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Section 6.409 – Citation By Publication

May 14, 2021 | Family Law, Texas

(a) Citation in a suit for dissolution of a marriage may be by publication as in other civil cases, except that notice shall be published one time only.
(b) The notice shall be sufficient if given in substantially the following form:

“STATE OF TEXAS

To (name of person to be served with citation), and to all whom it may concern (if the name of any person to be served with citation is unknown), Respondent(s),

“You have been sued. You may employ an attorney. If you or your attorney do not file a written answer with the clerk who issued this citation by 10 a.m. on the Monday next following the expiration of 20 days after you were served this citation and petition, a default judgment may be taken against you. The petition of __________, Petitioner, was filed in the Court of __________ County, Texas, on the ______ day of __________, against __________, Respondent(s), numbered ______, and entitled ‘In the Matter of Marriage of __________ and __________. The suit requests __________ (statement of relief sought).’

“The Court has authority in this suit to enter any judgment or decree dissolving the marriage and providing for the division of property that will be binding on you.

“Issued and given under my hand and seal of said Court at __________, Texas, this the ______ day of __________, ______.

“…………………………

Clerk of the __________ Court of

____________ County, Texas

By _______, Deputy.”

(c) The form authorized in this section and the form authorized by Section 102.010 may be combined in appropriate situations.
(d) If the citation is for a suit in which a parent-child relationship does not exist, service by publication may be completed by posting the citation at the courthouse door for seven days in the county in which the suit is filed.
(e) If the petitioner or the petitioner’s attorney of record makes an oath that no child presently under 18 years of age was born or adopted by the spouses and that no appreciable amount of property was accumulated by the spouses during the marriage, the court may dispense with the appointment of an attorney ad litem. In a case in which citation was by publication, a statement of the evidence, approved and signed by the judge, shall be filed with the papers of the suit as a part of the record.

Tex. Fam. Code ยง 6.409

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 7, Sec. 1, eff. April 17, 1997.