We have seen a deluge of appeals the last year in our county courts at law of judgments for landlords in forcible entry and detainer cases. In most cases, the tenant files an affidavit of inability to pay at the JP level, and on appeal, files the same affidavit at the county court at law to avoid paying the filing fees (currently set at $202.00 here in Dallas County). The county clerk's office then files a contest of the affidavit of inability to pay under TRCP 145.

Our county court at law judges have determined collectively that they do not have any jurisdiction to hear the contest where the JP has already determined that the tenant is indigent. If the tenant is unhappy with the results at the county court level and wishes to appeal to the three wise men at the court of appeals, the county court judges have indicated that they will hear the contest under TRAP 20.1, but not otherwise.

I have looked at the law and do not see any real clear guidance one way or the other. We can make the argument that the county clerk has authority to contest the affidavit of inability to pay because the trial at the county court level is de novo, but if the county courts at law refuse to listen to the contest, it seems like a waste of time to file the contest and send out notice of the contest to the parties.

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas that I have overlooked?

Having dealt with these IFP affidavits I can perhaps help. While the trial is de novo, the appeal is coming from the JP court, which is where the affidavit is coming from. The way the case is getting to the county court is by way of the notice of appeal filed in JP court. The contest to the IFP affidavit must be heard in the trial court, the court from which the appeal is coming from.

FYI - In any event, if the person appealling via IFP is receiving ANY KIND of entitlement due to indigency (such as food stamps, CHIPS, etc.), then they are absolutely entitled to IFP status and they can appeal for free at all levels of the process. If they are receiving such an entitlement, then any challenges are pointless because the law states that they are entitled to appeal for free.

Most people involved in eviction type cases are getting some sort of govt. entitlement / aid.

Thanks ... TRCP 749a allows the issue of indigency to be reviewed on appeal only when the JP finds that the person is not indigent, and the person timely appeals the decision.