§ 171.097.Transfer

The correction mechanism for a filing in the wrong court.

Transfer is mandatory. A court that has jurisdiction but is not a court described by Section 171.096 shall transfer the application.

The adverse party has to ask. The court does not transfer on its own.

The transfer order follows a familiar model — an order comparable to one sustaining a plea of privilege to be sued in a district court or a business court division of another county.

Borrowing that model imports settled practice for how the transfer is ordered and what happens to the file.

The deadline is 20 days after service of process on the adverse party.

There is a second, independent limit. The application must be filed before any other appearance by that adverse party in the court.

One exception preserves a jurisdictional challenge. An appearance to challenge the jurisdiction of the court does not forfeit the right to seek transfer.

The two limits mean the objection must come first. A party who engages with the merits in the wrong court has accepted it.

Transfer moves the case rather than ending it. Nothing is dismissed, and the arbitration is not delayed by a filing in the wrong county.