County Courts-at-Law in Smith County

Because the Texas constitution limits each county to only one county court, county courts at law are created by statute in larger counties, primarily to aid the single county court in its judicial functions. The legal jurisdiction of these special county-level trial courts can vary considerably and is established by the specific statute that created each court.

Smith County has three Courts at Law, each separately created by the Texas Legislature as the need has been shown. Our County Courts at Law handle the following types of cases:

• Criminal misdemeanor Class A and B cases.
• Civil cases. Civil jurisdiction of the Smith County Courts at Law is “concurrent” with that of the District
• Courts, meaning that the dollar-amount limitation that exists in some other counties does not apply here.
• Domestic cases (County Court at Law and Court at Law #2)
• Cases appealed from justice of the peace and municipal courts.
• Contested probate matters (County Court at Law #3)
• Juvenile cases, Class B and above (County Court at Law #3.)

Important Links

• Judicial Search
• Local Rules of Civil Trial for District and County Courts
• County Court at Law
• County Court at Law 2
• County Court at Law 3

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