The 247th Divorce Court of Houston Texas is located on the 15th floor of 201 Caroline 77002 in the new civil courts building of Harris County Texas. You can check documents filed in your case and pending settings by going to the district clerks website at district clerk. The 247th Divorce Court in Houston, Texas website can be found here. Judge Janice Berg has been on the bench since 2019 and serving as her associate, is Judge Bethany Arnold.
Practicing law before the 247th Divorce Court Houston, Texas.
The presiding judge is Judge Janice Berg. This is a family law district court of Harris County, Texas. The associate judge is Judge Bethany Arnold. Uncontested hearings may be proven up by sworn affidavit and is encouraged but also you can prove your uncontested matter via zoom. Published policies of the court are located on the Court’s homepage 247. Judge Berg prior to taking the bench handled quite a few appeals, mostly family law matters. I saw her on occasion on the family law courts. While her face was not well known to the common family law attorney prior to taking the bench, her briefs filed with the appellate courts, and several opinions that results from those briefs, many times were topics of continuing legal education for the local family law bar. Thus, her name was familiar to most of us. Her associate attorney, Judge Bethany Arnold, was in the family law courts almost daily for years, thus was well known to most of the common family law practitioners.
The court rules state that litigants must attend mediation prior to temporary orders wherein child custody but also possession of a child are at issue or the hearing will last more than 30 minutes . Meditation prior to final trials is required in all cases, even if the parties attended meditation prior to temporary orders. If you want to be excepted, it is advised to file a motion and get an order waiving mediation requirement. Temporary orders hearings may be limited to one and half hours per party when no children are involved but then 3 hours if children are involved.
With the parenting classes, the court respects the Harris County Local Rule 12, but generally does not enforce a parenting class requirement.
The situations where preferential settings can be made regard matters that have been reset on several occasions or because of time constraints, the Court was not able to trial the case. You have the ability in this Court to self calendar your own setting on the Courts homepage. Motions for continuance are typically granted in the situation when a case is pending for less than one year, and the reset can be made by both parties in compliance with Rule 11 agreement, directly with the Court Coordinator, Rosie Diaz who can be reached at [email protected].
Amicus appointments are made on a case by case basis. The parties may choose the Amicus but if cannot agree, then the court will choose an amicus from her list, which can be found here.
About the Author
Michael Busby Jr. is a divorce and bankruptcy attorney in Houston, Texas who appears in court at least 3 times a week. He has 18 years experience in the Houston, Texas family law and federal bankruptcy courts. I also appear frequently for divorce and other family law matters in this Houston, Texas divorce court. I have tried property cases and child custody cases in this court within the last year.
Michael Busby Jr.
6100 Corporate Dr. # 190
Houston, Texas 77036
(713) 974-1151
281-DIVORCE
(713) 974-1151
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