Texas Justice Court
The 2026 Eviction Law Changes (Senate Bill 38)
Senate Bill 38 (2025) rewrote parts of Texas eviction procedure effective January 1, 2026. Guides, forms, and day-count charts written before then may be stale.
Legal information only: This site provides legal information for Texas Justice Court users. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and does not replace advice from a licensed Texas attorney or instructions from your court. County and precinct practices vary. Filing methods, local forms, service fees, court closures, and clerk procedures can change. Always verify details with the correct Justice of the Peace court before filing or relying on a deadline.
Important
- This page is a high-level orientation, not a complete list of the changes. The current statute, the current court rules, your citation, and your county packet control.
- Eviction procedure details are under active legal review on this site. Treat every eviction deadline as verification-required.
Step-by-Step Starting Point
- 1Read your citation and any hearing or summary-disposition notice first — it controls over any general guide, including this one.
- 2Check that any guide, form, packet, or template you rely on was updated for the January 1, 2026 changes.
- 3Verify the current Texas Property Code Chapter 24 text and the current court rules from the official sources below.
- 4When in doubt, contact the JP court clerk or a legal-aid program quickly — eviction timelines are short.
What Senate Bill 38 is
Senate Bill 38, passed by the 89th Texas Legislature in 2025, amended the eviction (forcible entry and detainer) procedures in Texas Property Code Chapter 24, generally effective for eviction suits filed on or after January 1, 2026.
The site’s eviction content refers to it as “SB 38” or “the 2026 changes.”
The kinds of changes to expect
SB 38 touched several stages of the eviction process, including notice-to-vacate requirements, how tenants answer and how hearings are set, and a summary-disposition path that can let a court decide some eviction cases early, without a traditional trial setting.
Because procedure changed, pre-2026 eviction guides, generic day-count charts, and older county packets can give wrong answers. That is why this site’s eviction deadlines defer to the citation instead of computing dates.
If you are a tenant
Respond in writing as soon as you receive an eviction citation, following the instructions printed on it. Under the 2026 procedures, waiting for a trial date can be riskier than it used to be.
If you receive a summary-disposition motion or notice, treat it as urgent and consider contacting a legal-aid program immediately.
If you are a landlord
Notice-to-vacate templates and eviction packets written before 2026 may no longer comply. Use your county’s current packet and verify notice content, delivery method, and timing against the current statute.
Procedural mistakes — wrong notice, wrong precinct, wrong waiting period — commonly cause dismissals and refiling costs.
Templates & kits for this task
Self-help templates, not legal advice. County court forms always come first when your JP court publishes one.