Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 680–693
The procedure for obtaining a Texas Temporary Restraining Order, Temporary Injunction, and Permanent Injunction is contained in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules 680 through 693. These rules are provided here for your reference.
Each rule is followed by a plain-language explanation of what it means in practice and why it matters.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 680: Temporary Restraining Order
No temporary restraining order shall be granted without notice to the adverse party unless it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the applicant before notice can be served and a hearing had thereon. Every temporary restraining order granted without notice shall be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance; shall be filed forthwith in the clerk’s office and entered of record; shall define the injury and state why it is irreparable and why the order was granted without notice; and shall expire by its terms within such time after signing, not to exceed fourteen days, as the court fixes, unless within the time so fixed the order, for good cause shown, is extended for a like period or unless the party against whom the order is directed consents that it may be extended for a longer period. The reasons for the extension shall be entered of record. No more than one extension may be granted unless subsequent extensions are unopposed. In case a temporary restraining order is granted without notice, the application for a temporary injunction shall be set down for hearing at the earliest possible date and takes precedence of all matters except older matters of the same character; and when the application comes on for hearing the party who obtained the temporary restraining order shall proceed with the application for a temporary injunction and, if he does not do so, the court shall dissolve the temporary restraining order. On two days’ notice to the party who obtained the temporary restraining order without notice or on such shorter notice to that party as the court may prescribe, the adverse party may appear and move its dissolution or modification and in that event the court shall proceed to hear and determine such motion as expeditiously as the ends of justice require.
Every restraining order shall include an order setting a certain date for hearing on the temporary or permanent injunction sought.
What Rule 680 Means in Practice
Rule 680 is the foundational rule for TROs. It allows a court to issue emergency relief without notifying the other side, but only when a sworn affidavit establishes specific facts showing that immediate and irreparable injury will occur before notice can be served. The affidavit must describe real facts, not conclusions or statements made on information and belief.
A TRO expires by its terms within the time the court fixes, which cannot exceed 14 days. That ceiling is firm, but it is not immovable. For good cause shown, the court may extend the order once for a like period, meaning a period matching the original term rather than an automatic further 14 days. The restrained party can also consent to a longer extension. The reasons for any extension must be entered of record, so oral extensions are void, and no more than one extension is permitted unless subsequent extensions are unopposed.
The restrained party’s right to move for dissolution on two days’ notice is a genuine procedural protection, and courts must act on it promptly. See our Defending Against a TRO page.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 681: Temporary Injunctions: Notice
No temporary injunction shall be issued without notice to the adverse party.
What Rule 681 Means in Practice
Rule 681 is short and strict on the point it addresses. No temporary injunction can be issued without notice to the other side. Unlike the TRO, which can be granted ex parte, a temporary injunction generally requires notice and a hearing at which both sides may appear and present evidence. The parties can agree to the entry of a temporary injunction, a defendant who has been served can default, and the evidentiary hearing can be waived, but the notice requirement itself is not optional. This is the rule that makes the temporary injunction hearing a real adversarial proceeding.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 682: Sworn Petition
No writ of injunction shall be granted unless the applicant therefor shall present his petition to the judge verified by his affidavit and containing a plain and intelligible statement of the grounds for such relief.
What Rule 682 Means in Practice
The petition must be verified, meaning sworn to under oath by the applicant. A petition that is not verified cannot support a TRO or injunction. It must also contain a “plain and intelligible statement of the grounds for such relief”. Vague or boilerplate petitions will not support emergency relief. In practice, your attorney prepares both a verified petition and a separate supporting affidavit at the same time.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 683: Form and Scope of Injunction or Restraining Order
Every order granting an injunction and every restraining order shall set forth the reasons for its issuance; shall be specific in terms; shall describe in reasonable detail and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act or acts sought to be restrained; and is binding only upon the parties to the action, their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and upon those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise.
Every order granting a temporary injunction shall include an order setting the cause for trial on the merits with respect to the ultimate relief sought. The appeal of a temporary injunction shall constitute no cause for delay of the trial.
