duistatelaws.com Key takeaways
- Texas charges the offense as DWI. A Dallas “DUI” search almost always means DWI; the offense actually named DUI applies only to drivers under 21.
- Dallas County has eleven county criminal courts for Class A and B misdemeanors and seventeen district courts hearing felony matters.
- Both sit in the same building: the Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 North Riverfront Boulevard.
- 15 days to request the license hearing from DPS. The suspension starts on the 40th day if nothing is filed.
- Three cities next to Dallas sit in two counties and one sits in three. The county decides the courthouse.
from the date you were served with the notice to demand a hearing from Texas Department of Public Safety. The request goes to DPS, not to the court, and no judge in Dallas County will make it for you. Tex. Transp. Code §§ 524.031, 724.041.
One naming point first, because it decides whether this page is about your case. People search for a Dallas DUI lawyer; Texas charges the offense as DWI, driving while intoxicated, under Penal Code section 49.04. They are the same thing here. Texas does have a separate offense literally called DUI, but it applies only to drivers under 21 and it is a far lesser charge — the DUI vs DWI guide works through the difference.
The rest of this page is about the part that is specific to Dallas County: which court, which building, and the county-line problem that catches out a surprising number of people arrested a few miles from home.
The same diagram as a table
| Step | Criminal case — decided by a court | License case — decided by a state agency |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrest and booking, hour 0 | Notice of suspension served, day 0 |
| 2 | Charge filed by the prosecutor | Deadline to demand a hearing: 7 to 30 days in the eight states on this site that use an agency hearing |
| 3 | First court setting, on a date the court picks | Hearing held if the request was filed — whether the suspension waits for the ruling is set by each state's statute |
| 4 | One or more pretrial settings | Suspension takes effect automatically with no hearing |
| 5 | Trial, plea or dismissal | — |
| Clock | Weeks to months. No filing deadline runs against the driver. | Counted in days from the notice, and fixed by statute. |
Where your Dallas DWI case will be heard
Almost every Dallas County criminal case is called at one address. The Frank Crowley Courts Building at 133 North Riverfront Boulevard houses both the county criminal courts and the district courts that hear felonies. Which set you appear before is decided by the charge level, not by where in the county you were stopped.
Dallas County Criminal Courts
- Hears
- Class A and Class B misdemeanors, which is most first and second DWI offenses
- Building
- Frank Crowley Courts Building
- Address
- 133 North Riverfront Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75207
- Detail
- Eleven county criminal courts, plus two county criminal courts of appeals that hear appeals from justice of the peace and municipal courts
- Why it matters
- The County Clerk’s Criminal Courts Division sits in the same building on the 2nd floor, Room A-1.
Dallas County district courts, criminal
- Hears
- Felony DWI, meaning a third offense, a passenger under 15, intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter
- Building
- Frank Crowley Courts Building
- Address
- 133 North Riverfront Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75207
- Detail
- Seventeen district courts hear felony criminal matters in Dallas County, among them Criminal District Courts numbered 1 to 7
- Phone
- 214-653-5950
- Why it matters
- The number on your paperwork is the one that governs. Court numbering changes with legislative sessions, so no list published elsewhere — including this one — substitutes for the setting notice.
Dallas County jail and inmate information
- Hears
- Where an in-custody case starts
- Building
- Lew Sterrett Justice Center
- Address
- Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, Dallas, TX
- Detail
- Magistration and bonding
- Hours
- Continuous
- Phone
- 214-761-9025
- Why it matters
- Warrant information is a separate line, 214-761-9026.
Dallas County runs eleven county criminal courts, two county criminal courts of appeals, and seventeen district courts hearing felony matters, and the numbering changes with legislative sessions. The number on your setting notice is the one that governs. No list published elsewhere, including this one, substitutes for it.
The appeals courts in that list are worth one sentence because they explain a common confusion. The two county criminal courts of appeals hear appeals from justice of the peace courts and city municipal courts — that is, from the courts that handle Class C offenses. A DWI in Texas starts at Class B, so a municipal court cannot hear it in the first place. A single stop that produced both a Class C citation and a DWI puts you in two different buildings on two different schedules, and appearing on the ticket does not cover the DWI.
Not sure which court your case is in?
Enter the ZIP code where the arrest happened and the full form opens with it filled in.
The first fifteen days
The license case and the criminal case start at the same moment and run on separate tracks, and the license track moves first. If you failed a breath or blood test, or refused one, you were served with a notice of suspension. That suspension does not begin immediately: under Transportation Code sections 524.021 and 724.035 it takes effect on the fortieth day after the notice, which is why people keep driving in the meantime and assume nothing is happening.
Something is. Buried in that notice is the fact that you have fifteen days to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing. The request goes to the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, in writing. The hearing is held by the State Office of Administrative Hearings, an agency separate from the court system, before an administrative law judge rather than before anyone at the Frank Crowley Courts Building.
Filing in time does more than buy a hearing. Section 724.041(c) says a request stays the suspension until the administrative law judge issues a final decision, which in practice often means months of continued driving. It also puts the arresting officer under oath, on a record, long before the criminal trial. If nothing is filed, the suspension begins on the fortieth day with no hearing and no review.
| What happened | First time | With a prior | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failed the test | 90 days | 1 year | Tex. Transp. Code § 524.022(a) |
| Refused the test | 180 days | 2 years | Tex. Transp. Code § 724.035(a)–(b) |
What Dallas County prosecutors are working with
The penalty ranges are set by state statute and are the same in every Texas county. The full statutory matrix — offense levels, jail ranges, fine ceilings, the separate state traffic fine, and the rules on priors and interlock — is on the Texas DWI laws page. What varies between counties is charging practice and what the local office will agree to.
