Court e-filing for eviction cases: landlord workflow guide

Landlords use court e-filing for eviction to send a petition and supporting papers into the justice court’s filing system instead of walking a paper packet to a clerk window. In Texas, the official statewide portal is eFileTexas. Under the 2026 rules, an eviction suit starts with a sworn petition, and the person who reviews, confirms, and authorizes the submission remains the filer.

Eviction Wizard helps landlords organize eviction documents, submit through the court's e-filing system, request a process server, and track every deadline — in one dashboard. Eviction Wizard AI Partners, LLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

Key takeaways

• E-filing delivers the suit to the court. It does not decide possession, serve the citation, or replace the notice you already gave.
• As of 2026, Texas eviction suits are initiated by a sworn petition (Texas Property Code § 24.00505). Rule 510 is the specialized procedural rule.
• You are always the filer. Software can format a packet and transmit it at your direction. It cannot swear the petition or authorize the filing without you.
• eFileTexas is the official e-filing system for Texas courts. Confirm the court for the property before you pay fees.
• The $149 Document Organizer fee does not include court filing fees or e-filing service fees. Those charges should appear before you approve them.

Contents

• What court e-filing for eviction actually is
• How eFileTexas fits a Texas eviction filing
• The sworn petition under Texas SB 38
• Fields you still have to get right
• Review, confirm, and authorize
• After you submit: case number, hearing, and citation
• What the $149 fee does not include
• How Eviction Wizard handles this
• Frequently asked questions
• Authorize the filing only when the packet is yours

What court e-filing for eviction actually is

Paper filing meant a landlord or courier handed a petition to a clerk, paid a fee, and waited for a stamped copy. Court e-filing for eviction is the same legal act through a court-approved electronic channel. The clerk still receives the packet, still reviews it, and still issues a case number if the court accepts it.

E-filing is not a judgment. It is not service of the citation on the tenant. It is not a substitute for the notice you delivered — or failed to deliver — before you filed. It is the moment the suit is presented to the court.

In Texas justice court, eviction cases (forcible detainer) are filed in the Justice of the Peace precinct where the rental property sits. Rule 510 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure is the specialized rule for those cases as of 2026. Under the 2026 venue rules, a filing in the wrong precinct is not treated as a simple transfer problem. Rule 510 materials describe dismissal, with a new filing required in the correct precinct. Confirm the current rule with the court or a Texas attorney before you treat any helper text as venue advice.

E-filing does not make every court identical. Counties still publish their own fee schedules. Some justice courts point the public to eFileTexas for new eviction cases. Others still accept paper. Treat each county as a local filing.

An electronic envelope can be rejected for a missing verification, a wrong court, a bad attachment, or an unpaid fee. A review gate before you authorize is part of the filing. This guide is procedural information, not legal advice.

How eFileTexas fits a Texas eviction filing

eFileTexas is the official e-filing system for Texas courts. The Texas judicial branch operates the statewide portal. Attorneys must e-file in many civil case types. Self-represented landlords are not in that same mandatory bucket in every court, but a growing set of justice courts tell the public to use eFileTexas for new eviction cases. Clerk pages that say “use eFileTexas” point at eFileTexas.gov, not at a third-party forms website. A PDF kit is not the court system.

A typical conceptual path — without inventing screen labels or unofficial field codes — looks like this:

1. Create or use an account on a certified electronic filing service provider that connects to eFileTexas.
2. Start a new filing (often called an envelope) for the correct county and justice court.
3. Identify the matter as an eviction / forcible detainer case, using the court’s available case types.
4. Upload the sworn petition and supporting documents in a format the court accepts (commonly PDF).
5. Pay the court’s filing fee and any e-filing service fee, unless you are filing a statement of inability to afford court costs under the applicable rules.
6. Submit and keep the confirmation the system returns.

Those steps are conceptual. eFileTexas and each Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP) design their own screens. This article will not invent button names or unofficial field codes. Follow the clerk or official help page for that court. Confirm the court that has venue before you pay. After acceptance, a sheriff or constable (or a person the court authorizes) serves the citation. An e-file confirmation is not proof the tenant has been served.

If you are comparing tools, this is where eviction software vs form fillers splits. A form-filler can produce a PDF. Court e-filing still requires a court, a sworn petition, fees, and a return path for the case number.

The sworn petition under Texas SB 38

Senate Bill 38 (89th Legislature) rewrote large parts of the Texas residential eviction process for suits filed on or after January 1, 2026. Texas Property Code § 24.00505 states that to initiate an eviction suit, a sworn petition must be filed with the court, and that the petition must include the contents required by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

A sworn petition is a pleading the plaintiff (or an authorized agent, where the rules allow) verifies as true — typically under oath or another verification method the rules accept. An unsworn narrative or a form you never reviewed is not what § 24.00505 describes. How a particular court accepts the verification is a rule-and-court question. This article does not choose a method for you.