What Rule 683 Means in Practice
Rule 683 may be the most litigated provision in the entire framework. Three requirements are strictly enforced.
First, every injunction order must describe in reasonable detail, and not by reference to the petition or any other document, the specific acts sought to be restrained. An order that says “defendant is restrained from harming plaintiff as described in the petition” is void. The prohibited conduct must be spelled out in the order itself.
Second, every temporary injunction order must include an order setting the case for trial on the merits. The court cannot simply leave a temporary injunction in place indefinitely.
Third, an appeal of a temporary injunction does not delay the trial. A defendant cannot use an appeal to buy time before the trial on the merits. Both proceedings run simultaneously.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 684: Applicant’s Bond
In the order granting any temporary restraining order or temporary injunction, the court shall fix the amount of security to be given by the applicant. Before the issuance of the temporary restraining order or temporary injunction the applicant shall execute and file with the clerk a bond to the adverse party, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the clerk, in the sum fixed by the judge, conditioned that the applicant will abide the decision which may be made in the cause, and that he will pay all sums of money and costs that may be adjudged against him if the restraining order or temporary injunction shall be dissolved in whole or in part.
Where the temporary restraining order or temporary injunction is against the State, a municipality, a State agency, or a subdivision of the State in its governmental capacity, and is such that the State, municipality, State agency, or subdivision of the State in its governmental capacity, has no pecuniary interest in the suit and no monetary damages can be shown, the bond shall be allowed in the sum fixed by the judge, and the liability of the applicant shall be for its face amount if the restraining order or temporary injunction shall be dissolved in whole or in part. The discretion of the trial court in fixing the amount of the bond shall be subject to review. Provided that under equitable circumstances and for good cause shown by affidavit or otherwise the court rendering judgment on the bond may allow recovery for less than its full face amount, the action of the court to be subject to review.
What Rule 684 Means in Practice
The bond is mandatory. A TRO issued without a bond is void and has no legal force, even if the judge signed the order. The applicant posts the bond with the clerk before the writ is issued and before the TRO is served.
The bond protects the restrained party. If the TRO is dissolved, the restrained party may recover actual damages from the bond. The amount is set by the judge and is subject to appellate review.
For government entity defendants, the bond liability is limited to the bond’s face amount. For residential homestead foreclosure cases involving indigent applicants, the bond requirement may not apply if a proper affidavit of inability to pay is filed.
See our Bond Requirement page for a full discussion.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 685: Filing and Docketing
Upon the grant of a temporary restraining order or an order fixing a time for hearing upon an application for a temporary injunction, the party to whom the same is granted shall file his petition therefor, together with the order of the judge, with the clerk of the proper court; and, if such orders do not pertain to a pending suit in said court, the cause shall be entered on the docket of the court in its regular order in the name of the party applying for the writ as plaintiff and of the opposite party as defendant.
What Rule 685 Means in Practice
After the judge signs the TRO, the petition, order, and bond must all be filed with the clerk of the appropriate court. The case is then formally entered on the court’s docket. The injunction must be a matter of public court record; it cannot exist as a private arrangement between the parties and the judge.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 686: Citation
Upon the filing of such petition and order not pertaining to a suit pending in the court, the clerk of such court shall issue a citation to the defendant as in other civil cases, which shall be served and returned in like manner as ordinary citations issued from said court; provided, however, that when a temporary restraining order is issued and is accompanied with a true copy of plaintiff’s petition, it shall not be necessary for the citation in the original suit to be accompanied with a copy of plaintiff’s petition, nor contain a statement of the nature of plaintiff’s demand, but it shall be sufficient for said citation to refer to plaintiff’s claim as set forth in a true copy of plaintiff’s petition which accompanies the temporary restraining order; and provided further that the court may have a hearing upon an application for a temporary restraining order or temporary injunction at such time and upon such reasonable notice given in such manner as the court may direct.
