Court Opinion

ID: 9678020
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:09:03.879097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:01.337233
License: Public Domain

ESQUIVEL, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result.
Following the standard of review as set out in Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.1965), I would go no further than to sustain the appellant’s, the mother’s, legal sufficiency point of error. Accordingly, it follows that I likewise find an abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in changing the conservatorship of the child.
From the record, the trial court, as the trier of fact, was correct in his findings that the mother denied the appellee, the father, his visitation rights as ordered in the modified decree of divorce. There is, however, no evidence in the record concerning the living conditions of the child when with the mother; there is no evidence as to the conditions under which the child would live if custody was changed to the father; and, equally significant, there was no evidence of any change in conditions since the entry of the modified order. The only facts established were that the child was older and needed less care, that the father was remarried and lived in an apartment with his present wife, all of which cannot be deemed to be a change of condition. I agree that it was definitely established by the evidence presented that the mother had unjustly denied the father visiting privileges. I cannot hold, however, that this, standing alone, constituted legally sufficient evidence to change the conservator-ship of the child from the mother to the father. See Armstrong v. Armstrong, 601 S.W.2d 724, 727 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1980, writ ref’d n.r.e.).
Section 14.07(a) of the Texas Family Code,1 and the decisions thereunder, place *88a heavy burden upon a party seeking to modify custody rights granted in a decree of divorce. Armstrong, 601 S.W.2d at 725. Accordingly, I hold that the father utterly failed to offer any evidence sufficient to meet the “threshold inquiry.”
I agree with the majority’s disposition that the judgment of the trial court modifying and changing the conservatorship of the child be reversed and rendered and that the father’s motion to modify be denied. I also agree that the judgment of the trial court holding the mother in contempt be affirmed.

. TEX.FAM.CODE ANN. § 14.07(a) (Vernon 1978), reads as follows: "The best interest of the *88child shall always be the primary consideration of the court in determining questions of managing conservatorship, possession, and support of and access to the child_”