State requirements / Texas
Texas parenting class requirement
Only if the judge orders it, 4 to 12 hours
Texas has no statewide mandate. A court may order the parties in any suit affecting the parent-child relationship into a parent education and family stabilization course if it finds the order is in the child's best interest. The statute sets a 4 to 12 hour band and expressly allows electronic delivery.
The requirement at a glance
| Who must attend | Whoever a judge orders. The court may order the parties in any suit affecting the parent-child relationship, including a modification of possession or access, if it determines the order is in the child's best interest. Parties may not be required to attend together, and the court may bar joint attendance where there is a history of family violence. Nobody can be made to take it more than twice within five years of first completing one. |
| Hours required | 4 to 12 band |
| Deadline | None in the statute, and the statute goes further: a party's failure or refusal to attend may not delay the court from rendering a judgment. Any deadline comes from your court's own order or standing order. |
| Authority | Tex. Fam. Code 105.009 |
| Fees and waivers | A party's cost is capped at $100, and the court may not order the course at all if the parties cannot afford it. |
| Our price | $25 for one parent, $50 for both parents on the same case. Scholarship seats are funded by donors, so no parent is turned away for money. |
| Our registry status | Planned for a later filing wave. Our acceptance guarantee applies wherever your court accepts an outside online provider. |
What the law actually says
“A course under this section must be at least four hours, but not more than 12 hours, in length.”
Tex. Fam. Code 105.009(c)Quoted from the official text. Read it yourself at the source below.The part nobody explains
Filing your certificate
The provider issues a certificate of completion stating your name, the provider's name, the completion date, and the delivery method. There is no statutory duty to file it, and a county clerk may, but need not, keep a registry of providers. Filing is a local matter.
If the deadline passes
The court may hold you in contempt, strike pleadings, or invoke any sanction available under the civil procedure rules. The judgment still proceeds regardless.
Who approves providers in Texas
There is no state approval body and no state-approved provider list. Texas sets eligibility by the provider's credential instead: the course qualifies if offered by a mental health professional with at least a master's degree and a background in family therapy or parent education, or by a religious practitioner or church-designated counselor if the litigant chooses that. Electronic delivery is expressly permitted alongside personal and video instruction.
What you get from us
- The full course, start to finish, on a phone or a laptop, with your progress saved. Lifetime access, no thirty-day expiry and no extension fees.
- Your certificate the moment you finish, by email, free. A mailed paper copy is optional.
- Free instant verification for your court. A clerk or judge confirms the certificate at our verification page with no account and no phone call.
- Our acceptance guarantee: if your specific court declines this certificate, you get a full refund, no processing fee and no deadline to claim it.