1. District Clerk The office of Presented by
Laura Hinojosa, Hidalgo County District Clerk
Insert Gain Attention: Use opener here to explain that a custodian is one entrusted with keeping and protecting records.
The district clerk provides support for the district courts in each county. The clerk is custodian of all court pleadings and papers that are part of any cause of action, civil or criminal, in the district courts served by the clerk. The district clerk indexes and secures all court records, collects filing fees, and handles funds held in litigation and money awarded to minors.
State Objectives:
Upon completion of this lesson, you should be able to:
Outline current legal authority of the district clerk
Examine the procedure for assuming the office of district clerk
Explain the basic responsibilities and duties of the district clerk

2. Current Legal Authority
Texas Constitution
Article 5, Section 9
Present Content: Stimulate participants by presenting the information in short segments (10 minutes each). Refer back to personal example provided during introduction when appropriate. Use visual or other aides to demonstrate ideas.
Texas Constitution Article 5, Section 9
The Texas Constitution provides: "There shall be a clerk for the district court of each county, who shall be elected by the qualified voters for state and county officers, and who shall hold his office for four years, subject to removal by information, or by indictment of a grand jury, and conviction of a petit jury. In case of vacancy, the judge of the district court shall have the power to appoint a clerk, who shall hold until the office can be filled by election."
This module addresses the district clerk’s roles and responsibilities.
In counties with populations of fewer than 8,000 (counties between 6,000 and 6,125 exempted) the office may be combined with the county clerk unless voters authorize separate offices.

3. Assuming Office Bond Official Oath Official Seal Content, cont. Bond
Section of the Texas Government Code requires a district clerk to give a bond, with two or more sureties or with a surety company authorized to do business in Texas as a surety company. The bond is given to ensure proper performance of the duties of the clerk's office. The bond is payable to the governor, and must be approved by the commissioners court. The bond amount is to be not less than 20 percent of the fees collected in any year of the term preceding the term of office for which the bond is given. However, it may not be less than $5,000 nor more than $100,000. Alternatively, the county may self-insure against losses that would be covered by the required bond.
Official Oath (Art. 16, Sec. 1 Tex. Constitution)
Before entering upon the duties of office, a district clerk must first subscribe to a statement of elected/appointed officer and then take the oath or affirmation of office. The statements of elected/appointed officer must be subscribed before the oath or affirmation of office is taken. If a bond is required, it must be endorsed. The bond and oath, or oath, must be filed and recorded in the office of the county clerk.
Official Seal (GC (d))
The clerk of the district court shall be custodian of the seal of said court, which seal shall be kept in the office of the clerk of the district court in the respective counties and shall be attached to all writs, orders, or other instruments that the clerk of the district court is now or may hereafter be required or permitted to sign or certify in his official capacity. Each district clerk is provided with an official seal for the district court. This seal must be engraved with the words "District Court of _________ County, Texas." It must have a five pointed star. All process issued by the district court, with the exception of subpoenas, are impressed with this seal. The seal is kept and used by the clerk to authenticate official acts.

4. Continuing Education Section 51.605 Of the Government Code:
In this section, the word “clerk” includes a county clerk, district clerk or county and district clerk.
A clerk shall complete 20 hours of instruction regarding the performance of the clerk’s duties of office during each calendar year that begins after the clerk’s election or appointment to office.
Content, cont.
b) A clerk shall complete…
Government Code Continuing Education
The District Clerk must successfully complete 20 hours of continuing education courses in the performance of duties at least one time in each 12-month period, including at least one hour of continuing education in registry funds handled under chapter 117 of the Local Government Code.
Also, at least one hour of continuing education should be completed regarding fraudulent court documents and fraudulent court filings.

5. Continuing Education, cont.
A clerk must annually complete 20 hours of continuing education courses including:
at least one hour of continuing education regarding fraudulent court documents and fraudulent document filings
Clerks must also complete at least one hour of continuing education in registry filings, open meetings and open records within 90 days of taking the oath of office.
Content, cont.

6. Insurance and Contingency Funds
Errors and Omissions Insurance
Required to Obtain an Insurance Policy
Contingency Fund
Content, cont.
Errors and Omissions Insurance
Government Code, Section (c)
Each district clerk shall obtain an insurance policy or similar coverage from a governmental pool operating under Chapter 119, Local Government Code, or from a self-insurance fund or risk retention group created by one or more governmental units, to cover the district clerk and any deputy clerk against liabilities incurred through errors or omissions in the performance of official duties. The amount of the policy or other coverage document must equal to the maximum amount of fees collected in any year during the term of office immediately preceding the term for which the insurance is obtained, except that the amount of the policy or other coverage document must be at least $20,000 but not more than $700,000. If the policy or other coverage document provides coverage for other county officials, the amount of the policy must be at least $1 million.
Required to Obtain an Insurance Policy
Government Code, Section (d)
Each district clerk shall obtain an insurance policy or similar coverage from a governmental pool operating under Chapter 119, Local Government Code, or from a self-insurance fund or risk retention group created by one or more governmental units, to cover losses from burglary, theft, robbery, counterfeit currency, or destruction. The amount of the policy or other coverage document must be at least $20,000 but not more than $700,000.
Contingency Fund
Government Code, Section (e)
The commissioners court may establish a contingency fund to provide the coverage required by Subsection (c) or (d) if it is determined by the district clerk that insurance coverage is unavailable at a reasonable cost. The commissioners court may set an additional filing fee in an amount not to exceed $5 for each suit filed to be collected by the district clerk. The fee shall be paid into the fund. When the contingency fund reaches an amount equal to that required by Subsection (c) or (d), the clerk shall stop collecting the additional fee.
Government Code, Section (f)
The commissioners court shall pay the premiums on the bonds and insurance policies or other similar coverage required under this section from the county general fund.

