The Culberson County Court Calendar
No single daily calendar covers every court in the county. District settings, constitutional county-court matters, justice-court dates, and Van Horn Municipal Court dates do not share one channel. Each type of court keeps its own. The combined County and District Clerk holds the files for the county and district courts. A district judge's coordinator may still control the setting. Every justice of the peace keeps a precinct docket. The city court runs its own calendar for fine-only Class C misdemeanors and ordinance cases.
An iDocket Case History can help you spot a case. It may display actions or hearing details. A date shown there is never a promise of the current setting. The county and district pages post no public calendar feed. Match anything you find online against the latest signed order, citation, or mailed notice. Or get a direct answer from the right office.
Culberson County District Calendar Routes
District work can pull in offices far from Van Horn. The 205th District Court page lists Judge Francisco Dominguez at 500 E San Antonio Street, Room 1002, El Paso. The phone there is 915-546-2107. The 394th District Court page lists Judge Monty Kimball and coordinator Lori Holguin in Alpine. They are reachable at 432-837-5831 or 394th.jud.dist.court@gmail.com. The split matters more than you might think. A Culberson County file can sit with the local District Clerk. Its hearing may be run from El Paso or Alpine. The official 205th page shows the first route:
That court page helps you pin down the judicial office first, before asking whether a listed setting still stands.
How to Find Your Court Date
Begin with the court name printed on your most recent case paper. The county courthouse does not control a municipal, JP, appellate, or federal date. Follow this order:
- Search Culberson County in iDocket by legal last name and a first name or initial. Open the likely Case History and note the court, case number, and any next setting shown.
- For county or district court, call the combined clerk at 432-283-2058 or visit the clerk at 300 La Caverna Street in Van Horn. A written request may be mailed to P.O. Box 158, Van Horn, TX 79855.
- For a district matter, confirm with the 205th or 394th office when the docket or order names that court. For a JP matter, call the precinct listed on the citation or filing.
- For Van Horn Municipal Court, call the court clerk at 432-283-2050. Treat a city payment page as a payment route, not as proof of a court date.
- Compare the answer with the latest notice or order and ask counsel, if represented. Check again near the appearance date for a reset or emergency notice.
re:SearchTX offers statewide access to eligible integrated cases and hearings. It leaves out the criminal cases covered by the Texas Judicial Council's collection. No single official search covers every Texas trial-court calendar.
Reading a Court Setting
A setting is simply a scheduled court event. It might be a docket call, pretrial conference, motion hearing, arraignment, bench trial, or jury trial. It is not always the final trial date. Read the whole entry and weigh it against the latest filed order.
| Date | The day assigned to the event, subject to a later reset or signed order. |
|---|---|
| Time | The stated call time or individual hearing time. Arrive or connect as directed. |
| Courtroom | The room, building, or remote method named in the notice. Do not infer Van Horn from the county name. |
| Judge | The court or judicial officer assigned to act. Assignment can identify which coordinator to contact. |
| Setting Type | The purpose of the event, such as pretrial, motion hearing, plea, or trial. |
Online fields can lag behind reality. TAMES appellate data refreshes only nightly, and a vendor's latest-case date says nothing about a current hearing. Trust the court notice over any inference drawn from a search result.
Culberson County 394th Calendar Reach
The 394th District Court serves Brewster, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Hudspeth, and Presidio Counties. That five-county job explains its setup. The coordinator works from Alpine. The Culberson County case file stays local. It also explains why a docket search may take two calls. Ask the local District Clerk about the record. Then ask the coordinator about the court calendar. The official county source shows the multi-county assignment:
That listing is an office reference, not a live docket. Before you travel, ask whether the event sits in Van Horn, Alpine, another listed place, or a remote session.
Resets, Continuances, and Cancellations
A reset moves a setting. A continuance pushes the event back with the court's approval. Neither one ends the case. A filed motion is only a request. It does not prove the judge granted anything. Before you rely on a change, look for an order, a new docket entry, or word straight from the court. The judge or authorized staff are the only ones who can make it official.
Culberson County's JP rules set civil timing goals and permit a continuance or pass. They also create an annual dismissal docket. It covers cases showing no action in the prior 365 days. Those rules govern case management rather than a public day-by-day calendar. For a district case, ask the court coordinator. For a county case, ask the combined clerk. City and JP matters go straight to that lower court.
County news and city notices sometimes carry word of emergency changes. In 2020, for example, a clerk notice showed dockets could be canceled. Mail, e-filing, and remote proceedings in the 394th kept going. That notice is history now. It still explains why an old saved page or stale calendar should never stand in for a fresh check of the Culberson County docket.
Culberson County Municipal Court Dates
Van Horn is the only incorporated community in Culberson County, and its Municipal Court runs a separate calendar path. That court hears city ordinance matters. It also handles fine-only Class C misdemeanors. Many traffic cases land there. The city's online payment service is not a public calendar. A receipt proves neither that a trial date was set nor that one was canceled.
If you plead not guilty, the city's reply sheet tells you to ask the court to advise the trial date. No single deadline fits every citation. That matters. The date printed on the citation and the clerk's current directions are what control. For sorting out which court holds a ticket, the Culberson County traffic court records page separates the city and JP paths.
Culberson County Calendar Terms
A one-word label can sound like a verdict. Each term marks a different point on the schedule, not a final result, so read these docket entries with care.
- Setting
- A scheduled court event, not necessarily a trial.
- Docket call
- A session in which the court calls several cases and determines status or readiness.
- Reset
- A move from one court date to another.
- Continuance
- A postponement allowed by the court.
- Disposition
- The recorded outcome of a matter, which is different from a future setting.
Ask which term the clerk or coordinator means. A case with a disposition can still have later settings, and a future date on the calendar never hints at how the court will rule.
Culberson County Calendar Boundaries
Not every Culberson County case sits on the local county calendar. Federal and appellate matters do not. A federal civil or criminal matter from Culberson County is assigned to the Pecos Division of the Western District of Texas. That side runs on federal judge calendars, with PACER or CM/ECF for the filings. Bankruptcy is different. It follows the Western District bankruptcy system through its Midland Division coverage.
Appeals head to the Eighth Court of Appeals. You can search those in TAMES. TAMES refreshes nightly, so it is not a real-time trial calendar. The Culberson County clerk still holds the trial record, while the appellate system holds the appeal docket. Confirm the right level before relying on a date.
What To Do If You Miss a Setting
Act fast. Use the court named on the notice. Call the clerk or coordinator, give the case number if you have it, and ask what the docket now shows. If a lawyer represents you, contact counsel at once. Payment, a phone message, or a later web search does not cancel the missed event.
Missed a setting? A missed date can lead to added court action, including a warrant in some criminal or citation matters.
Contact the responsible Culberson County court or clerk at once and ask for the current status and lawful next step.
Legal counsel can address the effect of the missed setting and whether a new appearance or filing is needed.
The fallout varies. It depends on the court and the case. The Van Horn traffic sheet warns that failing to keep a written promise to appear can be a separate offense and may lead to a warrant. Do not read a universal rule into district, county, JP, or civil settings.