Call Recording Laws in Texas

Plain-English summary

Texas is a one-party-consent state. Tex. Penal Code § 16.02 prohibits the unauthorized interception of communications, with a participant exception at § 16.02(c)(4)(A).

A participant may record an ordinary phone call in Texas without notifying the other party. The Texas civil statute, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 123.001 et seq., provides robust civil remedies for unlawful interception, including $10,000 statutory damages per occurrence.

Case law of note

No appellate decision in Texas has materially reshaped the participant-recording rule in recent decades. Lower-court decisions exist but do not change the analytical framework set by the statute and by general federal precedent under § 2511.

Edge cases and special rules

In-person vs. phone. Same — one-party
Voicemail. Leaving a message creates the recording at the recipient’s direction; reviewing one’s own voicemail is not interception.
Vicarious consent. Several federal courts have recognized a parental-consent doctrine permitting a parent to consent on behalf of a minor child (Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998)). State law varies; no controlling Texas appellate decision on the question.
Law enforcement. Court-authorized intercepts are governed by a separate framework and are outside the scope of this page.
Cross-border calls. Where any participant is in an all-party state, treat the stricter rule as the safer default. See cross-border calls.

Penalties and remedies

Criminal: Second-degree felony under Penal Code § 16.02.

Civil: Yes — Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 123.004 provides $10,000 statutory damages per occurrence plus actual damages.

Evidence: a recording made in violation of the Texas statute is generally inadmissible in Texas proceedings. Federal § 2515 separately bars use of unlawfully intercepted communications in federal proceedings.

Practical guidance

If you are recording an ordinary phone call: you may record without notifying the other party, but verbal consent is the safer practice if the recording may be used in a proceeding.
Suggested opening: See our consent script templates for jurisdiction-specific language.
If the other party objects: stop recording. Continued recording over an objection is a separate factual question that no consent statute helps you with.
What to keep: the date and time of the call, the parties’ phone numbers, a description of the consent given (express verbal, continued participation after notice, etc.), and the audio file itself.