My clients often need directions to the courthouse. Of course, that depends on what courthouse they need to go to.
General Info
If we have to go to the courthouse to prove up your divorce, then there are a couple of things you need to know. I've got a video of a divorce proveup in my office. The proveup at the courthouse is a little more formal, but pretty much the same thing should happen. Click here to see the video.
- You will go through security screening much like at the airport. Leave your pocket knife and pepper spray in the car. Consider not wearing boots with a steel shank.
- It's OK to bring your cell phone, as if I'm suddenly delayed, I'll call your cell, if I have your number. But, once we've met at the courthouse, turn it off of at least on vibrate, as judges are not amused by phones ringing (or being used) in their courtrooms.
- I'll be wearing a coat and tie. The judge will not require you dress that formally, but you would not feel out of place if you do. Clean jeans with no holes or stains is the minimum acceptable, but you'd feel much more comfortable in khaki pants or better. Collarless T-shirts are not acceptable. Golf shirts are OK, but are the minimum acceptable. Men must wear socks, and may not wear sandals. A big western buckle is OK, but it'll slow you down going through security. Women should not show any cleavage.
District Courts - Collin County
On August 1, 2007 the Collin County District Courts (all the divorce courts) moved to the new courthouse north of US-380 (University Drive) in McKinney.
The address of the new courthouse is 2100 Bloomdale Rd., McKinney, Texas 75071. Directions: Go north on US-75 (Central Expressway) and take the last McKinney exit, exit number 42, and the exit sign says Wilmeth Rd. Continue north on the service road for 0.9 miles and turn left on Bloomdale Rd. Turn left over US 75. The entrance is on the right after crossing the service road.
The Collin County courthouse is unlocked at 8:00 a.m., but I usually tell my clients to meet me at 8:45 a.m. I USUALLY tell my clients to meet me inside the Auxiliary Courtroom Number 3. If it's locked, meet me in the hallway outside. As you enter the courthouse and go through security, you're at the bottom of a cross configuration. You're facing north. Continue straight ahead, across the wide east-west intersection, and look for the Auxiliary Courtroom Number 3 on your left side.
Do not meet me "at the courthouse steps." I probably got there early and am running all over the building doing other things, in areas where I'm not allowed to take you with me.
Why don't courtroom assignments make sense?
Virtual courtroom tour: The Collin County District Attorney, John Roach, put together a virtual tour of the courtrooms in Collin County. Of course, the District Attorney's purpose for the video is to help make people at home who have to testify in a criminal trial. So, there are a number of things in their video that just wouldn't apply to you. For instance, for a divorce proveup there won't be a jury, and no business will be conducted from the "counsel tables" in the courtroom. You'll be standing directly in front of the judge, with me beside you, and the court reporter on one side of the judge, and the bailiff on the other. Nonetheless, if you're nervous about appearing in court (and if, indeed, we have to go to court for the proveup), click here to see the Collin County District Attorney's Virtual Courtroom Tours.
Click here to see a video of a divorce proveup in my office
District Courts - Dallas County
Dallas County has several courthouses, but all of the Family District Courts (divorce courts) are in the George L. Allen Courts Building at 600 Commerce Street in Dallas. This is a 7-story tall white marble courthouse at the west end of Commerce Street in downtown, just where Commerce comes up from the underpass underneath the train tracks and Stemmons Freeway (I-35E). It's directly across Commerce St from the "Old Red" courthouse. Commerce is one-way going East.
The divorce courts are all on the 3rd and 4th floors. I may be meeting several clients the morning we meet, so I may not tell you to meet me outside the courtroom of the court that your case was assigned to. And, it's unlikely that we'll actually be proving up your divorce inside the courtroom that your case was assigned to. However, I will have to get your file from the clerk of the court your case was assigned to. So, I'll probably ask you to meet me outside the office of the clerk for your court. The clerks for the 254th, 301st, and 330th district courts are all in one office in suite 340. The clerks for the 255th, 256th, and 303rd district courts are in suite 440. The clerk for the 302nd is in suite 455 (I think that's in the older section of the building).
If I drive to the courthouse, I'll take US75 "Central" Expressway, or the Dallas North Tollway. I'll go north of Commerce to the next street, which is Jackson Street, which is one-way to the West. If I go early enough, there are usually plenty of parking meters on Jackson, and it costs $2.50 in quarters to park for two hours. There are also several lots available for about $6 for several hours. If you park on the street with a meter, you probably got there early. Go inside and have a cup of coffee in the basement, but come back out and feed the meter at 7:50 before you meet me upstairs at 7:55. It's unusual to keep you past 10:00.
I often take DART Rail to the courthouse, and that's my recommendation to you. Click here for DART routes and schedules. Generally, trains run about every 10 minutes to downtown Dallas during rush hour. The Red Line follows Central Expressway to Plano, and the Blue Line comes from Garland via White Rock Lake, then follow the same track as the Red Line from Mockingbird to downtown. From the north, the last rail stop in downtown is at Union Station. Get off at Union Station, walk across Houston Street, then walk across Jackson Street, and you're at the 7-story white marble courthouse. (When you're through, make sure you remember whether to catch the Red Line Train or the Blue Line Trail. Ask me how I know this).
