule 239a lets a party certify any address for post-judgment notice with no verification that anyone still lives there. The SAFE SAPCR Act would require verified service and expedited hearings when improper service is alleged. If this calculator told you a door has closed, that is the reason. Sign the petition or contact your legislator.
How These Deadlines Work
Motion for new trial — 30 days. The fastest and most forgiving route, under Rule 329b. The Craddock standard asks only that your failure to appear was not intentional or the result of conscious indifference; you do not need a good excuse, just an honest one.
Rule 306a — the late-notice extension. If you neither received the clerk's notice nor had actual knowledge within 20 days of signing, Rule 306a(4) restarts the post-judgment clock from the date you actually learned. It requires a sworn motion under 306a(5), and it can never push the start date more than 90 days past signing.
Restricted appeal — 6 months. Available under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 30 if you did not participate in the hearing, filed no timely post-judgment motion, and error appears on the face of the record.
Motion for new trial after publication service — 2 years (Rule 329). This is the remedy almost nobody knows about, and it is the most generous one on the list. Where judgment was rendered on citation by publication and the defendant never appeared in person or through an attorney of their own selection, Rule 329 permits a new trial on a petition showing good cause, supported by affidavit, filed within two years of signing. No Baker elements, no separate lawsuit. If your default came after publication or posting, check this window before anything else.
Bill of review — 4 years. A separate lawsuit under the residual limitations period in Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.051. Harder and slower, but the route most people in this situation end up needing. If you can prove you were never served, Peralta and Caldwell v. Barnes relieve you of proving a meritorious defense or fraud.
Served in person, but no return of service in the file? This combination is more common than it sounds and it matters. Rule 107(h) bars a default judgment until proof of service has been on file with the clerk for ten days, excluding the day of filing and the day of judgment. If nobody ever filed a return for the occasion you were handed papers, the court could not lawfully have defaulted you on that service. Two things may have happened instead: the default rested on some other route, such as substituted service, posting or publication — or it was entered with no qualifying proof of service on file at all, which is itself error apparent on the face of the record. On a direct attack there are no presumptions that service was valid; the record must affirmatively show it. Primate Construction, Inc. v. Silver, 884 S.W.2d 151, 152 (Tex. 1994). Establish what the file actually contains before choosing a remedy.
About "a void judgment has no deadline." You will see this repeated everywhere. It is true only where the defect is apparent from the face of the record. If a return of service falsely recites valid service, the file looks regular and proving otherwise requires evidence from outside it — a bill of review, inside four years. Plan around four years and treat anything longer as a bonus.
Two orders carry a six-month bar instead. If the judgment terminated parental rights, it is not subject to collateral or direct attack after the sixth month after it was signed — whether the parent was personally served (§ 161.211(a)) or served by citation by publication (§ 161.211(b)). Where the termination rested on an unrevoked affidavit of relinquishment or waiver of interest, the attack is further limited to fraud, duress or coercion in executing the affidavit (§ 161.211(c)). An adoption order is not subject to attack after six months from the date it was signed (§ 162.012(a)). Both sections apply notwithstanding Rule 329, so the two-year publication route below does not reopen them. Neither section names a parent who was never served at all — (a) speaks to personal service and (b) to citation by publication — and a judgment entered without service raises the due-process question in Peralta. That is an argument, not a settled exception. If parental rights were terminated or a child was adopted, treat six months as the deadline rather than four years, and get advice immediately.
Deadlines tell you when you can file. If a bill of review is the route, the eligibility checker walks the three elements Texas courts weigh and lists the evidence each one needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to challenge a default custody order in Texas?
Thirty days from the signing date for a motion for new trial, six months for a restricted appeal, and four years for a bill of review under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.051. If notice of the judgment reached you late, Rule 306a may shift the first deadline, but never beyond ninety days from signing.
What is the Rule 306a ninety-day ceiling?
Rule 306a(4) restarts post-judgment deadlines from the date you actually learned of the judgment, if you neither received notice nor had actual knowledge within twenty days of signing. However, those periods can never begin more than ninety days after the judgment was signed. Learning of the judgment on day ninety-one places you outside Rule 306a entirely.
Does a void judgment really have no deadline?
Only in a narrow sense. Under PNS Stores v. Rivera, a collateral attack with no deadline requires the jurisdictional defect to be apparent from the face of the record. Where a return of service falsely recites valid service, the record looks regular and you generally need a bill of review within four years. Plan around four years.
What if the citation was by publication or posting?
Then Rule 329 may give you a two-year window from the signing date to move for a new trial on a petition showing good cause supported by affidavit, provided you never appeared in person or through an attorney of your own selection. That is a lighter burden than a bill of review and runs in the trial court. Rule 244 also requires the court to have appointed an attorney to defend you and to have filed a judge-approved statement of the evidence; if the file shows neither, that is error apparent on the record.
I was handed papers but there is no return of service in the file. What does that mean?
Rule 107(h) prohibits a default judgment until proof of service has been on file with the clerk for ten days, excluding the filing day and the judgment day. If no return was ever filed for that occasion, the default cannot lawfully have rested on it. Either it rested on another route such as substituted service, posting or publication, or it was entered with no qualifying proof of service on file at all, which is itself error apparent on the face of the record. On a direct attack there are no presumptions that service was valid; the record must affirmatively show it. Establish what the file actually contains before choosing a remedy.
Is this calculator legal advice?
No. It applies published Texas deadlines to two dates you enter and does not account for weekends, legal holidays, tolling, procedural history, or the facts of your case. It is a starting point for a conversation with a licensed Texas attorney, not a substitute for one.
This calculator applies published Texas deadlines to the two dates you enter. It does not account for weekends and legal holidays (Rule 4 can push a deadline to the next business day), tolling, prior post-judgment motions, appellate history, or any fact specific to your case. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines in Texas are unforgiving and some are jurisdictional — confirm every date with a licensed Texas family law attorney before relying on it. If a deadline looks close, act today and confirm afterward.