Associate Judges

Texas Family Code §§ 201.101 - 201.112

The Title IV-D associate judges' (formerly known as masters) positions were created by the Texas Legislature in 1986 in response to the federal requirement that the states create expedited administrative or judicial processes to resolve child support cases. Initially, the IV-D, or child support courts, associate judges were county employees appointed by the presiding judges of the administrative judicial regions. In 1993, the Legislature determined that child support courts associate judges should be state employees under the administration of the Office of Court Administration (OCA), in what became the OCA Specialty Courts program.

Texas Family Code §§ 201.201 - 201.208

Effective September 1, 2000, the presiding judges of the nine administrative judicial regions were authorized to appoint associate judges to hear substitute care and child protective services cases. The concept of using associate judges for this purpose was first implemented by the Supreme Court Task Force on Foster Care. The Task Force is an advisory body to the Court Improvement Project (CIP), a federally funded grant to the Supreme Court of Texas designed to improve judicial handling of child abuse and neglect cases.

CIP funded two pilot projects that became known as the "Cluster Courts" to hear child protective services cases exclusively. CIP contracted with participating counties to reimburse them for the costs of the project. Under the pilot project, the Cluster Courts' staff were county employees. With the legislation authorizing the use of state funds for associate judges to hear substitute care and child protective services cases, the presiding judges appointed the existing pilot project courts' staff to serve under the state funded program, administered by OCA and the Specialty Courts program.

The Child Abuse and Neglect Committee of the State Bar of Texas has developed a handbook for parents and guardians of children involved in CPS cases. These guidebooks are available on the State Bar Website and via the links below.

CPS Guide: English version [pdf] | Spanish version [pdf]

Further resources on child abuse and neglect are available on the CIP Resources page.

Texas Government Code Chapter 54

The Legislature has authorized the appointment of associate judges, masters, magistrates and referees to assist the district courts in a variety of cases, including civil, family, juvenile, and criminal matters. Generally, associate judges, masters, magistrates and referees are appointed by the court or courts they serve and are county employees.