What Rule 686 Means in Practice
The restrained party is entitled to formal notice of the lawsuit through citation, the same way defendants in any civil case are notified. When the TRO is accompanied by a copy of the petition, the citation does not need to repeat all of the petition’s content. This allows the TRO and formal notice of the suit to be served simultaneously, which is the standard practice in emergency injunction cases.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 687: Requisites of Writ
The writ of injunction shall be sufficient if it contains substantially the following requisites:
(a) Its style shall be, “The State of Texas.”
(b) It shall be directed to the person or persons enjoined.
(c) It must state the names of the parties to the proceedings, plaintiff and defendant, and the nature of the plaintiff’s application, with the action of the judge thereon.
(d) It must command the person or persons to whom it is directed to desist and refrain from the commission or continuance of the act enjoined, or to obey and execute such order as the judge has seen proper to make.
(e) If it is a temporary restraining order, it shall state the day and time set for hearing, which shall not exceed fourteen days from the date of the court’s order granting such temporary restraining order; but if it is a temporary injunction, issued after notice, it shall be made returnable at or before ten o’clock a.m. of the Monday next after the expiration of twenty days from the date of service thereof, as in the case of ordinary citations.
(f) It shall be dated and signed by the clerk officially and attested with the seal of his office and the date of its issuance must be indorsed thereon.
What Rule 687 Means in Practice
Rule 687 governs the formal structure of the writ of injunction, the document physically served on the restrained party. For TROs, the writ must state the date and time of the temporary injunction hearing, which cannot be more than 14 days from the order. This puts the restrained party on immediate notice of when their opportunity to be heard is scheduled.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 688: Clerk to Issue Writ
When the petition, order of the judge and bond have been filed, the clerk shall issue the temporary restraining order or temporary injunction, as the case may be, in conformity with the terms of the order, and deliver the same to the sheriff or any constable of the county of the residence of the person enjoined, or to the applicant, as the latter shall direct. If several persons are enjoined, residing in different counties, the clerk shall issue such additional copies of the writ as shall be requested by the applicant.
What Rule 688 Means in Practice
This rule establishes the critical sequence. Only after the petition, the judge’s order, and the bond have all been filed does the clerk issue the writ. The writ is what makes the TRO effective in the world. This sequencing gives the bond requirement its teeth, because the writ cannot be issued until the bond is in place.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 689: Service and Return
The officer receiving a writ of injunction shall indorse thereon the date of its receipt by him, and shall forthwith execute the same by delivering to the party enjoined a true copy thereof. The original shall be returned to the court from which it issued on or before the return day named therein with the action of the officer indorsed thereon or annexed thereto showing how and when he executed the same.
What Rule 689 Means in Practice
The serving officer must endorse the writ with the date of receipt and execute service by delivering a true copy to the enjoined party. Critically, the TRO is binding from the moment of actual notice, which can occur before formal service if the party learns of the order some other way. Contempt can be found for violations after actual notice even before formal service is completed.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 690: The Answer
The defendant to an injunction proceeding may answer as in other civil actions; but no injunction shall be dissolved before final hearing because of the denial of the material allegations of the plaintiff’s petition, unless the answer denying the same is verified by the oath of the defendant.
What Rule 690 Means in Practice
The restrained party may answer the lawsuit as in any civil case. However, an injunction will not be dissolved merely because the defendant denies the plaintiff’s allegations, unless that denial is sworn under oath by the defendant. An unverified answer contesting the underlying facts is not, by itself, sufficient grounds to dissolve the injunction.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 691: Bond on Dissolution
Upon the dissolution of an injunction restraining the collection of money, by an interlocutory order of the court or judge, made in term time or vacation, if the petition be continued over for trial, the court or judge shall require of the defendant in such injunction proceedings a bond, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the clerk of the court, payable to the complainant in double the amount of the sum enjoined, and conditioned to refund to the complainant the amount of money, interest and costs which may be collected of him in the suit or proceeding enjoined if such injunction is made perpetual on final hearing. If such injunction is so perpetuated, the court, on motion of the complainant, may enter judgment against the principal and sureties in such bond for such amount as may be shown to have been collected from such defendant.
