The Collin County standing order is a set of automatic restrictions that binds both sides of a family law case the moment it is filed, freezing finances, limiting travel with children, and setting rules for how the parties treat each other while the case is pending. No one has to ask for it. The district judges issued it on their own authority, and it attaches to every qualifying case as a matter of course.1Collin County. Standing Order Regarding Children, Property and Conduct of the Parties
Which Cases It Covers and When It Binds You
The order applies to every original divorce petition, annulment, suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR), and suit to modify an existing family court order filed in a Collin County district court.1Collin County. Standing Order Regarding Children, Property and Conduct of the Parties Texas law expressly authorizes courts to issue automatic orders like this in both dissolution and parent-child cases.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code 6-502 – Temporary Injunction and Other Temporary Orders
The two sides are bound at different moments. The petitioner is bound immediately when the clerk accepts the filing along with a copy of the order. The respondent is not bound until formally served with citation or otherwise given actual notice, such as by signing a waiver of service.1Collin County. Standing Order Regarding Children, Property and Conduct of the Parties That gap matters. If you file and worry your spouse might empty an account or leave the state before being served, you may need a separate temporary restraining order for immediate coverage of the other side.
Rules About the Children
Where You Can Take Them
Neither parent may remove a child from Texas, and neither may take a child outside Collin County and its neighboring counties, without the other parent’s written consent or a court order. The neighboring counties are Denton and Dallas to the west and south, Grayson and Fannin to the north and northeast, and Hunt and Rockwall to the east and southeast. Travel inside that cluster is fine. Crossing beyond it without permission is not. Texas Family Code Section 105.001 gives courts explicit authority to prohibit removing a child beyond a defined geographic area during pending litigation.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 105-001
School and Daycare
You cannot pull a child out of their current school, preschool, or daycare and enroll them somewhere else while the case is open. Unilateral changes to a child’s educational placement are off the table. If a change is genuinely necessary, you go through the court, not through the front office of a new school.
What You Say and How You Involve Them
Both parents must avoid making negative comments about the other parent or their extended family when the children can hear. You cannot use the children as messengers or question them about the other parent’s activities. The court treats the child’s emotional stability as something it actively protects, not just something the parents should try to maintain on their own.
The Financial Freeze
From the moment the order binds you, the financial picture is locked. The point is to keep either side from draining accounts, moving assets, or running up debt before the court divides the estate.
What You Cannot Do
You cannot sell, transfer, give away, or hide property belonging to either spouse, whether community or separate. You cannot take out new loans, create liens, or pledge assets as collateral. Withdrawing money from accounts, closing accounts, or cashing out retirement funds outside the exceptions below puts you in violation. Texas Family Code Section 6.501 specifically authorizes courts to block these transactions, including destruction, concealment, or encumbrance of property and falsification of financial records.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 6-501 – Temporary Restraining Order
Insurance stays in place. Neither party may cancel, alter, or allow existing coverage to lapse, including health, life, auto, and homeowner’s or renter’s policies. The order also addresses dental coverage, requiring parties to maintain it and provide carrier information, policy numbers, and benefits schedules.1Collin County. Standing Order Regarding Children, Property and Conduct of the Parties Turning off utilities at a shared residence is likewise prohibited.
Digital holdings are not a loophole. Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and other digital assets are subject to the same restrictions as a bank account or brokerage. Coins in a wallet or on an exchange count as property, and moving them the wrong way looks the same to a court as moving cash out of a checking account.
What You Can Still Spend On
The freeze is not designed to starve you. Three categories of spending stay open:
- Reasonable living expenses. Groceries, rent or mortgage, car payments, gasoline, medical copays, and other costs of keeping yourself and the children fed, housed, and healthy.
- Attorney’s fees for the pending case. Courts recognize that blocking access to lawyers would undermine the entire process.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code 6-502 – Temporary Injunction and Other Temporary Orders
- Ordinary business operations if you own a business. Payroll, vendors, rent, and other routine operating costs continue. You are not required to shut down a going concern.
Spending outside those lanes without court approval is where people get into trouble. A vacation on a credit card, a large gift to a family member, or a sudden vehicle purchase can all be characterized as dissipation of the estate. When in doubt, ask your attorney or file a motion before spending.
How You Have to Behave Toward Each Other
Both parties are prohibited from harassing, threatening, or intimidating the other in person, by phone, by text, on social media, or through a third party. Section 6.501 spells out the prohibited communications: vulgar or offensive language intended to annoy or alarm, anonymous calls, repeated calls without a legitimate purpose, and threats of unlawful action.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 6-501 – Temporary Restraining Order
Angry text messages, hostile voicemails, and threatening emails are among the most common violations family courts see, and they show up as exhibits at temporary orders hearings and trial. Keeping communication factual and limited to logistics about children and finances is the safest path.
Do Not Destroy Records
Both parties must preserve all documents and records that could be relevant to the case. Financial records, tax returns, bank statements, business records, personal correspondence, and digital data are all covered. The statute specifically protects electronically stored information from tampering, destruction, and misrepresentation.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 6-501 – Temporary Restraining Order
In practice, do not delete text messages, clear browser history, wipe a phone, shred paper files, or close email accounts. If you have a backup routine that overwrites old data automatically, talk to your attorney about pausing it. Courts take spoliation seriously, and it can shape the judge’s read on your credibility even if the destroyed material looked harmless to you.
How It Differs From a Temporary Restraining Order
People confuse standing orders with temporary restraining orders because both restrict behavior during a pending case. They are not the same.
- A standing order is automatic, applies to every covered case without a request, and stays in effect for the duration of the case unless the court modifies it.
- A TRO is requested by one party through a motion and affidavit explaining why emergency protection is needed. It lasts only 14 days or until the temporary orders hearing, whichever comes first.5Texas Law Help. Temporary Orders and Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs)
- Temporary orders are issued after a hearing where both sides present evidence. They cover things the standing order does not, such as a possession schedule, temporary child support, or exclusive use of the home. In Collin County, each side gets 20 minutes at a temporary orders hearing unless the court allows more.6Collin County. Local Rules of Practice for the District Courts of Collin County
In Collin County, a TRO cannot duplicate what the standing order already covers. Protections beyond the standing order come through temporary orders after a hearing.
What Happens if You Violate It
Violating the standing order is contempt of court. Under Texas Government Code Section 21.002, contempt of a district court carries a fine of up to $500, confinement in the county jail for up to six months, or both, for each offense.7Justia Law. Texas Government Code Chapter 21 – General Provisions When the case is a SAPCR, the Family Code makes enforcement through Chapter 157 explicitly available.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 105-001
Violations can stack. Separate acts of contempt can draw separate sanctions, and cumulative criminal contempt confinement can reach 18 months. The formal sanctions are only part of it. A party who ignores the standing order tells the judge they are unlikely to follow future orders either, and that reads through to custody, property division, and credibility calls at trial.