▶

Free Texas Writ of Possession Request Worksheet

▶ Watch overview

Texas Writ of Possession Request Worksheet — a free preparation organizer for the landlord who won an eviction judgment. Get your case facts in order, then ask the Justice Court to issue the writ under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061 and TRCP 510.8.

Writ of Possession § 24.0061 Texas Free PDF

A writ of possession is the order that actually restores a Texas property to the landlord after an eviction is won. Winning the forcible detainer judgment settles the right to possession; the writ is what an officer executes to remove a tenant who still will not leave. Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061 and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 510.8, the landlord requests the writ from the Justice Court, it may not issue before the sixth day after the judgment (so the five-day appeal window has run), and a constable or sheriff executes it after posting a 24-hour written warning. This tool is a preparation worksheet: it organizes the court, case, parties, property, and judgment facts you transfer to the court’s request. It is not the official court form and not legal advice.

A writ of possession is the final step of a Texas eviction. It is the court order that directs a constable or sheriff to physically restore possession of the rental property to the landlord after the landlord has won the forcible detainer suit and the tenant still refuses to move out. The eviction judgment itself decides who has the right to possession; the writ is the enforcement tool that puts that judgment into effect. Because it is the point where an officer removes people and property, the timing is governed tightly by statute, and a landlord who requests or executes it too soon can lose the ground the eviction won.

Two things are important to understand up front. First, the PDF this page generates is titled a worksheet because it is a preparation organizer, not the writ itself. The writ of possession is issued by the Justice Court clerk on the court’s own form and executed by an officer; you use this sheet to organize your case facts — the court and precinct, the case number, the parties, the property, the judgment date, and your confirmation that the appeal window has passed — and then transfer them onto the court’s request. Second, the writ can only be requested after a judgment for possession and after the five-day appeal window under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 510.9 has run with no appeal perfected. Get those two ideas right and the rest of the process is a checklist. If you are earlier in the process and have not yet filed the eviction, start with our Texas eviction petition (forcible detainer) worksheet; the writ on this page is the step that follows a judgment in that suit.

A writ of possession is a court order commanding a peace officer to restore possession of specific real property to the party the court has found entitled to it. In the eviction context it follows a judgment for possession in a forcible detainer suit under Texas Property Code Chapter 24. The judgment answers the legal question — who is entitled to possess the premises — while the writ answers the practical one: how the tenant and their belongings are actually removed if the tenant does not leave voluntarily. The two are separate steps, and a landlord who has a judgment but no writ has no authority to remove anyone.

The writ is directed to the constable or sheriff, not to the landlord. Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061 and Rule 510.8, the officer is the only person who may carry out the removal. The writ commands the officer to deliver possession of the premises to the landlord, to remove the tenant if the tenant is still there, and to place the tenant’s personal property outside under the handling rules the statute sets. This is why Texas law leaves no room for a self-help lockout: the writ, executed by an officer, is the exclusive legal route to retake possession from a tenant who will not go.

Timing is the heart of the writ. Two conditions must both be satisfied before the Justice Court may issue it. First, the landlord must hold a judgment for possession — the court, at the eviction trial, must have decided the right to possession in the landlord’s favor and signed the judgment. Second, the five-day appeal window under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 510.9 must have run out with no appeal perfected. Either party may appeal a Justice Court eviction to the county court within five days after the judgment is signed, by filing an appeal bond, making a cash deposit, or filing a sworn Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs; a perfected appeal moves the entire case to county court and freezes the writ.

Those two conditions are why Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061 provides that a writ of possession may not issue before the sixth day after the judgment for possession is rendered. The sixth-day floor exists precisely so the five-day appeal period can close first. A landlord who asks the clerk for a writ on the fourth or fifth day is asking too early, and the tenant can still upend the eviction by appealing. Once the appeal window has passed with the judgment intact and the tenant has not surrendered the premises, the landlord may ask the court to issue the writ, and the clerk directs it to the constable or sheriff for execution.

Even after the writ is issued, the tenant is entitled to one last, specific piece of notice before the removal happens. Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061, before an officer executes a writ of possession the officer must post a written warning on the exterior of the front door of the rental unit stating that the writ has been requested and giving the earliest date and time the officer may execute it. The officer may not remove the tenant or the tenant’s personal property from the premises sooner than 24 hours after that warning is posted. This posted-warning window is a hard statutory requirement, not a courtesy; skipping it or shortcutting the 24 hours exposes the removal to challenge.

The 24-hour warning serves a practical purpose: it gives a tenant who has run out of legal options a final, concrete chance to leave on their own and take their belongings, which spares everyone the disruption of a supervised set-out. Many tenants move in that final day. The landlord should not rely on it, however — the landlord still coordinates the set-out with the constable’s office for the earliest permitted time, arranges the labor to move property, and appears at the scheduled execution. If the tenant leaves during the warning window, the officer confirms the premises are vacant and delivers possession without a physical removal.

When the warning period has run and the tenant is still in the property, the constable or sheriff executes the writ. The officer, not the landlord, is in charge of the process and keeps the peace. In practice the landlord must be present at the scheduled time with enough people to carry the tenant’s belongings out, because the officer supervises the removal rather than performing the physical labor. The officer directs where and how the set-out happens and confirms that possession is delivered to the landlord at the end.

Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061, the officer executing the writ removes the tenant from the premises and supervises removal of the tenant’s personal property, which is placed outside the rental unit. The statute directs that the property be set at a nearby location — not blocking a public sidewalk, passageway, or street — and it lets the officer or the landlord engage a bonded or insured moving company or a warehouseman to handle and store the belongings. The officer’s role ends once possession has been restored and the property has been removed under those rules. From that point the landlord may change the locks and re-secure the unit, because possession has been lawfully returned by the officer rather than seized by self-help.

What happens to the tenant’s belongings is one of the most misunderstood parts of the writ, so the statute is specific. During execution the officer supervises removal of the personal property found at the premises and places it outside the rental unit at a nearby location, but the officer may not place it where it blocks a public sidewalk, passageway, or street, and may not place it in the rain, sleet, or snow if there is a way to avoid it. The tenant is responsible for retrieving their property; the officer does not take custody of it as long-term storage, and neither the officer nor the landlord is a warehouse.

To handle the physical move safely, Tex. Prop. Code § 24.0061 lets the officer or the landlord hire a bonded or insured warehouseman to remove and store the property. If a warehouseman stores the belongings, the statute gives that warehouseman a lien for the reasonable costs of removal and storage and sets out how the tenant reclaims the property and how the warehouseman may eventually sell unclaimed items. Because these handling rules can create liability if they are ignored — for property damaged, discarded improperly, or blocked from retrieval — the landlord should follow the officer’s direction exactly and keep the belongings accessible to the tenant during the set-out. Coordinating a warehouseman in advance, where the volume of property warrants it, avoids improvising on the day of the set-out.

Most problems with a writ of possession come from timing and procedure, not from the merits of the eviction. A landlord who has clearly won can still lose weeks — or hand the tenant a defense — by moving too fast or skipping a step. Watch these first:

• Requesting the writ before the appeal window closes. The five-day appeal period under TRCP 510.9 must run out, and the writ may not issue before the sixth day (§ 24.0061); asking early wastes a trip and can be challenged.
• Executing before the 24-hour warning has run. The officer must post the written warning and wait a full 24 hours; a removal sooner than that is defective.
• Treating the judgment as self-help authority. A judgment for possession is not permission to change the locks yourself — only an officer executing the writ may remove the tenant.
• Not appearing with labor on the set-out day. The officer supervises but does not carry belongings; a landlord who shows up without workers may see the set-out postponed.
• Mishandling the tenant’s property. Blocking a sidewalk, discarding items, or withholding belongings outside the statute’s rules can create liability even after a lawful eviction.
• Letting the writ go stale. A writ often must be executed within a window the court or constable sets; if it expires you may have to request it again.
• Wrong court or case information. A request that does not match the Justice Court, precinct, and case number of the judgment can be rejected at the clerk’s window.

Complete the fields below to generate your Texas writ of possession request worksheet. It organizes the Justice Court and precinct, the case number, the plaintiff-landlord and defendant-tenant, the property, the judgment date, and your appeal-window confirmation so you can transfer them cleanly onto the court’s request for a writ. Nothing here is filed with the court automatically — this is your working sheet.

• Confirm the judgment is final — verify the five-day appeal window under TRCP 510.9 has closed with no appeal perfected before you request the writ.
• Count to the sixth day from the date the judgment for possession was signed; the writ may not issue before then (§ 24.0061).
• Match the request to the judgment — the Justice Court, precinct, case number, parties, and property must line up with the eviction judgment.
• Coordinate the set-out with the constable — ask how far out execution is scheduled, what labor you must bring, and how the 24-hour warning is handled.
• Line up labor and, if needed, a bonded warehouseman before the execution date so the set-out runs cleanly under the statute’s handling rules.
• Never use a self-help lockout — only the officer executing the writ may remove the tenant; changing locks yourself invites liability.
• Keep the tenant’s property accessible during and after the set-out, and follow the officer’s direction on placement and any warehouseman lien.
• Consult a Texas attorney for a contested case, an appeal, or any dispute over the handling of the tenant’s belongings.

Once the worksheet is complete, the next move is to transfer its facts onto the Justice Court’s request for a writ of possession. Many Texas counties provide a fill-in request or praecipe through the court clerk; the organized fields on your worksheet map directly onto it — court, case, parties, property, and the judgment and appeal-window details. Sign it, pay any issuance fee, and file it with the clerk who entered the eviction judgment. Ask the clerk how the writ is delivered to the constable or sheriff and whether the court has a standard waiting period built in.

After the writ issues, coordinate the set-out with the constable’s office: confirm the scheduled execution date, learn how the 24-hour posted warning is handled, and arrange the labor you will need to move the tenant’s property under the officer’s supervision. Keep stamped copies of everything you file, and keep a record of the warning date and the execution. Because a writ can go stale if too much time passes, act promptly once it issues; if the window closes before you execute, you may have to request the writ again. And because an eviction and set-out are disruptive and costly for everyone, the best long-term practice is to screen carefully at the front end — a reliable tenancy rarely ends in a writ of possession.

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check

Established 2004 · 20+ Years · All U.S. States & Territories · Statute-Based · Attorney-Reviewed

A Private Eye Reports™ service trusted by landlords, property managers, and attorneys.