Rule 510 remains the specialized procedural rule for eviction cases. For a plain-English map of the 2026 changes, read the Texas SB 38 explainer.

The court needs who is suing, who is being sued, where the premises are, what tenancy and rent facts you allege, and what notice you already gave. Those facts have to match the lease, the ledger, and the notice you can produce — and they have to land in the correct precinct. SB 38 and Rule 510 require the suit in the justice precinct where the property is located. Materials on the 2026 rules describe a wrong-precinct filing as a dismissal problem, not a courtesy transfer.

SB 38 requires the sheriff or constable to make a diligent effort to serve the citation and petition not later than the fifth business day after the petition is filed. Trial is generally set not earlier than the 10th day and not later than the 21st day after the petition is filed, with additional limits tied to service. County calendars vary. Treat those ranges as the rule, not a promised weekday.

None of this is legal advice about your facts. If the tenancy is commercial or the defendant will likely contest possession, talk to a Texas attorney before you authorize anything.

Fields you still have to get right

E-filing transmits the facts you already claim. Packets get kicked back when the tenant name does not match the lease, the unit is missing, the rent figure does not match the ledger, the notice date is blank, or the court is the wrong precinct. Use conceptual field names only. The left column below is not an official eFileTexas code.

Conceptual field	What the court is being told	Review check before you authorize
Plaintiff name	Who is bringing the suit	Owner or landlord name spelled as you will prove it
Defendant / tenant name	Who must answer	Matches the lease and the occupants you intend to name
Property address	Which premises are at issue	Street, unit, city, and county match the lease and the notice
Precinct / court	Which justice court has venue	You confirmed the precinct for this address; a helper is not a guarantee
Rent amount	What unpaid rent (if any) you allege	Matches the lease rate and the ledger you can show
Lease dates	When the tenancy began and what term you claim	Start, end, and holdover facts match the uploaded lease
Notice dates	When you gave the prerequisite notice	Dates match the notice you delivered and any proof you kept

Two more items sit beside those fields. Justice courts commonly expect the petition plus the lease, the notice, and a rent ledger if the claim is nonpayment. Because § 24.00505 requires a sworn petition, the signature / oath block is not optional decoration. Have a Texas attorney explain the verification method your court accepts if you are unsure.

If you uploaded a lease into a document tool, treat extraction as a draft. Tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates can be pulled into a form for your review. Auto-fill is not a sworn statement.

Review, confirm, and authorize

The filer is the person the court will treat as having presented the suit. In a software workflow that transmits to the court’s e-filing system, that person is still you. Review is the last chance to stop a wrong precinct or an unsworn petition.

1. Confirm the notice chapter is finished. The petition is the suit, not a substitute for the notice the Property Code required before filing. Check notice dates against the lease and against Texas day-counting rules (Property Code § 24.0042). Whether a delivery method was sufficient for your lease is a legal question — check the lease and consult a Texas attorney.
2. Confirm the precinct and court. If a tool suggests a Justice of the Peace court “based on the information you provided,” treat that as a starting point. Verify it against the county’s precinct map or the clerk.
3. Read the populated fields. Plaintiff name, defendant / tenant name, property address, rent amount, lease dates, and notice dates should match the papers in the packet.
4. Read the sworn petition as a pleading. You are attesting to the contents. If a sentence is wrong, do not authorize the filing so you can “fix it later.”
5. Check the attachments. Lease, notice, ledger, and any other exhibit you will rely on should be complete and readable.
6. Read the fee line. Court filing fees, e-filing service fees, and third-party charges should be listed separately from a document-organizer fee.
7. Authorize transmission. Until you confirm, nothing should go to the court. After you confirm, you are the filer of record for that submission.

Optional attorney review of the packet for completeness can sit between steps 5 and 7. That review is not hearing representation unless you hire the attorney for that work.

After you submit: case number, hearing, and citation

Acceptance and transmission are not the same event. You can authorize a submission and still see the court reject the envelope — wrong court, missing fee, unreadable attachment, or a petition the clerk will not file. Keep the confirmation and a copy of what you sent.

When the court accepts the suit, you should receive a case number. Under the 2026 rules, the court also sets a trial date not earlier than the 10th day and not later than the 21st day after the petition is filed, subject to service timing and local calendars. If a dashboard is doing its job, that case number and hearing information come back to the same place you authorized the filing.

Citation is the next court act. You delivered (or hired someone to deliver) the notice to vacate. The citation is the court’s process telling the tenant a suit has been filed. A sheriff or constable — or another person the court authorizes in writing — serves that citation. SB 38 gives law enforcement a five-business-day window to make a diligent effort to serve the citation and petition after filing. You do not serve the citation yourself.

