Filing a personal injury lawsuit in Tarrant County costs $350 for a new civil suit, $8 to issue each citation, $98 for constable service per defendant, and $10 for a jury demand. The District Clerk’s own worked example is $448 to open and serve a typical case. Texas gives you two years from the injury to file.
What It Costs to Open a Case
Court costs in Tarrant County are published and predictable. They are also small relative to what people expect — the expensive parts of a lawsuit come later, not at the counter.
The clerk’s own worked example totals $448 to open and serve a typical single-defendant case: the $350 filing fee, one $8 citation, one round of $98 constable service, less the pieces that do not apply to every case. Add the $10 jury fee and you are still under five hundred dollars to get a lawsuit on file and served.
Costs scale with defendants, not with the size of your injury. A three-defendant trucking case needs three citations and three rounds of service, so the service line multiplies while the filing fee does not. Which court you file in also changes the schedule — that is covered separately.
Item
Fee
When you pay it
New civil suit filing fee
$350
At filing, once per case
Citation issuance
$8
Per citation issued — one per defendant
Constable service
$98
Per defendant served
Jury fee
$10
When a jury is demanded
Clerk’s worked example
$448
Typical cost to open and serve one case
Source: Tarrant County District Clerk published civil fee schedule and worked example. Fees change — confirm current amounts before filing.
Who Fronts These Costs When You Have a Lawyer
In a contingency fee case, the firm normally advances court costs and you repay them out of the recovery at the end. That is the standard arrangement in Texas injury practice, and it is why filing fees rarely decide whether a case gets filed.
Read how your fee agreement handles costs if there is no recovery, because firms differ. Some write off advanced costs entirely when a case loses; others do not. The fee percentage and the cost of treatment are two separate terms and both belong in writing before you sign anything.
Court costs are also distinct from case expenses. Filing and service are a few hundred dollars. Medical records retrieval, deposition transcripts, accident reconstruction, and expert witnesses are where the real money goes, and those numbers rise sharply once a lawsuit is filed.
The Deadline Stack
Money is the easy part. The deadlines are what actually end cases, and they run on separate clocks that do not wait for your treatment to finish or for an adjuster to answer your calls.
The filing deadline is not a settlement deadline. Negotiating with an insurer does not extend it, and a claim that has been open and friendly for twenty-three months becomes worthless the day it expires.
- Two years from the date of injury to file suit, under Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003. Wrongful death runs two years from the date of death.
- Minors: the limitations period is tolled during minority under §16.001, generally giving a child until age 20 to file for their own injuries.
- Governmental defendants: notice is required within six months statewide under §101.101, and some Texas city charters impose a shorter window. This clock can expire while the two-year clock is barely running.
- Responsible third party designation: a defendant’s motion is generally due 60 days before trial under §33.004 — a defense deadline, but one that can reshape your case late.
- Practical deadlines with no statute: surveillance video is often overwritten in days, and vehicles are repaired or salvaged before anyone inspects them.
What Happens in the Weeks After You File
Filing starts a sequence. The clerk stamps the petition and assigns a cause number and a court. You then ask the clerk to issue citation — the formal notice — for each defendant.
The citation and petition have to be delivered. A constable serves each defendant, and service is the step most likely to stall a case. Defendants move, businesses list stale registered agents, and out-of-state drivers are harder to reach. Until a defendant is served, nothing else moves.
Once served, the defendant has a deadline to file an Answer, which in practice is filed by the insurance company’s lawyer, not by the driver personally. After the Answer, if requested, the court issues a scheduling order setting discovery cutoffs, expert deadlines, mediation, and a trial date. That order, not the filing date, controls the rest of your case.
If you want a jury, the jury fee has to be paid within the time the rules require. It is the cheapest line item on the page and the easiest to forget.
Filing Fees Are the Cheap Part
The honest summary: Once a lawsuit is filed, depositions, records, and experts are the real budget ary items, and they arrive after the decision to file has already been made.
If you cannot afford court costs at all, Texas allows a sworn Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs, filed with the court. It is a real remedy, not a technicality, and it exists precisely so that filing fees do not decide who gets to sue.
If you are weighing whether a case is worth filing, Jim Ross Law Group offers a free consultation at 817-275-4100, and there is no fee unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to file a personal injury lawsuit in Tarrant County?
The new civil suit filing fee is around $350. Add at least $8 to issue a citation and $98 for constable service for each defendant, plus $10 if you want a jury. The county clerk or district clerk’s own worked example puts a typical single-defendant case at $448 to open and serve. Costs rise with the number of defendants, not the severity of the injury.
Do I have to pay the filing fee out of my own pocket?
Usually not. In a contingency fee case, the firm advances court costs and is repaid from the recovery at the end. Ask specifically what happens to advanced costs if the case does not recover anything, because firms handle that differently. Get the answer in the written fee agreement rather than a verbal assurance.
What if I genuinely cannot afford court costs?
Texas allows you to file a sworn Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs with the court. If it is granted, the case proceeds without the upfront fees. It requires honest disclosure of your finances and it can be challenged, but it exists so filing fees do not shut people out of the courthouse.
Is the $10 jury fee optional?
The jury fee is now included with the filing fee. However, the case can be tried to the judge instead if either side does not request a jury trial. The right to a jury is worth protecting early.
How long does the other driver have to respond after I file?
The time lock does not begin ticking until the defendant is actually served with citation. Once served, the defendant has a deadline set by the rules to file an Answer, and in practice the insurance company’s lawyer files it. Service is the common bottleneck, especially when a defendant has moved or a business lists an outdated registered agent.
Does filing a lawsuit mean my case is going to trial?
No. Most filed cases still resolve before trial, often at mediation set by the court’s scheduling order. Filing changes the leverage more than the destination, because it puts deadlines, depositions, and a trial date on the defendeant’s calendar. Many claims settle only after suit is on file.
What is the deadline to file a car accident lawsuit in Texas?
Two years from the date of the injury, under Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003. Wrongful death claims run two years from the date of death. Talking with an adjuster does not extend it, and an unfiled claim is worth nothing the day after the deadline to file expires, no matter how strong the underlying injury was.
Should I file before I finish medical treatment?
It dependsunless the statute of limitations is approaching. Filing before you know the full scope of your injuries risks understating the case. But the two-year deadline is absolute, so if treatment is still ongoing as the deadline nears, filing the lawsuit protects the claim while the medical picture continues to develop.
This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Jim Ross Law Group, P.C., 2201 E Lamar Blvd #110, Arlington, TX 76006.