Three free, official channels in Texas: bar-sanctioned lawyer referral, LSC-funded legal aid, and court self-help. No paid placement, no referral kickbacks.
Hiring an eviction attorney in Texas typically runs $500 to $3,500, and where you land inside that range depends almost entirely on one question: does your tenant fight back? An uncontested Texas eviction resolves in roughly 21 to 30 days, and at that speed many landlords handle the filing themselves — court filing fees are only $54 to $125, among the smaller line items in the whole process. A contested case is a different animal: 45 to 90 days, hearings, and the real possibility of an appeal that resets the clock.
The honest bottom line for Texas landlords: budget for the low end if your case is a clean nonpayment with no response from the tenant, and get an attorney quote the moment the tenant answers, hires counsel, or raises a defense. The most expensive eviction in Texas is the one you filed wrong and had to start over.
The state bar’s lawyer-referral service screens attorneys by practice area (look for “landlord-tenant” or “real estate”), checks discipline history, and quotes a low fixed fee for the initial consult. Many state bar LRS programs are certified under ABA Model Supreme Court Rules for Lawyer Referral and Information Service.
What to ask in the first 30 minutes: (1) flat-fee quote for the case through judgment; (2) experience in Texas housing/magistrate court; (3) realistic timeline; (4) settlement vs. trial posture.
The Legal Services Corporation (lsc.gov) funds a statewide legal-aid program in every state. Eviction defense is one of the highest-priority case types nationally. Eligibility is generally 125–200% of federal poverty, the program decides, and intake is by phone or online portal.
Every state Administrative Office of the Courts publishes a free self-help portal with eviction-specific forms, deadlines, and instructions. There’s no income test, landlords and tenants both qualify. Many Texas courthouses also run a same-day self-help clinic where a court attorney (not your lawyer, but a neutral resource) walks you through the forms.
The seven-fold spread in Texas attorney fees maps directly onto the two timelines. An uncontested case — tenant does not answer, does not appear, does not appeal — moves through the court in about 21 to 30 days. An attorney's work there is mostly paperwork and one short hearing, which is why quotes cluster near the $500 floor. A contested case stretches to 45 to 90 days, and every added stage bills: responding to the tenant's answer, preparing for a real hearing, and handling an appeal if one is filed. Court costs themselves stay modest at $54 to $125 either way; it is attorney hours, not filing fees, that move your total. One more Texas-specific math point: at the state's average rent of $1,168, a case that runs the full 90 contested days costs you roughly three months of rent on top of the legal bill — which is why paying more for a faster, error-free case often nets out cheaper.
Texas's short uncontested timeline and low filing fees make self-filing genuinely viable for a simple nonpayment case in your own name — the court system publishes self-help resources at txcourts.gov for exactly this reason. But three situations change the calculus:
Skip the ad-driven search results and start with the State Bar of Texas referral service at texasbar.com — it routes you to licensed Texas attorneys sorted by practice area, which for evictions means landlord-tenant or real estate litigation. When you get one on the phone, ask questions that expose the fee structure before you commit: Is the quote flat or hourly, and does it cover an appeal if the tenant files one? How many evictions did you handle in my county last year? What happens to the fee if the tenant moves out before the hearing? Within a $500-to-$3,500 market, the answers to those three questions are what separate a fair quote from an inflated one. A lawyer who quotes the low end but excludes appeals can end up costing more than one who quotes the middle and includes them.
Texas Law Help / Texas Legal Services Center (texaslawhelp.org) provides free legal information and connects income-qualified tenants with legal assistance. It is not a landlord resource, and that is exactly why you should read it. Its eviction-defense materials are a preview of the playbook a represented tenant will run against you: challenges to the notice, to service, to the condition of the unit under Tex. Prop. Code § 91 & § 92. If your tenant qualifies for that help, assume your case gets the contested treatment — the 45-to-90-day track, not the 21-to-30-day one — and price attorney representation accordingly. Reviewing the tenant-side materials before you serve notice is the cheapest audit of your own paperwork you will ever get: if your notice would survive the defenses listed there, your odds of staying on the fast track improve considerably.
Pull the same three-channel directory scoped to a specific Texas city:
This guide was researched and written by the Eviction Risk Map research team using published fee and timeline data for Texas residential evictions under Tex. Prop. Code § 91 & § 92 (Residential Tenancies). Lawyer-referral information comes from the State Bar of Texas referral service; free and low-cost legal help information comes from Texas Law Help / Texas Legal Services Center. Last reviewed July 2026. This page explains how to find an eviction attorney and what to expect to pay — it is not a lawyer directory, Eviction Risk Map does not endorse or recommend specific attorneys, and nothing here is legal advice.
Typical Texas eviction attorney fees run $500 to $3,500. Uncontested cases that wrap in 21 to 30 days sit near the bottom of the range; contested cases running 45 to 90 days, especially with an appeal, push toward the top. Court filing fees add $54 to $125 on top of the attorney's fee.
Not always. Many Texas landlords self-file simple nonpayment cases using the court system's self-help resources at txcourts.gov. Hire counsel when the property is held in an LLC or corporation (confirm entity-representation rules with your court first), when the tenant has an attorney, or when discrimination or retaliation defenses appear.
Income-qualified tenants can get free legal information and assistance through Texas Law Help / Texas Legal Services Center. If your tenant connects with that help, plan for a contested case on the 45-to-90-day timeline rather than a quick default, and weigh hiring your own attorney accordingly.
An uncontested Texas eviction typically takes about 21 to 30 days from filing to resolution. If the tenant contests — answering, appearing at the hearing, or appealing — expect 45 to 90 days. At Texas's average rent of $1,168, that difference is one to three months of additional lost rent.
State authorities: State Bar of Texas; Texas Law Help / Texas Legal Services Center; Texas Administrative Office of the Courts. Last updated July 14, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Linked third-party sites are operated independently; we do not endorse any specific attorney or firm.
