Collin County Eviction Procedure: Plano, Frisco, and McKinney JP Practice Under SB 38

Collin County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Texas, and its eviction docket reflects that growth. Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Wylie, and the surrounding cities all sit in Collin County and feed eviction cases into the county’s Justice of the Peace precinct system. Multifamily growth in particular has pushed Collin County eviction volume up in recent years, and the JP courts and constables have scaled to handle the work. This page addresses how Collin County eviction procedure operates under SB 38, with the local details that affect timing and outcome on cases filed in Plano, McKinney, Frisco, and the rest of the county.

In our practice, Collin County eviction work has grown significantly as DFW’s northward expansion has continued. The procedural rules are statewide, but the practical execution in Collin County’s JP and county court system has some specific characteristics worth knowing.

How Collin County’s precincts are organized

Collin County is divided into four Justice of the Peace precincts, each covering a portion of the county. Each precinct has at least one elected Justice of the Peace, and the high-volume precincts have multiple places.

General precinct geography (subject to confirmation by address):

• Precinct 1 generally covers the central portions of the county, including parts of McKinney.
• Precinct 2 generally covers the western portion of the county, including parts of Plano, Frisco, and surrounding areas.
• Precinct 3 generally covers the eastern portion of the county.
• Precinct 4 generally covers parts of southern and central Collin County, including portions of Plano, Allen, and Wylie.

Precinct boundaries can cross city lines, particularly for cities like Plano that span multiple Collin County areas (and, in Plano’s southwestern portions, cross into Dallas County). Property in southwest Plano may sit in Dallas County’s Precinct 5 rather than a Collin County precinct.

Mapping property to precinct in Collin County

For Collin County properties, there are three reliable methods to confirm the correct precinct:

• The Collin County website maintains a JP precinct lookup tool. This is the most authoritative source.
• The Collin Central Appraisal District (Collin CAD) property record will identify the precinct for tax purposes, which generally matches the JP precinct.
• For properties near the Collin/Dallas County line (particularly in southern Plano and southwestern Plano), confirming whether the property sits in Collin County or Dallas County before filing is essential. A petition filed in the wrong county requires dismissal and refiling.

In our experience, the most common Collin County precinct confusion involves multifamily properties at the edges of Plano and Frisco where city boundaries don’t match county precinct boundaries. The address and parcel determine the precinct, not the city.

Collin County filing mechanics

Filing fees and forms generally match the statewide structure. Confirm current fees with the JP court clerk for the precinct where you’re filing.

Collin County JP courts accept e-filing through the Texas eFile system, and represented parties typically file electronically. The court clerks in Collin County are generally responsive, and e-filing turnaround is typically a day or two for routine residential petitions.

The petition must contain all standard elements:

• The plaintiff’s name and contact information.
• The defendant’s name and the premises address.
• The basis for eviction.
• The amount of rent due and any other amounts claimed.
• The Rule 510 verification.

The Collin County constable’s office on service

After filing, the citation goes to the constable’s office for the precinct where the property is located. Collin County constables serve citations and execute writs within their precincts.

SB 38’s five-business-day service window applies in Collin County the same as statewide. The Collin County constables generally meet the five-day deadline, but high-density multifamily growth in Plano, Frisco, and McKinney has increased caseloads in those areas, and service times can vary by precinct.

Practical notes on Collin County service:

• For properties in gated multifamily complexes (common in Plano and Frisco), notify the constable’s office at filing about access logistics. A constable who can’t reach the unit can’t complete personal service.
• The constable’s return of service should be reviewed by the landlord or counsel when filed. Defects in the return can be raised at trial.

What a Collin County trial looks like

Under SB 38, the JP court must set trial between 10 and 21 days from filing. Collin County precincts generally set trials within that window, and specific scheduling varies by precinct and by individual JP.

Collin County JP courts have generally accommodated the increase in eviction volume by running efficient dockets. Most contested trials are short. Default judgments on cases where the tenant fails to appear are routine.

Getting the writ executed in Collin County

After judgment, the six-day waiting period under § 24.0061 runs before the writ can issue. Writ execution in Collin County requires the same coordination as elsewhere:

• The constable schedules execution within a few days to a week.
• The landlord provides labor to clear the unit.
• The landlord arranges for a locksmith to rekey.
• The constable handles occupant removal, and everything else is the landlord’s responsibility.

Collin County constables in the high-volume Plano and Frisco areas can sometimes schedule writs out a bit further than the smaller precincts in eastern Collin County, depending on the week’s volume.

What happens on appeal in Collin County

Collin County has multiple county courts at law that hear eviction appeals from the JP precincts. The county court system has expanded along with the county’s growth.

Practical points on Collin County eviction appeal practice:

• Under SB 38, the county court must set trial within 21 days of receiving the JP transcript. Collin County county courts generally meet this deadline.
• The appeal is a trial de novo.
• The five-day Statement of Inability challenge window applies the same as everywhere.
• SB 38 registry-payment requirements apply: the tenant must pay rent into the court registry during the appeal. Failure to pay can result in writ of possession before the appeal trial.

How Collin County practice differs from its neighbors

For landlords with properties across the DFW metro, a few practical Collin County differences:

• Collin County is geographically smaller than Dallas or Tarrant, with four JP precincts rather than five or eight.
• Collin County’s rapid multifamily growth has concentrated eviction volume in Plano and Frisco. Service and writ-execution timing can be slightly longer in those precincts than in slower-growth areas of the county.
• The Collin/Dallas County boundary in southern Plano is a common source of precinct confusion. The first-time Collin County filer often files in the wrong county.
• The county court at law system in Collin County is responsive but smaller than Dallas County’s, so scheduling preferences can be a bit tighter.

We’ve watched Plano and Frisco grow from suburban-pace eviction dockets into something closer in volume to mid-sized Dallas County precincts over the last several years. The constables have scaled, but the practical effect on landlords is that filing strategies that used to assume “Collin moves faster” don’t always hold in the high-growth southern precincts anymore. Treating southern Collin like Dallas County in terms of timing expectations is closer to correct than treating it like rural Collin.

What separates clean Collin County cases from messy ones

In our practice, the Collin County eviction cases that finish cleanly almost always have two things working in their favor: correct precinct selection at filing and a clean notice procedure backing it up. Cases that drag generally have a procedural defect somewhere, the same pattern as elsewhere.

Collin County landlords managing newer multifamily properties should pay particular attention to the access logistics for service. Gated complexes that don’t accommodate constables produce service delays that can push cases past the SB 38 outer window without anyone realizing why.