§ 30.002.Expiration of Judge's Term; Death of Judge

A continuity provision for the gap between the end of a trial and the end of the paperwork.

If a district or county judge's term expires before the court term adjourns, or during the period for filing a statement of facts and bill of exceptions or findings of fact and conclusions of law, the judge may approve the statement of facts and bill of exceptions or file findings of fact and conclusions of law in the case.

The problem is real. A judge who tried a case in November may leave office on the 31st of December with the findings not yet filed, and only that judge knows what was decided and why. Requiring a successor to do it would mean findings from someone who never heard the evidence.

Subsection (b) covers death. If the judge dies before approving or filing, the successor may do so as provided by Rule 18 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

The two cases are treated differently for an obvious reason. A departing judge is available and does the work; a deceased one is not, and the rule then supplies a procedure for the successor.

The language is of its time — statement of facts and bill of exceptions are the older names for what is now the reporter's record — but the situation the section addresses has not changed.