What Rule 691 Means in Practice
When a money-restraining injunction is dissolved by interlocutory order but the underlying case continues, the court requires the now-freed party to post a bond in double the amount of the sum that was enjoined. If the injunction is ultimately made permanent at trial, the plaintiff can recover what was collected from this bond. The result is a kind of symmetry. The applicant’s bond protects the restrained party if the TRO was wrongly granted; the Rule 691 bond protects the applicant if the court later finds the TRO should have been kept in place.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 692: Disobedience
Disobedience of an injunction may be punished by the court or judge, in term time or in vacation, as a contempt. In case of such disobedience, the complainant, his agent or attorney, may file in the court in which such injunction is pending or with the judge in vacation, his affidavit stating what person is guilty of such disobedience and describing the acts constituting the same; and thereupon the court or judge shall cause to be issued an attachment for such person, directed to the sheriff or any constable of any county, and requiring such officer to arrest the person therein named if found within his county and have him before the court or judge at the time and place named in such writ; or said court or judge may issue a show cause order, directing and requiring such person to appear on such date as may be designated and show cause why he should not be adjudged in contempt of court. On return of such attachment or show cause order, the judge shall proceed to hear proof; and if satisfied that such person has disobeyed the injunction, either directly or indirectly, may commit such person to jail without bail until he purges himself of such contempt, in such manner and form as the court or judge may direct.
What Rule 692 Means in Practice
Rule 692 is the enforcement mechanism for all injunctions, and its consequences are serious. Violating a TRO or injunction is contempt of court. The court may issue an arrest warrant and commit the violating party to jail without bail until the contempt is purged in the manner the court directs.
Contempt covers both direct and indirect violations, so arranging for someone else to do the prohibited act is still contempt. Proceedings can be initiated at any time, not only when court is in regular session.
See our Contempt of Court page for a full explanation of how contempt proceedings work and what to do if someone is violating your order.
Tex. R. Civ. P. 693: Principles of Equity Applicable
The principles, practice and procedure governing courts of equity shall govern proceedings in injunctions when the same are not in conflict with these rules or the provisions of the statutes.
What Rule 693 Means in Practice
Rule 693 is the gap-filling provision. Where the specific rules do not address a particular question arising in an injunction proceeding, the general principles of equity govern. Texas courts have inherent equitable authority to fashion injunctive relief for novel situations, including new technologies, new business structures, and emerging forms of competitive harm, as long as established equitable principles are respected.
Quick Reference: The Most Important Rules
The Bond Is Mandatory
A TRO without a bond is void. Post the bond before the writ is issued or the TRO has no legal effect. (Rule 684)
The Order Must Be Specific
An injunction order must describe the restrained conduct in specific terms. Referring back to the petition makes the order unenforceable. (Rule 683)
The 14-Day Limit Is Absolute
A TRO expires at midnight on the 14th calendar day. One written extension of 14 days is available for good cause. (Rule 680)
Violation Is Contempt, Including Indirect Violation
Disobeying an injunction, directly or through others, is punishable by arrest and jail without bail. (Rule 692)
A Temporary Injunction Requires Notice and a Hearing
Unlike a TRO, a temporary injunction cannot be issued without both notice to and a hearing that includes the other side. (Rule 681)
Appealing a Temporary Injunction Does Not Stop the Trial
The trial on the merits proceeds on its scheduled date regardless of whether an appeal of the temporary injunction has been filed. (Rule 683)
Frequently Asked Questions About the Texas Rules
Are these rules the same in every Texas court?
Yes. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 680–693 apply in all Texas district courts and county courts at law with civil jurisdiction. Individual courts may have local rules adding procedural steps. For example, some Dallas district courts have local rules about emergency hearing settings. Your attorney will know the specific local rules of the court where your case is filed.
What if an injunction order I received does not follow these rules?
An injunction order that does not meet the requirements of Rule 683, particularly the specificity requirement, is void and unenforceable. A void order cannot support a contempt proceeding. If you have been served with an injunction that you believe is legally defective on its face, raise this with your attorney immediately.