Texas guide
Harris, Dallas, Travis and Bexar county practice rewards a documented pattern of attempts. That pattern is built by choosing the hour deliberately, not by repeating the same visit.
Service is completed when the documents reach the defendant. A weekday visit between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. generally reaches an empty residence, and an attempt that reaches nobody produces only a record — useful for diligence, but not service.
Texas courts, particularly in Harris County, evaluate a due-diligence record by whether the attempts varied. Times, days and addresses all count. Repeating the same hour on the same weekday demonstrates effort without demonstrating diligence.
Roughly 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. is the strongest residential window. In the Houston and Dallas metros, commutes start early enough that a 7:00 a.m. attempt is often the last realistic chance before a defendant is gone for twelve hours.
Morning attempts also give the clearest read on whether an address is genuinely the defendant's residence, because a house with no activity before dawn on a weekday is frequently the wrong address.
The second window runs roughly 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. From June through September, Texas heat pushes usable evening attempts later — activity around a residence often starts after 7:30 p.m. rather than 6:00 p.m.
Attempts later than about 9:00 p.m. are avoided. They are unproductive for contact and they undermine the professionalism of the record if the matter ever reaches a hearing.
Saturday is the most productive day for defendants with standard weekday schedules, and it is the day when a defendant who has been avoiding service is most likely to be found. Saturday morning attempts should be included in any diligence record before a Rule 106 motion is considered.
Sunday attempts are reserved for time-sensitive orders or an approaching limitations or hearing deadline.
Corporations, LLCs and other entities are served through a registered agent or an officer, and those are business-hours targets. Texas registered agents are frequently commercial services with posted hours and appointment requirements, so an attempt is scheduled against their availability rather than the defendant's.
As in Arizona, midday is the worst hour: reception desks thin out and officers are at lunch.
Each attempt should record the date, exact time, full address, what was observed, and whether access was obtained. In Harris County practice, three to five documented attempts across different times and different days is the baseline courts expect before a Rule 106 motion is treated as well supported.
Documentation should begin with the first attempt. A diligence record assembled retroactively is the most common reason a substituted-service motion fails.
When a defendant cannot be reached personally despite a varied schedule, Texas Rule 106 allows a court to authorize substituted service on motion supported by an affidavit describing the diligence attempted. The court may direct delivery to anyone over sixteen at the defendant's usual place of abode or business, or another method reasonably effective to give notice.
The motion succeeds or fails on the attempt record. The hour of each attempt is part of that record.
Texas assignments
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What this guide is
Procedural scheduling information for parties arranging service of process. It is not legal advice and it does not replace the rules of the issuing court or the judgment of counsel on a specific case.
Early morning before the commute and early evening after it for residences, and standard business hours, avoiding midday, for businesses and registered agents.
There is no fixed statutory number. Harris County courts generally expect three to five documented attempts at different times and on different days before substituted service is granted.
Yes. Saturday attempts are among the strongest entries in a diligence record because they demonstrate variation in both day and hour.