Section 27.056 of the Texas Gov't Code provides the authorization statute for a JP to designate clerks in his/her office.

It has been the normal practice in the County to have these individuals sworn in under the JP for which they work, since they receipt money for the court, etc. In a situation where a JP has only one clerk in his office who will be out of the office for more than a few days at a time, could a clerk for another JP assist on a temporary basis? Would this require that clerk to be sworn in under the other JP? Is there a more appropriate temporary safety net?

We currently have all of our JP's in one location, so a sharing of clerks would not have too much trouble from a logistics perspective.

Depending on how busy the court is, you have a few options.

If the court is really busy, you probably want to have someone sworn in for the duration.

If the court is not very busy, the question is what needs to be done while the clerk is out. The JPs themselves can do anything the clerk can do, so if the JP is willing/able and it's a quiet court, the JP could file the papers and issue the process. This might not be workable, but in some small counties the JPs do the work that clerks in large counties do. Last I heard, not every JP in the state had a clerk.

If process must be issued, it must be issued by the JP or a sworn clerk of that JP. If the work needing to be done is more secretarial (answer the phone, type letters), the person is not required to be sworn.

If the court is not too busy and the JP is flexible but doesn't really know the clerk's end of the business, you could probably make it work with a helpful clerk from another JP court who helps/shows the JP how to do things, with the JP and not the clerk signing off on the actions.