Court day

The hearing is short. Most of what determines the outcome happened before you walked in. This is how I prepared, what I brought, and what I would tell anyone doing it for the first time.

The four facts you must prove

An eviction is about possession. Prove these four, then stop talking. Volunteering more invites questions you did not need to answer.

What to bring

Three identical exhibit sets

One for the judge, one for the tenant, one for you. Number the pages continuously and use the same numbering when you refer to anything out loud — "page 34" moves a hearing along far faster than a judge flipping paper.

• The signed lease, complete with addenda
• The rent ledger, signed and dated
• The notice to vacate
• Proof of delivery — photographs with timestamps, mail receipts
• Any written statement of military service you will need for a default

Originals, held back and not filed

Keep these in a separate folder. Produce them only if authenticity or identity is questioned.

• The original signed lease — settles any authenticity argument that a scan cannot
• Original paper mail receipts — scans of these reproduce badly and read poorly; the paper is far better evidence
• Entity formation document, if the landlord is a company, plus photo ID
• Bank statements covering the last good payment through the present
• A tenant screening report, if identity or employment might be disputed

Practical items people forget

• A payment method for the writ. If you win, you will want to know what the constable accepts and roughly what it costs before the appeal window closes. Ask the clerk on the day.
• Pen and notepad — to write down the new setting date if the case is reset.
• Charged phone, silenced before you go in.
• Check the court's rules on electronics. Mine expressly barred USB drives, CDs and memory cards, but permitted a laptop or phone used with a cable the court supplied. Bring your own adaptor anyway — the cable they hand you may not fit your device. Treat any screen as a backup: paper is faster than cabling in front of a judge.
• Appropriate dress. My hearing notice said so in capitals.

What to say

Opening

Stand, speak slowly, and identify yourself and your capacity in one sentence. If you are appearing for a company, say what your role in it is — that is the authority question answered before it is asked. In a justice court eviction, an authorized agent need not be an attorney. Tex. Prop. Code § 24.011(a); Tex. Gov't Code § 27.031(d)

Ask for what you want, explicitly

Say the words: possession of the premises, unpaid rent, and court costs. Do not assume possession is implied because it is an eviction. This matters more than it sounds like it should.

Do not ask for late fees

Justice-court eviction jurisdiction reaches possession and rent. Counterclaims and joinder are not permitted, and non-rent damages generally belong in a separate suit. Tex. Prop. Code § 24.004(c) Asking anyway signals you do not know the limits of the court you are standing in.

Handling what you are likely to hear

"I paid"

Point to the ledger, and ask that they produce receipts or bank records for the months in dispute. Hold your own bank statements in reserve and produce them only if the judge wants them. The statement showing the last payment received, followed by nothing, is the strongest single page you own.

"There were repairs they never made"

Do not argue the merits of the repairs, and do not get drawn into whether a specific appliance worked. Say that a repair complaint is a separate claim, and that it is not a defence to nonpayment unless the statutory repair procedure was actually followed. Then stop.

"I need more time"

This is the most likely thing you will hear, and a judge may well be sympathetic. Know the limit: the court may not postpone trial by more than seven days without the parties' written agreement, and the trial itself must fall within the statutory window. Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0051(g)

An offer to pay, made at the counter

Be careful. Do not accept partial rent or agree to a payment plan on the spot without a written agreement that expressly preserves your position. Accepting rent can undercut the termination you are standing there to enforce. Say you will consider it in writing after the hearing, and ask the court to rule.

If the tenant appears

Counter-intuitively, this can help you. Appearing waives complaints about defective service — which, if your return of service is shaky, is the weakest part of your case. The hearing then becomes a straightforward argument about rent, which is the argument you are prepared for.

Give the four facts. Then stop, and let them talk. Do not interrupt. Address the judge, not the tenant. If they interrupt you, stop and let the judge manage it.

If the tenant does not appear

If that happens, do not argue with the clerk or the judge about it. Ask for the narrow thing you are entitled to: that the case be passed briefly so the constable's office can transmit the return, or reset to the earliest available date. If you obtained a paper copy of the return from the constable in advance, hand it up — that is often all it takes.

If the court does reset, get the new date in writing before you leave.

The military-service statement

Before entering a default judgment, a court must require the plaintiff to file an affidavit stating whether the defendant is in military service, or that the plaintiff cannot determine it. 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(1) That requirement may be satisfied by a written statement or declaration made under penalty of perjury — no notary needed. 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(4)

Two practical points. First, run the check close to the hearing date; a certificate several weeks old reads stale. Second, take it seriously: knowingly making a false statement of this kind is a federal offence carrying a fine and up to a year's imprisonment. 50 U.S.C. § 3931(c)

You probably do not need a notary

Texas permits an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury in place of a sworn affidavit for most purposes. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 132.001(a)

Know the exceptions: it may not substitute where the document is a lien or an instrument concerning real or personal property required to be filed with a county clerk, or an oath of office. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 132.001(b) That exclusion is worth remembering when you get to recording an abstract of judgment later.

And if you genuinely do need an oath administered, a clerk of a justice court may administer one. Tex. Gov't Code § 602.002(3)

Before you leave the courtroom

1. Read the judgment. Confirm it awards possession, not only money. Why.
2. Note the date it was signed. Every downstream deadline — the appeal window, the earliest writ — counts from that date, and it is not always the date of the hearing.
3. Ask the clerk about the writ: what form, what fee, what payment methods, and the earliest date they will accept it.

Then go home and wait out the appeal window. Phase 6 is next.