Missouri City and Stafford residents who take family law cases, custody disputes or tax matters to Fort Bend County district courts could face longer waits. The Commissioners Court voted 3-0 on Friday, Aug. 28, to eliminate funding for three of eight associate judge positions.

Interim County Judge Daniel Wong and Republican Commissioners Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales approved the cuts. Democratic Commissioners Dexter McCoy and Grady Prestage were absent, continuing their boycott over Wong's disputed authority as interim county judge.

Both Missouri City and Stafford sit in Fort Bend County, and their residents rely on the county's district courts for divorces, custody battles, child support enforcement, protective orders and criminal warrant processing. Associate judges handle much of that caseload. District judges lined up to oppose the measure, warning that families could wait months for hearings.

Judge Monica Rawlins, presiding judge of the 328th District Court, told commissioners her court disposed of 3,109 cases in 2024-25. "I cannot do that with it being just me," Rawlins said, according to the Fort Bend Independent.

Rawlins said the proposal caught the judiciary by surprise and that she was not given proper notice of the agenda item. Without her associate judge, she warned, families in divorce cases involving abuse could wait months for a hearing.

Judge Kali Morgan, presiding judge of the 505th Family District Court, said Fort Bend's family courts had just under 7,000 pending cases as of July 31 and receive about 200 new cases each month, as the Houston Chronicle reported. Morgan said no county official had contacted the judges for input before the vote.

Associate Judge Stuti Patel of the 400th District Court said she handles roughly 250 cases per week and signed more than $6.5 million in tax judgments in 2025. Patel challenged a workload study from the Office of Court Administration (OCA) that had been cited to justify the cuts, calling the data outdated. She presented a current OCA report she said gave Fort Bend courts an "A plus" rating based on case clearance rates.

Judge Maggie Jaramillo, presiding judge of the 458th District Court, said eliminating positions would not eliminate cases but would shift the workload onto district judges. The result, she warned, could be longer dockets, delayed hearings and higher indigent-defense costs. Every district judge, regardless of party, signed a letter asking commissioners to keep the associate judges, Jaramillo said.

The three positions were created in 2021 using federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that expire at the end of 2026, The Texan reported. Bobby Eberle, communications director for Wong, said the positions were temporary and that "temporary solutions should not automatically become permanent expenses for local taxpayers when there is a better long-term path."

Meyers proposed the same cut during last year's budget talks, but a Democratic majority on the court defeated it. This time, with two commissioners absent, the measure passed.

A separate Fort Bend Independent analysis noted that Fort Bend is the only county among 10 Texas counties with associate judges that maintains a 1-to-1 ratio of associate judges to district courts. A 2024 OCA workload study found the county had 2.57 more full-time equivalent judicial positions than its caseload required.

ABC13 reported that judges affected by the vote plan to file suit, citing unnamed sources.

Pay for the three eliminated positions continues through Dec. 31. Which specific positions are cut is left to the judges to decide. Commissioners are expected to finalize the county's $792 million fiscal year 2027 budget and tax rate on Thursday, Sept. 10, a vote that requires at least four members present.