7. Overview Provides Support for District Courts Processes Cases
Indexes (Indices)
Content, cont.
Provides Support for District Courts
The district clerk provides support for the district courts in each county by processing cases, indexing, and writing statements and depositions. The clerk shall attend upon the terms of court held in the county for which he is elected, and perform such duties relating the office as may be required by the court, and shall perform all such other duties relating to the office as are required by law or the rules and practice of the courts. The District Clerk’s Manual says, "The clerk acts as a registrar, recorder, and custodian of all court pleadings, instruments, and papers that are part of any cause of action in any civil or criminal court. The district clerk indexes and secures all court records, collects filing fees, and handles funds held in litigation and money awarded to minors.“
Processes Cases
The clerk is custodian of all court pleadings and papers that are part of any cause of action, civil or criminal, in the district courts served by the clerk. The district courts are state courts. The district clerk provides support for the district court at the county level. This is essential for smooth operation. The clerk may be involved in the processing of serious criminal cases, important civil cases, and most juvenile and domestic relations cases.
Indexes (Indices)
The district clerk indexes and secures all court records, collects filing fees, and handles funds held in litigation and money awarded to minors. An alphabetical index of parties to all suits filed in the court must be maintained by the district clerk. The full name of each party is used and is cross referenced to other parties in the suit. Additionally, a reference is made opposite each name to the minutes on which judgment in the case is entered.

8. Basic Responsibilities
Petit Jury: The ordinary jury of twelve jurors for the trial of a civil or criminal action
Grand Jury: A jury of inquiry who are summoned and returned by the sheriff to each session of the criminal courts, and whose duty is to receive complaints and accusations in criminal cases, hear the evidence adduced on the part of the state, and find bills of indictment in cases where they are satisfied a trial ought to be had. They are first sworn, and instructed by the court.
Content, cont.
One responsibility of the district clerk is to swear and impanel both petit and grand juries, at the same time recording verdicts, maintaining dockets and collecting filing fees. The clerk also issues writs, warrants, citations, and a multitude of other court related paperwork.
Petit Jury
The ordinary jury of twelve people for the trial of a civil or criminal action. So called to distinguish it from the grand jury. A petit jury is a body of twelve people impaneled and sworn in a district court, to try and determine, by a true and unanimous verdict, any question or issue of fact, in any civil or criminal action or proceeding, according to law and the evidence as given them in the court.
One of the principal duties of the district clerk is the selection and summoning of potential jurors. The clerk determines how many jurors must be summoned initially to meet jury requirements. In counties using the jury wheel, the district clerk and the sheriff or constable will draw the appropriate number of names from the wheel in the presence and under the direction of the district judge. In reconstituting the jury wheel, the county or district clerk shall update jury wheel cards to reflect addresses that have been changed.
The secretary of state combines the voter registrar list with the Department of Public Safety list, eliminate duplicate names, and sends the combined list to each county on or before December 31 of each year or as may be required under a plan developed in accordance with Section , of the Government Code. The district clerk of a county that has adopted a plan under Section shall give the secretary of state notice not later than the 90th day before the date the list is required.
If the secretary of state is unable to provide the list because of the failure of the voter registrar to furnish the county voter registration list to the secretary of state, the county tax assessor-collector, sheriff, county clerk, and district clerk in the county shall meet at the county courthouse between January 1 and January 15 of the following year and shall reconstitute the jury wheel for the county, except as provided under a plan adopted under Section , Government Code. The deadlines included in the plan control the preparation of the list and the reconstituting of the wheel. The secretary of state shall send the list furnished by the Department of Public Safety to the voter registrar, who shall combine the lists for use as the juror source and certify the combined list as required of the secretary of state.
Grand Jury
A jury of inquiry who are summoned and returned by the sheriff to each session of the criminal courts, and whose duty is to receive complaints and accusations in criminal cases, hear the evidence adduced on the part of the state, and find bills of indictment in cases where they are satisfied a trial ought to be had. They are first sworn, and instructed by the court.
The district judge appoints between three and five persons to serve as grand jury commissioners and notifies the clerk of the persons selected. Once the commissioners make a list of 15 to 40 people to be summoned as grand jurors, the judge will deliver an envelope with the list to the district clerk for safekeeping after the clerk and each of his or her deputies has taken an oath. The judge notifies the clerk as to the date the grand jury is to be impaneled and, within 30 days of that date, and not before, the clerk will open the sealed envelope containing the list of grand jurors, make a certified copy of the list, and give the copy to the sheriff. Traditionally, the district clerk makes an entry in the court’s minutes that reflects the names of the grand jury commissioners and states that they have carried out their responsibility to select potential grand jurors. Also, the district clerk traditionally enters the name of each potential grand juror in the Grand Jury Docket which is the official record of grand jurors for each term of court.