In Dallas County that is the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, which sits in the same Frank Crowley building and runs a felony trial division with a published weekly trial schedule. Misdemeanor DWI is handled by the same office in the county criminal courts.
Two features of Texas law shape every one of those conversations and neither is local. Texas has no lookback period, so a conviction from any year after 1994 counts as a prior. And Code of Criminal Procedure article 17.441 requires a magistrate to order an ignition interlock as a condition of bond for a second or subsequent DWI, and for the listed first offenses — which means the device can arrive before there is any finding of guilt at all.
DWI defense across the Dallas metro
Dallas County is not the same thing as the Dallas metro, and the difference decides which courthouse you report to. The metro grew out of cities that expanded across county lines, and several of the largest sit in more than one county.
| Situation | County | Where the case goes |
|---|---|---|
| Irving, Garland, Mesquite | Dallas | Yes — Frank Crowley Courts Building |
| Richardson | Dallas and Collin | Depends on the block — the city is in both |
| Carrollton | Dallas and Denton | Depends on the block |
| Grand Prairie | Dallas, Tarrant and Ellis | Depends on the block — the city reaches into three counties |
| Frisco | Collin and Denton | No — neither part is in Dallas County |
| Arlington, Fort Worth | Tarrant | No — Tarrant County courts |
The Dallas metro is built out of cities that grew across county lines, and the county decides the courthouse. Three of the municipalities next to Dallas are in two counties, and one is in three. A citation will name the county; the arresting agency on it is usually the giveaway.
Getting this wrong costs a missed setting, which is a worse problem than the underlying charge for a few weeks. If you do not know which county you were arrested in, the citation or the bond paperwork will say, and the arresting agency named on it is usually the giveaway.
Note that Houston, the other Texas city covered on this site, has a different version of this problem: Harris County is enormous and largely contiguous, so the question there is about a handful of specific municipalities rather than about cities routinely straddling three counties. The Houston page covers that separately.
Common questions about Dallas DWI cases
Which court will my Dallas DWI case be in?
It depends on the charge level, not on where in the county you were stopped. A first or second offense is a Class B or Class A misdemeanor and goes to one of the eleven Dallas County criminal courts. A third offense, or an intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter charge, is a felony and goes to one of the county's district courts. Both sets sit in the Frank Crowley Courts Building at 133 North Riverfront Boulevard.
How long do I have to save my license after a Dallas arrest?
Fifteen days from the date you were served with the notice of suspension, which is normally the day of the arrest. The request goes to the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, not to the court, and the hearing is held by the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Miss the fifteen days and the suspension takes effect automatically on the fortieth day after notice.
I was arrested in Plano or Frisco. Does that go to Dallas County?
No. Frisco sits in Collin and Denton counties and neither part is in Dallas County. Richardson, Carrollton and Grand Prairie are the harder cases, because each of them is genuinely in more than one county and which county gets the case depends on the block where the stop happened. Grand Prairie reaches into three: Dallas, Tarrant and Ellis.
Is a Dallas DWI the same as a DUI?
For an adult driver, yes. Texas charges driving while intoxicated under Penal Code section 49.04 and that is what a Dallas DWI is. The offense literally named DUI in Texas applies only to drivers under 21 and is a much lesser charge. Searching for one term and reading about the other is the most common confusion in this state.
Does Texas have a lookback period for DWI?
No. Penal Code section 49.09(d) treats any conviction on or after 1 September 1994 as a final conviction for enhancement purposes, and there is no time window written into the enhancement provisions. A conviction from 1998 makes a 2026 arrest a second offense. Texas had a ten-year washout once and repealed it, which is why so much older material about Texas DWI is wrong on this point.
Will I have to install an interlock before trial?
Possibly. Code of Criminal Procedure article 17.441 requires a magistrate to order an interlock on any vehicle the defendant operates as a condition of release for a second or subsequent DWI, and for any charge under sections 49.045, 49.07 or 49.08 including a first one. The magistrate may decline only on a finding that it would not be in the interest of justice, and the device must be installed within thirty days of release.
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More for Texas
- Texas DWI law — the full penalty matrix, the statutes, and the rules on priors and interlock
- Houston and Harris County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Austin and Travis County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- San Antonio and Bexar County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Fort Worth and Tarrant County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- El Paso — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Denton — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Refusing a breathalyzer — what implied consent costs here against what it buys
- How long it stays on your record — three records, three clocks
- SR-22 insurance after a Texas suspension — what the filing certifies and how long it runs
- Ignition interlock providers and costs in Texas — what the device costs and who installs it
Sources
- Dallas County, county criminal courts — read September 20, 2026
- Dallas County, criminal district courts — read September 20, 2026
- Dallas County District Clerk, felony criminal information — read September 20, 2026
- Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, inmate information — read September 20, 2026
- Dallas County District Attorney, felony trial division — read September 20, 2026
- City of Grand Prairie, find my county — read September 20, 2026
- City of Richardson, open government and compliance — read September 20, 2026
- Tex. Penal Code § 49.01(2)(B) and the rest of the Texas statutes cited on this page — read in force 2026
Court addresses, hours and phone numbers were read from each court’s or office’s own published page on September 20, 2026. Those change without notice; confirm before you rely on them. No judge is named anywhere on this page, because a roster is exactly the kind of detail that goes stale silently.