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They can require confidentiality of the money. They cannot require your silence about the abuse. Since 1 September 2025, Chapter 129C of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code makes any confidentiality provision void and unenforceable, as against the public policy of Texas, to the extent it prohibits a person from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or facts related to one. The same section expressly preserves an agreement to keep the amount and payment terms confidential.
That split is the whole answer, and it changed recently enough that a great deal of published material is now wrong.
Two other things about settlement deserve to be said plainly, because they decide what a survivor actually keeps.
The number is not what you receive. Liens, subrogation claims, the fee and the expenses come out of it.
How the settlement is allocated can change the arithmetic. That is negotiable, and it is a decision made before signing rather than afterward.
Section 129C.002 makes void and unenforceable any provision of a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement, and any such provision of an employment agreement, settlement agreement or any other agreement, to the extent it prohibits a person from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or facts related to one.
The same section then preserves the rest. Nothing in it may be construed to prohibit a person from agreeing to keep confidential any other provision of a settlement agreement, including the amount or payment terms.
Section 129C.001 defines an act of sexual abuse by reference to conduct described in listed Family Code and Penal Code provisions, including sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault, which are not limited to children. Our page on NDAs and sexual abuse covers the statute and its retroactive reach in full.
Two different things get confused here.
A confidentiality clause is a private agreement between the parties. It binds those who signed it.
Sealing a court record is a court order restricting public access to filings. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a governs it and it is not automatic; Texas treats court records as presumptively open and a party seeking to seal must satisfy the rule.
Most personal injury settlements are never filed with the court at all, so most confidentiality clauses never involve sealing anything. A survivor who wants her name kept out of the public record is usually asking a different question, addressed on our page about suing without your name.
Health insurance subrogation. A plan that paid for your treatment will usually assert a right to be repaid. The strength of that right depends on the plan, and the amount is frequently negotiable.
Hospital liens. Under Chapter 55 of the Property Code a hospital can hold a lien on the claim itself where the person was admitted within 72 hours of an accident.
Letter of protection balances. Providers who treated on a letter of protection are paid from the recovery.
Crime Victims’ Compensation. Where the Texas program paid for counseling, medical care, relocation or lost wages, the State is subrogated to a recovery for pecuniary loss. That has a practical consequence at allocation: an unallocated settlement can be treated as entirely economic, which maximizes what the State can recover. Allocating the settlement deliberately, and documenting the basis for it, is ordinary and important work.
A release ends the claims it covers, permanently. Read what it covers. A release drafted broadly can extend to parties who paid nothing and to claims nobody discussed, and once signed there is no reopening it because the injury turned out to be worse than expected.
Chapter 129C addresses the silence provision. It does not undo a release.
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.
Ask for the net, in writing, before you decide. A settlement statement showing the gross, the fee, each expense, each lien and the balance to you is standard and any firm should provide it without being pressed.
Do not sign a release that silences you about the abuse. Since September 2025 such a clause is void in Texas anyway, but a defendant who insists on including one is telling you something about how the rest of the negotiation will go.
Liens are negotiable more often than people are told. Reductions in subrogation and provider balances go directly into the client’s pocket, and that work is where a meaningful part of a net recovery is made.
The first conversation is free, it is confidential, and it does not commit you to anything.
If someone has put a settlement agreement in front of you, we will read it and tell you what it does, including which parts of it Texas law no longer allows.
If you are earlier than that and simply want to know whether settling means being silenced for the rest of your life, the answer in Texas is now no, and you should not decide anything based on an older article that says otherwise.
If you are an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
No. Section 129C.002 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code makes any confidentiality provision void and unenforceable to the extent it prohibits a person from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or facts related to one.
Yes. The same section expressly preserves an agreement to keep confidential any other provision of a settlement, including the amount and payment terms.
Usually not. Most personal injury settlements are never filed with the court. Sealing a court record is a separate matter governed by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a, and Texas treats court records as presumptively open.
The attorney fee and case expenses, health insurance subrogation, hospital liens under Chapter 55 of the Property Code, letter of protection balances, and any Crime Victims’ Compensation subrogation for pecuniary loss.
Because an unallocated settlement can be treated as entirely economic, which maximizes what a subrogated payer can recover from it. Allocating deliberately, and documenting the basis, protects the client’s net.
No. Chapter 129C addresses the confidentiality provision. A release of legal claims remains a release.
