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Texas runs a fund for crime victims, and the Attorney General runs it under Chapter 56B of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It can pay for your counseling, lost wages, relocation, medical care and child care. In most cases you do not need anyone to be arrested, charged or convicted to apply.
The fund is separate from any civil case. What a civil claim needs is evidence, and most of it is not in your hands. It sits in the records of the business, building or institution where it happened, and those records are on an automatic timer. See what evidence matters, and what disappears. Call 713-521-0059.
Usually not. Chapter 56B does not appear to condition an award on an arrest, a prosecution or a conviction. The Attorney General generally decides by a preponderance of the evidence whether the requirements are met. That is a civil standard, not a criminal one. It matters if you have been told the case will not be prosecuted.
Article 56B.053 requires you to report the conduct to a state or local law enforcement agency. The report must be made “within a reasonable period, but not so late as to interfere with or hamper the investigation and prosecution of the offense after the criminally injurious conduct is committed.” The statute does not set a fixed number of hours or days. If you were told you had 72 hours, 96 hours or five days, that is not in the statute.
The Attorney General may extend the reporting time where extraordinary circumstances justify it. The reporting requirement does not apply at all if the victim is a child.
If you had a sexual assault forensic examination, you are treated as having cooperated. Article 56B.107(d) provides that receiving a forensic medical examination constitutes sufficient evidence of substantial cooperation with an investigation. Article 56B.107(c) separately bars the Attorney General from denying or reducing an award for lack of cooperation based on your interactions with law enforcement at the crime scene or the hospital. The exception is where you later fail or refuse to substantially cooperate with the agency. That rule exists because many survivors freeze, do not give a full statement that night, and leave the emergency room.
You have three years from the date of the conduct, under Article 56B.052. The Attorney General may extend it for good cause shown. Three variations matter:
Applications go to the Office of the Attorney General, Crime Victim Services Division. A victim services coordinator at a police department or district attorney’s office can help you fill one out at no charge. So can a hospital advocate or a local rape crisis center. The application is free, and you do not need a lawyer to file it. The Attorney General’s Crime Victims’ Compensation pages are the authoritative source for current forms and figures.
The forensic portion of a sexual assault medical examination, and the evidence collection kit, are free to you. Article 56A.304(f) states that a victim of sexual assault may not be required to pay for either. The Attorney General reimburses the provider directly. This is true whether or not you report to law enforcement.
The medical portion, meaning treatment of injuries, medication and testing, is a separate cost. It is reimbursable through the Emergency Medical Care track or the compensation program rather than free when you get it. That is why you can leave the emergency room having paid nothing for the kit and still get a bill weeks later.
Two recent changes both help. Article 56A.304(a) lets the provider be reimbursed for other medical care given during the examination. House Bill 47, effective 1 September 2025, added prescribed continuing care related to the sexual assault for the 30 days after the examination, including medication and medical testing. Whether it reaches your care depends on dates the bill sets, tied to the first report or the first care.
The Attorney General publishes a limit of up to $25,000 for emergency medical care reimbursement for sexual assault examinations after 31 August 2023. That figure comes from the Attorney General rather than from the statute. The Attorney General describes it as an additional $25,000 available on top of the $50,000 program limit. Because it is program policy rather than statute, confirm it with the Attorney General’s office before you rely on it.
If you receive a bill for a forensic examination, that bill is likely an error. The provider should be directed to bill the Office of the Attorney General.
The statutory ceiling is $50,000 in the aggregate for a victim and all claimants, under Article 56B.106(a). Where the personal injury is catastrophic and results in a total and permanent disability, the Attorney General may award up to an additional $75,000 for extraordinary pecuniary loss.
Note the conjunction: catastrophic and total and permanent. That award is discretionary. It is limited to an enumerated list including home and vehicle accessibility, job training and vocational rehabilitation, home health care, durable medical equipment and long-term medical expenses. The ceiling in a catastrophic case is therefore $125,000.
Within those ceilings, these are the categories and their current limits:
For relocation, your eligibility depends on where the assault happened. If you were assaulted in your own residence, you qualify directly under Article 56B.106(c). If you were assaulted somewhere else, you come through Article 56B.106(c-1). It requires that the expense be necessary to protect the health or safety of the victim or a family or household member.
Several of these numbers are not in the statute at all. The $50,000 aggregate, the $75,000 catastrophic add-on, the $5,000 relocation ceiling, the $3,333 bereavement figure and the $3,000 tattoo removal limit are statutory, and the $1,500 emergency award appears to be statutory as well. The 60 counseling sessions, the $700 weekly lost wage rate and the $300 weekly dependent care rate appear to be set by Attorney General rule and by published program policy. So are the $2,250 cleanup limit and the $6,500 funeral limit. Those can change without any act of the Legislature, so check the current amounts on the Attorney General’s site before you rely on one.
Taking compensation does not stop you from bringing a civil claim. The fund pays capped, defined kinds of out-of-pocket loss. A civil claim seeks full damages from whoever was responsible. But the two are connected.
Proceeds awarded to you as a result of third-party litigation are a collateral source under Article 56B.003(3)(I). Under Article 56B.107(a)(3), an award may be reduced to the extent pecuniary loss is recouped from a collateral source. Under Article 56B.202 the State is subrogated to your rights to recover for pecuniary loss from a collateral source, to the extent compensation was awarded.
There are also notice rules that most people do not know about. Article 56B.401 requires written notice to the Attorney General before filing a civil action related to conduct for which compensation was claimed or awarded. Article 56B.404(a) provides that the claimant may not settle or otherwise resolve the action without the Attorney General’s written authorization. None of that is a reason to skip the application. It is a reason to tell whoever handles your civil case, early, that you have a compensation claim.
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.
Two general rules govern all of it. Expenses must be reasonably and necessarily incurred. And the fund is a payer of last resort: your award may be reduced to the extent the loss is recouped from a collateral source, including health insurance.
If you apply to this fund, you may also have a civil claim. The fund’s ceilings are low next to what a serious case costs. Sixty counseling sessions and $700 a week in lost wages are real help, but they are not the same as being made whole. If you were assaulted at an apartment complex, a hotel, a business or in a rideshare, you may have a claim against the owner or company whose choices made it possible. That claim is not limited by the fund’s ceilings, and it is often insured, so we start by looking at who else is responsible.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and survivors across Texas.
If you are an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question. We will not ask you for their name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
Usually not. The program generally does not require an arrest, a charge or a conviction.
No. Article 56B.053 requires a report within a reasonable period, not so late as to hamper the investigation. No fixed deadline appears in the statute, the Attorney General may extend it for extraordinary circumstances, and it does not apply at all if the victim is a child.
Three years from the conduct under Article 56B.052, extendable for good cause. A child has three years from being made aware, but not after turning 21.
It can. The State is subrogated to a recovery for pecuniary loss, the Attorney General must be notified before suit, and a claimant may not settle without written authorization. Tell whoever handles your civil case about the compensation claim early.
No. Article 56A.304(f) states that a victim of sexual assault may not be required to pay for the forensic portion of the examination or the evidence collection kit. Treatment of injuries during the visit is a separate cost, reimbursable through the Emergency Medical Care track or the compensation program. House Bill 47, effective 1 September 2025, added prescribed continuing care for 30 days after the examination, depending on dates the bill sets.
The statutory ceiling is $50,000 in the aggregate under Article 56B.106(a). In a catastrophic case resulting in a total and permanent disability, the Attorney General may award up to an additional $75,000, for a ceiling of $125,000. The Attorney General also describes an additional $25,000 for sexual assault examination emergency medical care as program policy; confirm it with the Attorney General's office.