9. Basic Responsibilities
Custodian of Records
Court Minutes
Clerk Pro Tempore
Content, cont.
Custodian of Records
The District Clerk is the registrar recorder and custodian of all court pleadings, instruments and legal documents that are a part of any cause of action in any civil or criminal case. The District Clerk maintains the official court record and receives for filing all documents in the felony criminal, family, juvenile, delinquent tax and the greater value civil courts cases. The District Clerk performs duties from the time a case is filed through disposition, appeal, and ancillary proceedings that may occur for many years after judgment. 
Court Minutes
The indexing and recording of court minutes are the very first duties of the clerk mentioned in both the criminal and civil statutes of the State of Texas. Indeed, at the time these statutes were first adopted, the clerk's responsibilities to the court consisted of little more than preserving a record of the court's actions. Even today, while the clerk's duties have grown tremendously more complex, the indexing and recording of the court's minutes remain of basic importance to the judicial process.
In light of changing technologies, the law no longer requires that minutes and indexes be kept in record books or well-bound books. Therefore, if the clerk’s minutes are kept on microfilm and/or the indexes are computerized, the remaining paragraphs of this chapter should be adapted to the office’s particular system.
Should the district clerk have duties in more than one district court, the minutes of the civil business of the courts may be combined into one record. The minutes of the criminal business of the courts may also be combined into a separate record. The records will be entered sequentially into the proper record, regardless of the district court from which the business originates.

10. Appointing Staff Deputy Clerks Insurance Content, cont. Deputy Clerks
The district clerk may appoint deputy clerks. Each appointment must be in writing under the hand and seal of the district court and must be recorded in the office of the county clerk. A deputy clerk must take the oath prescribed for officers of this state. A deputy clerk may perform in the name of the district clerk all official acts of the office of district clerk.
Insurance
The district clerk shall obtain a surety bond to cover a deputy clerk or a schedule surety bond or a blanket surety bond to cover more than one deputy and all employees of the office. A deputy clerk and an employee must be covered on the same conditions and in the same amount as the district clerk. The bond covering the deputies and employees shall be made payable to the governor for the use and benefit of the district clerk. Alternatively, the county may self-insure against losses that would have been covered by the bond.

11. Review Outline current legal authority
Examine procedure for assuming office
Explain basic responsibilities
Insert Guided Learning: Conduct a guided review of the information and encourage participants to summarize the information for the group
List best-case scenario questions and answers, debate topics or other activities here.
Summary
The district clerk provides support of the district and county court at law courts in the county in some jurisdictions. The clerk is registrar, recorder, and custodian of all court pleadings, instruments, and papers that are part of any cause of action in any civil and criminal district court and in any family county court at law. The district clerk indexes and secures all court records, collects filing fees, and handles funds held in litigation and money awarded to minors.
District clerks assume all constitutional and statutory duties and are called on to assure that the affairs of the district courts are maintained objectively with the full confidence of judicial authorities.
Before assuming office, Section of the Texas Government Code requires a district clerk to give a bond, with two or more sureties or with a surety company authorized to do business in Texas as a surety company. The bond is given to ensure proper performance of the duties of the clerk's office. The bond is payable to the governor, and must be approved by the commissioners court. In addition, a district clerk must first subscribe to a statement of elected/appointed officer and then take the oath or affirmation of office. The statements of elected/appointed officer must be subscribed before the oath or affirmation of office is taken. If a bond is required, it must be endorsed. The bond and oath, or oath, must be filed and recorded in the office of the county clerk.
The Texas Government Code states the duties and powers of the clerk of the district court: "The clerk of the District Court has custody of and shall carefully maintain and arrange the records relating to or lawfully deposited in the clerk's office." The district clerk shall:
1) File all felony criminal cases following indictment by the Grand Jury
2) File civil law suits
3) File all divorces, parent-child relationships, adoptions, name changes and other family matters
4) Collect fees for the filing of new cases and motions and for the issuance of all subpoenas, notices, citations, writs, temporary restraining orders, executions, abstracts of judgment, orders of sale, protective orders, etc.
5) Handle the jury selection process and act as a liaison between the jurors, courts and employers
6) Receive and distribute child support payments ordered through divorces and parent-child relationship cases.
7) Keep the court system flowing smoothly by keeping accurate records and making sure those records remain available for the future
8) Process passport applications in some counties

12. Resources http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/txconst/toc.html
Insert Resources to Encourage Retention: Provide participants with an outside assignment, additional reading materials, Web sites and contact information for subject experts
Texas Constitution
Civil Statues
Election Code
Government Code
Local Government
Texas Clerks Organization