§ 34.073.Transfer of Writ; No Duty to Levy Outside of County

A geography rule, with one carefully drawn exception.

An officer receiving a writ may transfer the writ to another officer in another precinct, or to another law enforcement agency authorized to perform executions, within the county of the first officer who received the writ.

The transfer power solves a practical allocation problem. A constable in one precinct who receives a writ against property in another precinct can pass it to the officer who can act, rather than returning it unexecuted.

The transfer is confined to the county, which follows from the limit in the second subsection.

"Another law enforcement agency authorized to perform executions" widens the options beyond constables, so a writ can move to whichever office in the county is equipped to act.

An officer does not have a duty to levy on or sell property not within the officer’s county, subject to one exception.

The county limit is fundamental to how execution works in Texas. An officer’s authority is territorial, and a creditor whose debtor has property in three counties needs writs in three counties.

The exception is for real property that is partially in the officer’s county and partially within a contiguous county.

That answers a difficulty peculiar to land. A ranch straddling a county line cannot sensibly be sold in halves by two officers on the same Tuesday, so the officer whose county contains part of it may deal with the whole.

Note the exception’s two limits: it applies to real property, and only to a contiguous county. Land in a distant county is not reached because a fence line touches somewhere else.