REcontract is a Texas real-estate contract tool that reads a signed TREC contract in the browser and computes every deadline it creates, including which deadlines move for weekends and holidays and which do not.
The rule, in one paragraph
A TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract creates two deadlines out of Paragraph 5, and they follow opposite rules. Under ¶5A(2), the three-day window to deliver the earnest money and the option fee does extend: if the third day is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a Legal Holiday, it moves to the next day that is none of those. Under ¶5B, the end of the option period does not extend for anything. If it falls on Thanksgiving Day, it is due on Thanksgiving Day at 5:00 p.m. local time where the property sits.
“Legal Holiday” is not every day the state closes. The 20-19 defines it as the national holidays in Texas Government Code §662.003(a) plus exactly two state holidays — Juneteenth under (b)(4) and the Friday after Thanksgiving under (b)(6). Confederate Heroes Day, Texas Independence Day, San Jacinto Day, Lyndon Baines Johnson Day, December 24 and December 26 are Texas state holidays that this contract does not adopt, so they move nothing.
Calculate it
Enter the Effective Date — the date of the last signature, not the date the offer was written. This runs the same code the application runs.
Worked examples for 2026
Every date below is produced by the same deadline engine the product uses, at the time this page was built. A seven-day option period with a stated option fee.
| Effective Date | Earnest money & option fee due (¶5A(2)) | Option period ends, 5:00 p.m. (¶5B) |
|---|---|---|
| moved | ||
| Saturday — does not move | ||
| Saturday — does not move | ||
| moved | ||
| Sunday — does not move | ||
| Sunday — does not move | ||
| moved | ||
| Sunday — does not move |
5 of these 10 option deadlines land on a day the office is shut. Not one of them moves.
Does the option period extend if it ends on a weekend?
No. Paragraph 5B does not extend for Saturdays, Sundays or Legal Holidays. The notice of termination is still due by 5:00 p.m. that day, local time where the property is. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding on a Texas contract, because missing it does not delay the right to terminate — it ends it.
When is earnest money due on a TREC contract?
Within three days after the Effective Date, delivered to the escrow agent named in Paragraph 5A. If that third day is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a Legal Holiday as ¶5A(2) defines it, the deadline moves to the next day that is none of those.
What counts as a Legal Holiday on a TREC contract?
The national holidays listed in Texas Government Code §662.003(a), plus two state holidays the contract adopts by name: Juneteenth, June 19, under §662.003(b)(4), and the Friday after Thanksgiving under §662.003(b)(6). No other state holiday counts, however widely offices close for it.
Is this the same calculation the application performs?
Yes. The calculator on this page and the worked examples above both call the product’s own deadline engine — the calculator by bundling it, the table by running it when this page was generated. There is no second implementation that could drift from the first.
Related
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- What if the Earnest Money Deadline Falls on a Weekend?It moves. TREC Paragraph 5A(2) extends the three-day earnest money and option fee delivery deadline past a Sat…
- Two Deadlines, Two Rules: The Option Notice vs the Earnest MoneyThe earnest money deadline moves past a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. The option termination notice does…
- Earnest Money in Texas: Delivery, Deadlines, and ReleaseHow much earnest money is customary, when it must be delivered, what happens on termination, and the ¶18 relea…