Texas Court Structure - At a Glance
Texas has five levels of trial and appellate courts, and several specialized courts:
- Supreme Court of Texas - highest civil appellate court
- Court of Criminal Appeals - highest criminal appellate court (Texas is one of only two states with dual high courts; the other is Oklahoma)
- 14 Courts of Appeals - intermediate appellate districts
- District Courts - general-jurisdiction trial courts
- Constitutional & Statutory County Courts - misdemeanors, small civil claims, probate
- Justice of the Peace Courts - minor criminal & small claims
- Municipal Courts - city ordinance violations
District Courts
Texas has 457 District Courts. Each hears felony criminal cases, divorces, land title disputes, election contests, civil matters over $200 (no upper limit), and juvenile matters. District courts are the primary general-jurisdiction trial courts.
District-court records are maintained by the district clerk in each county. See our Texas Court Records page for county-level district-clerk links.
Courts of Appeals - 14 Regional Districts
Intermediate appellate review for both civil and criminal cases. Each of the 14 courts covers a group of counties:
- First Court of Appeals - Houston
- Second Court of Appeals - Fort Worth
- Third Court of Appeals - Austin
- Fourth Court of Appeals - San Antonio
- Fifth Court of Appeals - Dallas
- Sixth Court of Appeals - Texarkana
- Seventh Court of Appeals - Amarillo
- Eighth Court of Appeals - El Paso
- Ninth Court of Appeals - Beaumont
- Tenth Court of Appeals - Waco
- Eleventh Court of Appeals - Eastland
- Twelfth Court of Appeals - Tyler
- Thirteenth Court of Appeals - Corpus Christi / Edinburg
- Fourteenth Court of Appeals - Houston
County-Level Courts
Constitutional County Courts (254)
One in each Texas county. Probate, misdemeanors over $500 fine, small civil claims. Records kept by the county clerk.
Statutory County Courts (~250)
Specialized - civil, criminal, probate-at-law, or domestic-relations - created by the Legislature in more populous counties to relieve constitutional county courts.
Justice of the Peace Courts & Municipal Courts
Texas has about 800 JP courts (minor civil, small claims under $20,000, Class C misdemeanors) and 950+ municipal courts (city-ordinance violations). JP records are typically with the county; municipal-court records are kept by each city clerk.
Higher / Appellate Courts
- Supreme Court of Texas - final civil and juvenile appeals
- Texas Court of Criminal Appeals - final criminal appeals
- Texas Judicial Case Search - consolidated search across appellate courts