§ 30.001.Instrument to Waive Service or Confess Judgment

A short prohibition that removes an entire category of contract clause from Texas practice.

In an instrument executed before suit is brought, a person may not accept service and waive process, enter an appearance in open court, or confess a judgment.

The confession of judgment is the practice being abolished. A cognovit clause lets a creditor, on default, walk into court with a signed authorisation and take judgment — no suit, no service, no hearing, and no opportunity for the debtor to raise a defence they may well have.

The debtor signs it at the outset, alongside terms they did not negotiate, and typically without appreciating that they have given up the right to defend a lawsuit that does not yet exist and whose grounds are unknown.

The waiver of service is the same problem earlier in the sequence. A pre-suit waiver means the first a person hears of the case may be the judgment.

"Before suit is brought" marks the line, and the timing is everything. Once a suit exists, a defendant may waive service, appear, and agree to judgment — with the petition in hand, knowing the claim. What cannot be done is to give those rights away in advance of knowing what is being given up.