The purpose of this article is to outline all the steps needed to successfully draft a motion for summary judgement. It is important that you look up the court rules and procedures before starting this draft. It is also important to only move forward with this motion if you feel you have a strong argument that the court should dismiss your case. If you file a motion for summary judgement too soon, you run the risk of annoying the court. This may hurt you with future motions, or with your case in general.

Remember, it is very important to include everything that’s checklist below as it improves your chances of winning your motion.

Motion For Summary Judgment Checklist

✔ Proper court title along with the caption.

✔ Title: MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, with the appropriate rule cited.

✔ State that there are no genuine issues of material fact in the complaint.

✔ State that you are entitled to a summary judgment as a matter of law.

✔ State that the discovery process is not pending and will be completed by the time that the motion for summary judgment is heard.

✔ Include a statement that is similar to the following: “The plaintiff sued the defendant for a supposed default on a credit account. The defendant provided and filed a timely and complete answer that denied each material allegation. The defendant then demanded strict proof of each allegation.”

✔ Include arguments and analogies from case law that you provide in your memorandum.

✔ Include a subtitle for the memorandum that you are including. Format the title the same as the motion title and center it on the page.

✔ When providing arguments using case law, be sure to connect each argument to a factual statement. All of the arguments or analogies you provide should lead clearly to the fact that your motion for summary judgment should be granted.

✔ Include examples from case law that clearly define why, when, and how the court must grant your motion for summary judgment.

✔ Finish your motion with something similar to the following: WHEREFORE the defendant requests the court to grant the summary judgment against the plaintiff. (You may need to adjust this depending on what your summary judgment or motion is requesting.)

✔ Then include: DATED this _______ day of [Month] [Year].

✔ Then include your signature.

✔ The following page should have another captioned title like this: AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT.

✔ The following page should have another captioned title like this: ORDER.

✔ Finally include your certificate of service.

Below are samples of motions of summary judgement that successfully used in Texas and Oklahoma courts.

Oklahoma Example Motion of Summary Judgement

Texas Example Motion of Summary Judgement