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This is one of the first questions survivors ask, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a reassuring one.
In Texas the answer depends entirely on what kind of claim you are bringing. Some survivors have a statutory right to proceed under a pseudonym that the court must honor. Others have no statutory right at all and must ask the judge, with no Texas rule or statute governing the request. Anyone who tells you that survivors can simply sue anonymously in Texas is overstating it.
Chapter 98B claims, meaning intimate images including AI-generated images. Section 98B.008, effective 1 September 2025, provides that the court shall make it known to the claimant as early as possible that a confidential identity is available, shall allow its use in all petitions, filings and other documents, shall use it in all court proceedings and records including on appeal, and shall maintain the records so as to protect confidentiality. A confidential identity means a pseudonym and the absence of other identifying information such as address, telephone number and social security number. Only the judge, a party, a party’s attorney and a person authorized by written court order may know the true information, and divulging it without a written order is punishable by contempt. This right belongs to any claimant under the chapter, adult or minor.
Trafficking claims under Chapter 98. Section 98.007 provides a substantially identical confidential identity right for claimants in trafficking actions. It was added effective 1 September 2021.
Claims by a plaintiff under 18 arising from sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault. Section 30.013 provides a confidential identity where the plaintiff is an individual younger than eighteen and the suit is based on conduct described as a felony under Penal Code Section 22.011 or 22.021. Read that age limit carefully. The section is written for a plaintiff who is a minor at the time, together with that plaintiff’s parents or legal guardian.
In all three, using a confidential identity is the claimant’s choice. None of them requires it.
If you are an adult survivor of sexual assault, you were not trafficked, and your claim is not a Chapter 98B intimate-images claim, there is no Texas statute that gives you the right to sue under a pseudonym.
That is the state of Texas law and it surprises people. Section 30.013 stops at eighteen. Section 98.007 is limited to trafficking. Section 98B.008 is limited to that chapter. Nothing fills the gap between them.
Two things are commonly confused with a right that does not exist.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a is often cited in this conversation. It governs sealing court records, not party anonymity. It is a different question with a different standard, and it does not let you file under a false name.
The Code of Criminal Procedure, Articles 58.101 and 58.102, does let a victim of a sex offense choose a pseudonym to be used in the public files and records concerning the offense, including police reports and records of judicial proceedings, by returning a form to the investigating law enforcement agency or the office of the prosecuting attorney. That is the criminal justice system’s records track. It does not authorize filing a civil petition under a pseudonym.
The request is committed to the trial court’s discretion, and the Texas appellate authority on it is thin.
The Dallas Court of Appeals noted in J.G. v. Jones, No. 05-22-00215-CV (Tex. App.—Dallas Feb. 27, 2023, pet. denied), that “Use of a pseudonym is permitted in state court under certain circumstances,” collecting Topheavy Studios, Inc. v. Doe, No. 03-05-00022-CV (Tex. App.—Austin Aug. 11, 2005, no pet.) (mem. op.), and Mother & Unborn Baby Care of North Texas, Inc. v. Doe, 689 S.W.2d 336 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1985, writ dism’d). The court expressly did not decide the question, because it was not squarely presented.
Topheavy is worth understanding correctly, because it is often cited as though it approved pseudonymous filing. It did not reach the merits. The Austin court held that an order allowing a plaintiff to proceed under a pseudonym was an interlocutory order not appealable at that time, and it noted that the order specifically allowed full discovery and stated that the plaintiff’s true name could be used in depositions and in the investigation of the case.
J.G. addressed the point in a footnote, and Topheavy is a memorandum opinion. Neither states a test. Texas has no state-court equivalent of the multi-factor federal standard.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
It means the protection is real but conditional, and it means the answer depends on facts a lawyer needs to hear before giving you one.
It also means something more practical. Even where a pseudonym is allowed, it does not make you invisible inside the case. The defendant learns who you are. Discovery still happens. What the statutes protect is the public record: the petition, the docket, the filings, the appellate opinion, the things a person can find by searching your name.
For many survivors that is the distinction that matters. Not whether the person who hurt them will learn their name, which they already know, but whether an employer, a landlord or a stranger will find it years from now.
If you are trying to decide whether to bring a claim and the exposure is what is stopping you, that is a conversation worth having before you decide. It costs nothing and it commits you to nothing.
Call 713-521-0059.
This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Not as of right, unless the claim falls under Chapter 98 or Chapter 98B. Otherwise it is a request to the trial court, decided case by case.
Only if the plaintiff is currently under 18. It is a minors provision.
No. The Code of Criminal Procedure pseudonym covers the criminal process and can be disclosed to the defendant and defense counsel without a court order. It does not follow you into a civil case.
A petition is a public record. That is why the question is worth resolving before anything is filed rather than after.
