Court Opinion

ID: 9896690
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-14 11:19:42.093558+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:12.351111
License: Public Domain

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

                                       NO. 03-23-00530-CV

                  Appellant, Bryan Miller// Cross-Appellant, Claudia Miller

                                                 v.

                   Appellee, Claudia Miller// Cross-Appellee, Bryan Miller

              FROM THE 250TH DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY
  NO. D-1-FM-21-001119, THE HONORABLE MADELEINE CONNOR, JUDGE PRESIDING

                 ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OPINION

PER CURIAM

               Appellant and cross-appellee Bryan Miller challenges the trial court’s corrected

final decree of divorce, signed on September 13, 2023.1 Bryan has filed a motion requesting that

we abate the appeal for entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law that were not issued by

the trial court after he requested them and gave notice that they were past due. See Tex. R. Civ.

P. 296; id. R. 297. Bryan certified that he tried but was unable to confer with Claudia’s attorney

about the motion. Although more than ten days have passed since Bryan filed his motion,

Claudia has not filed a response.

               The family code provides that, upon timely request, the trial court shall make

written findings of fact and conclusions of law when the trial court has rendered judgment

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            Because the parties share the same last name, for clarity, we will refer to the parties by
their first names.
dividing the parties’ estate in a divorce suit, when the court varies from the standard possession

order, and when the court renders a child-support order. See Tex. Fam. Code §§ 6.711, 153.258,

154.130. When the trial court fails to make fact findings and conclusions of law after a party

has complied with the rules in making a request, the error is presumed harmful. Martinez v.

Martinez, No. 03-16-00818-CV, 2017 WL 3897309, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Aug. 25, 2017,

no pet.) (mem. op.) (per curiam) (abatement) (citing, in part, Tenery v. Tenery, 932 S.W.2d 29,

29 (Tex. 1996)). Error is harmful if it prevents an appellant from properly presenting a case to

the appellate court. Id. (citing Tenery, 932 S.W.2d at 30); see also Tex. R. App. P. 44.1(a)(2). In

light of the presumption, and from the record before us, we conclude that Bryan will be harmed

from the trial court’s failure to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law and that such

findings and conclusions are necessary for a proper presentation of his appeal.

               Accordingly, we grant Bryan’s motion, abate this appeal, and remand this cause

to the trial court for the entry of the necessary findings. A supplemental record containing the

findings and conclusions shall be filed with this Court thirty days from the date of this order.

This appeal will be reinstated after the supplemental clerk’s record is filed.

               It is ordered on November 10, 2023.

Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Kelly and Theofanis

Abated and Remanded

Filed: November 10, 2023

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