If service is not completed, the hearing setting changes. Track the attempt dates. Notice delivery and citation service are different jobs. Eviction Wizard’s process-server request asks an independent server to handle delivery work you choose and to track proof of service. It is not a claim that the platform is the constable.

After service, the case continues: hearing, judgment, appeal if someone appeals, and — if you later obtain a writ of possession — execution by law enforcement only. Self-help lockouts remain illegal. E-filing the petition only starts the suit.

What the $149 fee does not include

Keep the invoices apart.

Charge	Who it is paid to	What it is for
Document Organizer fee ($149 per case)	Eviction Wizard	Notice options for your review, a filing packet from court form templates, authorized submission, and tracking
Court filing fee	The court / county	The justice court’s fee to file the suit. Public deskbooks have cited a statewide JP figure in the tens of dollars (for example, $54 in older official materials). Confirm the current amount with that court.
E-filing service fee	The e-filing provider / portal	The electronic-transmission charge. Not included in $149.
Citation / constable service fee	County or authorized server	Service of the court’s citation, usually per defendant. Combined filing-plus-service totals commonly reported in Texas often land in a roughly $100–$200+ range — reported ranges, not a quote.
Optional attorney review or representation	The attorney you hire	Completeness review or courtroom representation. Typical attorney eviction fees are often described in the $1,500–$3,000 range on our site; a market observation, not a bid.
Independent process server (if you request one)	The server	Notice delivery or other work you request. Paid independently.

The $149 Document Organizer fee does not include court e-filing fees, the court’s filing fee, constable service, or attorney fees. Founding members on the waitlist lock $149 per case for life. Court and third-party amounts are always shown before you approve them. You can organize a packet without paying $149 (“build your case free — pay only when you file”). When you file, you pay the organizer fee and the separate court / e-filing charges. Do not budget $149 as the all-in Texas eviction cost.

How Eviction Wizard handles this

Eviction software for landlords should cover the filing act, not only the PDF that precedes it. Eviction Wizard is a document organizer and transmission workflow, not counsel.

You upload a lease. The product may extract tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates into the forms you selected, for your review. You enter the property address. The product helps identify the Texas precinct and Justice of the Peace court commonly associated with that location, including typical filing-fee information and e-filing portal links, framed as “based on the information you provided.” That helper is not a guarantee of venue. You still confirm the court.

When the packet is ready, you submit documents to the court’s e-filing system through Eviction Wizard. Nothing transmits until you review, confirm, and authorize. You remain the filer. If the court accepts the suit, the case number and hearing information are delivered back to the dashboard.

From there the same case file continues through citation, hearing, judgment, appeal, and writ, with deadline alerts as information returns from the court. You can request an independent process server and browse the Attorney Directory. Those attorneys are independent. Eviction Wizard does not represent you.

Launch is Texas first, county by county. Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada are next. If your county is not live, the waitlist is the next step.

Frequently asked questions

Does Eviction Wizard file the eviction for me?

No. You are always the filer. The product organizes and formats documents. When you are ready, you review, confirm, and authorize submission to the court’s e-filing system. Your case number and hearing information are delivered back to the dashboard.

Is eFileTexas the same thing as Eviction Wizard?

No. eFileTexas is the official statewide e-filing system for Texas courts. Eviction Wizard is a document organizer that can submit through the court’s e-filing system when you authorize it. Clerk pages that say “file on eFileTexas” are naming the court portal, not a private software brand.

Does the $149 Document Organizer fee include court e-filing fees?

No. The $149 Document Organizer fee covers packet organization, formatted templates, authorized submission, and tracking. Court filing fees, e-filing service fees, and third-party server or attorney fees are separate and paid independently. Those amounts should be visible before you approve payment.

What is a sworn petition under SB 38?

Texas Property Code § 24.00505 requires a sworn petition to initiate an eviction suit, with contents required by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. You (or an authorized agent, if the rules allow) verify the pleading. An unreviewed draft is not a sworn petition. Ask a Texas attorney how your court accepts the verification.

How do you know which precinct to file in?

Jurisdiction in Texas often depends on the property address down to the Justice of the Peace precinct. Enter the address and Eviction Wizard helps identify the precinct and court commonly associated with that location, shown as based on the information you provided. You review and confirm. The helper is not a guarantee.

What if something in the packet is wrong after I authorize?

Review exists because transmission is hard to undo cleanly. Optional attorney review can happen before you file. If a technical issue with formatting or transmission is caused by the platform, contact Eviction Wizard. Errors in the facts you attested to are your pleading, not a software defect.

Authorize the filing only when the packet is yours

Court e-filing for eviction is a short electronic act sitting on top of a longer statutory process. As of 2026, the petition must be sworn, the court must be the precinct for the property, and you — not the software — authorize what the clerk receives. eFileTexas is the Texas portal name worth searching.

To put the packet, the authorized submission, and the case number in one place, join the Eviction Wizard waitlist.