Once inside and through security, there's a coffee shop in the basement that's convenient if you're early. They have a great breakfast deal. Recently it was $3.50 for two eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns. I find that if I leave Plano at 6:30 I can be downtown by about 7:00, but if I leave Plano at 7:30, I'll be doing good to get downtown by 9:00. If I'm on the train in Plano by 7:00, I can be inside the courts building by 8:00.
Make sure you keep a copy of the confirming email I sent you, because if you forget which courtroom to get to, you'll probably never find me. I may or may not meet you outside the courtroom where your case is assigned, because I may be proving up more than one divorce that morning, and it'd be highly unusual for both cases to be assigned to the same court. Why don't courtroom assignments make sense?
Do not meet me "at the courthouse steps." I'll be looking for you inside the building, outside the courtroom where I told you to meet me.
Virtual courtroom tour - not Dallas County, but may be helpful anyway. Click here.
District Courts - Denton County
All Family Courts (divorce courts) in Denton are now in the new courts building at 1450 E McKinney St. This is NOT downtown. It's east of downtown, about halfway between downtown and Loop 288.
As of December, 2007, Loop 288 was under construction and a real mess, especially the couple of miles just east of I-35E. I strongly advise you to find nearly any other way to get to the courthouse.
Coming from the Carrollton area, I go north on I-35E. I go straight to exit onto US77 where I-35E curves west. Go to your first signal light, which is Teasley Ln to your left or Shady Oaks Dr to your right. Turn right on Shady Oaks Dr, and follow it to your next light, which is S Woodrow Ln. Turn left (north) on Woodrow. Go to your first or second light, which is E McKinney St. Turn left on McKinney, and immediately start looking for a place to turn left into the courthouse parking lot. The first few buildings on your left is the jail complex, and the next building, 4 stories tall, is the courthouse.
I usually have my clients meet me on the pew outside the District Clerk's office on the first floor (I have to go to the District Clerk's office to get your file, so it's a good place to meet). Beware that both the District Clerk and the County Clerk have offices on the first floor, and if you're waiting on the pew by the County Clerk, we won't meet up. If I'm meeting several people for proveups and you're late, I may prove up the other divorces and then return, and if there's still time, prove yours up -- so don't be late.
Do not meet me "at the courthouse steps." I'll be looking for you inside the building, on the pew outside the District Clerk's office.
The Denton County Courthouse is unlocked at 8:00 a.m.
Virtual courtroom tour - not Denton County, but may be helpful anyway. Click here.
Why don't courtroom assignments make sense? (and why do they skip numbers in numbering courts?)
Warning: This is not information you have to know. It's here just in case you're interested.
Visitors to the courthouse want to know why courtrooms are numbered non-consecutively, and why courts with numbers close to one another aren't located close to one another. That is, why isn't the 1st District Court on the first floor, the 2nd District Court on the second floor, etc.
Well, first, all District Courts are created by the Texas Legislature, and are numbered in the order in which they are created. And, initially (and still in less-populated areas of the state) a "district" may be bigger than a county. That is, a district court may serve more than one county, with courtrooms in each county, and a judge who "rides a circuit", holding court in one county one week, and in another county another week.
As populations grow, it becomes necessary to create more district courts, first to establish a court in each county that's grown enough, and then to create multiple courts within a county. A "district" is never smaller than a county, so multiple district courts in one county will have concurrent geographical jurisdiction, and a case will be assigned to courts on a modified-random basis. Not to make it more complex than it is, but the judges may have decided that one of the courts may take no criminal cases, but get a double-ration of divorces, or may take a half share of family cases but get a double share of civil cases. But, after balancing the load among the courts, the odds of winding in a particular court is a random or rotating basis.
So, one year the legislature created the 199th District Court, and I think it initially served Collin and another county. Later, another court was created to serve the other county, and the 199th served Collin County alone. Then, the legislature created the 200th and 201st District Courts for Travis County, then the 202nd District Court for Bowie County, etc. Eventually Collin County had grown enough to warrant another court, and the next number up was the 219th District Court. The next time Collin County got a court approved, the next number was the 296th, etc. A short while ago the legislature approved 2 courts for Collin County in one legislative session, and we wound up with the 416th and the 417th District Courts. That's why courts in a given county are (usually) numbered nonconsecutively.
In a given courthouse, the most senior judge (the judge who has held office for the longest time) gets first choice on which courtroom to hold court in. So, you might think, the judge in the lowest numbered court would have first choice. That would be true only if all the district courts in a county still had the first judge who was elected to office. Judges retire, get elected to other offices, die, or fail to get reelected. So, it's quite possible for the judge in the lowest-numbered court to be a fairly junior judge, and have last pick on courtrooms. The most senior judge may like spacious offices, while the second most senior judge may place a higher priority on having a nice window view from his/her office. Some courtrooms may go to junior judges because the acoustics in the courtroom are not as good. And finally, a judge may have been assigned to a courtroom 20 years ago, and the judge just doesn't think it's worth the effort to move to a different courtroom even though he or she now has the seniority to move to a "better" courtroom. So, courtroom assignments within a building simply do not consider the logic of what the building directory will look like.
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© 2007 Hal Davis, 3131 Custer Rd Ste 255, Plano, TX 75075 972.881.1811. All rights reserved.