## In the Court of Appeals S econd Appellate District of T exas at Fort Worth

___________________________ No. 02

- 23

- 00443

- CV

___________________________

On Appeal from Probate Court No. 2 Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 2021

- PR00100 -2

Before Kerr, Birdwell, and Bassel , JJ. Me morandum Opinion by Justice Kerr 

### I N THE 

### E STATE OF 

### H ORACE 

### J IMERSON 

### , J R 

### ., D ECEASED2 MEM O RANDUM OPINION Appellant O.V. Dickson

— a contestant in this pro b ate proceeding

— attempts to appeal from the trial court ’ s order granting Appelle e She il a Porter Wolf ’ s motion to
comp el discovery responses and order ing Dic kson to respond without objection to

c ertain dis covery requests and to pay Wolf $1,208.33 in attor ney ’ s fees

. We wr ote to Dickson express ing our concern that we lack ed jurisdiction over this appeal because
the order di d no t appea r to be a f inal judgment or ap pe alable interlocutory order

. See De Ayala v. Macki e , 1 93 S.W.3d 575 , 578 (Tex. 2006 ) (op. on reh ’ g) (explaining when probate orders are appe alable). We war ned Dickson that unless he or an y other party
de sir i ng to continue the appeal filed a res ponse within ten days showing grounds f or

con t inuing the appeal , we could dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 44.3. Ten days ha ve passed, and we have not received a response. Generally, appeals may be take n only from final judgments or from interlocutory orders as aut horized by statute. See Lehmann v. Har

- Con Corp

. , 39 S.W.3d
191 , 195 (Tex. 2001 ). A ju dgment or order is final if it disposes of every pending claim and par ty. Id. at 205. Probate proceedings a re an exception to the one -f inal

- judgment
rule because the y may involve multiple orders on discrete issues, each of which may be final for purposes of appeal. De Ayala , 193 S.W.3d at 578

. But n ot all interlocutory proba te orders are appealable. Id

. The Tex as Supreme Court has adopted the following test for deter mi ning whether a probate order is final for purposes of appeal :3 If there is an express statute
. . . declaring the phase of the probate proceedings to be final an d appealab le, that statute controls. Otherwis e, if there is a proceeding of whic h the order in q uestion may logically be considered a part, but one or more pleadings also part of that proceeding raise issues or parties not disposed of, then the probate ord er is inte rlocutory.
Id

. (quoting Cr owson v. Wakeham , 897 S.W.2d 779, 783 (Tex. 1995)). In oth e r word s, if no statute expressly provides that a particular probate order is final and appealable,
that order is interlocutory and not subject to immediate appeal unless it disposes of all parties or issue s in a particular phase of the proc eedings. See id

. at 5 78

– 79 ; see also Est

. of Harri s , No. 02

- 17

- 00108

- CV, 2017 WL 2590574 , at *2 (Tex. App.

— Fort Worth June 15, 2017, pet. denied ) (per c uriam) (mem. op.).
No statu t e expressly authorizes an immediate appeal from an order granting a
motion to c ompel discov ery. Additionally, th e order does not dispos e of all parties or issues in a particular phase of this probate proceeding. See In re Est. of Ruiz , No. 04

- 22

- 00650

- CV, 2023 WL 242735, at *2 (Tex. App.

— San Antonio Jan. 18, 2023, no pet. ) ( mem. op. ) (“ The [prob a te court ’ s] ord er denying Ruiz ’ s motion to compel discovery and the order granting Harmon ’ s motion for protection from discovery subpoenas do not dispose of any substantive i ssue, let alone dispose of ‘ all issues ’ in t he phase of the proceedings concern in g t he partnershi p; therefore, the orders are interlocutory. ” ( quoting De Ayala , 193 S.W.3d at 578) ). We thus conclude that the order is not a final, appealable prob ate or der

. See De Ayala , 193 S.W.3d at 578

– 79 ; Harri s ,4 2017 WL 2590574 , at *2 . A cc o rdingly, w e dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdic tion.
See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2( f).

/s/ Elizabeth Kerr Elizabeth Kerr Justice
Deli vered: January 11, 202 4