Relating to the confidentiality of certain personal information of an applicant for or a person protected by a protective order.

More privacy in protective order cases

Beginning September 1, 2025, Texas protective-order applicants can ask courts to keep their mailing address and county of residence private. Applicants must give the court those details, name someone to receive court papers, and provide that person’s mailing address. Clerks must remove the applicant’s details from public court records and keep them confidential for court use only. The court cannot release them to the person the applicant seeks protection from. Protected people or adult family or household members can also ask courts to leave specified details out of protective orders. These include the protected person’s address, county, and phone number; work or business address and phone number; and a protected child’s school or child-care address. At hearings, courts must tell covered people who are present about this right and ask whether they want these details excluded. Protected people can also request confidential court storage of changed addresses or phone numbers and their removal from update notices. The changes cover applications pending on or filed on or after September 1, 2025, and update notices filed on or after that date.