The Texas motion for new trial: 30 days to file, 75 days to be overruled by silence
Texas procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Texas post-judgment practice runs on three numbers — 30, 75, and 105 — and none of them is measured from the date you were notified of anything. They all run from the day the judgment was signed.
The second number is the one that surprises people. If the judge simply never rules, your motion is overruled anyway.
Thirty days to file
Tex. R. Civ. P. 329b(a):
A motion for new trial, if filed, shall be filed prior to or within thirty days after the judgment or other order complained of is signed.
The trigger is the signing, not entry, not notice, not receipt. The motion may be filed before the judgment is signed — "prior to or within thirty days."
Amendments get the same window. 329b(b):
One or more amended motions for new trial may be filed without leave of court before any preceding motion for new trial filed by the movant is overruled and within thirty days after the judgment or other order complained of is signed.
Two conditions, both required: before the earlier motion is overruled, and within thirty days of signing. Once either fails, amendment needs leave.
Seventy-five days, and then it is overruled without anyone doing anything
329b(c) is the provision that catches practitioners from other states:
In the event an original or amended motion for new trial or a motion to modify, correct or reform a judgment is not determined by written order signed within seventy-five days after the judgment was signed, it shall be considered overruled by operation of law on expiration of that period.
No hearing, no order, no notice. On day 76 the motion is overruled by operation of law. A pending motion is not a live motion after 75 days.
The requirement is a written order signed within the 75 days — an oral ruling from the bench does not satisfy it.
Plenary power: thirty days, or thirty after overruling
The court's authority to touch its own judgment is separately defined.
329b(d) — the baseline:
The trial court, regardless of whether an appeal has been perfected, has plenary power to grant a new trial or to vacate, modify, correct, or reform the judgment within thirty days after the judgment is signed.
329b(e) — extended by a timely motion:
If a motion for new trial is timely filed by any party, the trial court, regardless of whether an appeal has been perfected, has plenary power to grant a new trial or to vacate, modify, correct, or reform the judgment until thirty days after all such timely-filed motions are overruled, either by a written and signed order or by operation of law, whichever occurs first.
Put those together with the 75-day rule and you get the outer boundary practitioners memorise:
| Event | Day (from signing) |
|---|---|
| Motion for new trial due | 30 |
| Amended motion without leave | 30, and before the earlier motion is overruled |
| Motion overruled by operation of law if not ruled on | 75 |
| Plenary power ends, if the motion was overruled by operation of law | 105 (75 + 30) |
| Plenary power ends, with no timely motion | 30 |
Note the phrase in (e): "whichever occurs first." If the court signs an order overruling the motion on day 40, plenary power ends on day 70 — not day 105. An early ruling shortens the window.
After plenary power expires
329b(f) closes the door and names the only three exceptions:
On expiration of the time within which the trial court has plenary power, a judgment cannot be set aside by the trial court except by bill of review for sufficient cause, filed within the time allowed by law; provided that the court may at any time correct a clerical error in the record of a judgment and render judgment nunc pro tunc under Rule 316, and may also sign an order declaring a previous judgment or order to be void because signed after the court's plenary power had expired.
So after plenary power:
- a bill of review for sufficient cause, within the time allowed by law;
- a judgment nunc pro tunc under Rule 316, correcting a clerical error only; or
- an order declaring a previous judgment void because it was signed after plenary power expired.
Nothing else. This is why the 30/75/105 arithmetic matters so much — miss it and the trial court loses the power to help you at all.
The sibling motion
329b(g) covers motions to modify, correct or reform, and makes them interchangeable with a new trial motion for timing purposes:
A motion to modify, correct, or reform a judgment (as distinguished from motion to correct the record of a judgment under Rule 316), if filed, shall be filed and determined within the time prescribed by this rule for a motion for new trial and shall extend the trial court's plenary power and the time for perfecting an appeal in the same manner as a motion for new trial. Each such motion shall be in writing and signed by the party or his attorney and shall specify the respects in which the judgment should be modified, corrected, or reformed. The overruling of such a motion shall not preclude the filing of a motion for new trial, nor shall the overruling of a motion for new trial preclude the filing of a motion to modify, correct, or reform.
Two useful points. The motion must specify the respects in which the judgment should be changed — a general request will not do. And losing one motion does not preclude filing the other, so long as you are still inside the thirty days.
Modified judgments restart the clock
329b(h):
If a judgment is modified, corrected or reformed in any respect, the time for appeal shall run from the time the modified, corrected, or reformed judgment is signed, but if a correction is made pursuant to Rule 316 after expiration of the period of plenary power provided by this rule, no complaint shall be heard on appeal that could have been presented in an appeal from the original judgment.
Any modification "in any respect" restarts the appellate timetable from the new signing date. But a late Rule 316 clerical correction does not revive complaints that could have been raised against the original judgment.
How Texas compares
| Texas | Indiana | Michigan | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to move | 30 days from signing | 30 days from the CCS entry | 21 days | 28 days |
| Overruled automatically if not ruled on | yes, at 75 days | yes, under T.R. 53.3 | no | no |
| Court's power expires | 30 or 105 days | — | — | — |
| Amended motion without leave | yes, inside 30 days | — | — | — |
| Relief after the window | bill of review, nunc pro tunc, or void-judgment order | Rule 60 | Rule 2.612 | Rule 60(b) |
| Modified judgment restarts appeal time | yes | — | — | — |
A short checklist
- Write down the date the judgment was signed. Every deadline runs from it, not from notice.
- Diarise day 30 for the motion, and remember you can file before the judgment is signed.
- Diarise day 75. If no written order has been signed by then, your motion is overruled by operation of law.
- Diarise day 105 as the outer edge of plenary power — but only if the motion goes the full 75 days. An earlier signed order shortens it to 30 days from that order.
- Amend only inside the thirty days and before the earlier motion is overruled. After that you need leave.
- Specify what should change if you are moving to modify, correct or reform.
- You may file both motions — overruling one does not bar the other, inside the window.
- If plenary power has expired, do not file a motion. The routes are a bill of review, a nunc pro tunc for clerical errors, or an order declaring the judgment void.
- If the judgment is modified in any respect, recalculate the appellate deadline from the new signing date.
Where these rules live
- Tex. R. Civ. P. 316 — Correction of Clerical Mistakes in Judgment Record
- Tex. R. Civ. P. 320 — Motion and Action of Court Thereon
- Tex. R. Civ. P. 324 — Prerequisites of Appeal
- Tex. R. Civ. P. 329b — Time for Filing Motions
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the grounds for a bill of review under Rule 329b(f) are developed in case law this site doesn't cover.