Austin Paris v. Alexandra Paris

CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 2nd District (Fort Worth)
DecidedJune 25, 2026
Docket02-25-00235-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Austin Paris v. Alexandra Paris (Austin Paris v. Alexandra Paris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Court of Appeals, 2nd District (Fort Worth) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Austin Paris v. Alexandra Paris, (Tex. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-25-00235-CV ___________________________

AUSTIN PARIS, Appellant

V.

ALEXANDRA PARIS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 442nd District Court Denton County, Texas Trial Court No. 23-9180-442

Before Birdwell, Womack, and Walker, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Birdwell MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Austin Paris (Husband), acting pro se, appeals from a divorce decree

dissolving his marriage to appellee Alexandra Paris (Wife).1 In what amounts to three

issues,2 Husband argues that the trial court abused its discretion by (1) restricting his

possession of and access to the couple’s children because the record contains no

evidence that he has committed family violence against the children or poses a present

danger to them and because the trial court’s findings that he has a history or pattern

of alcohol and substance abuse are not supported by the record, (2) awarding Wife

$37,738.59 in attorney’s fees,3 and (3) awarding Wife a $10,000.00 judgment against

1 The divorce decree changed Wife’s name to Alexandra Wood. But because the decree was styled using her married name, we likewise use her married name. See, e.g., Mamoe v. Mamoe, No. 03-23-00258-CV, 2024 WL 4137329, at *1 n.1 (Tex. App.— Austin Sept. 11, 2024, no pet.). 2 Husband filed an opening brief and a supplemental brief. In his supplemental brief, Husband enumerates six issues. But because his first four issues all pertain to the overarching issue of whether the trial court abused its discretion by limiting his possession and access to the couple’s children, we will treat these issues as a single complaint. See In re K.G., No. 02-23-00180-CV, 2024 WL 273505, at *2 n.2 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Jan. 25, 2024, no pet.) (treating several of appellant’s enumerated appellate issues as a single complaint because they “all present[ed] the same legal question”). 3 The decree also awarded Wife a judgment against Husband in the amount of $8,509.50 for unpaid attorney’s fees that the trial court had previously assessed at a hearing on Wife’s motion to enforce certain child-support and other temporary orders. But Husband does not challenge this judgment on appeal.

2 him for damage that he caused to a community-owned vehicle that was awarded to

Wife.4 For the reasons set forth below, we will affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Husband and Wife married in May 2019; they have three children (the

Children). In October 2023, the couple separated, and Wife filed a petition for divorce

and an application for a protective order. In her petition (as subsequently amended),

Wife alleged that Husband had “a history or pattern of committing family violence

during the two-year period preceding” the divorce case’s filing and that he had a

history of alcohol abuse. Based on these allegations, she requested that she be

4 All of Husband’s issues suffer from some degree of inadequate briefing. Thus, he has arguably forfeited all of his appellate issues. See Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(i); Huey v. Huey, 200 S.W.3d 851, 854 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2006, no pet.) (admonishing that the “[f]ailure to cite applicable authority or provide substantive analysis waives an issue on appeal”); see also Fredonia State Bank v. Gen. Am. Life Ins. Co., 881 S.W.2d 279, 284 (Tex. 1994) (observing that error may be waived by inadequate briefing); McKinnon v. Wallin, No. 03-17-00592-CV, 2018 WL 3849399, at *2–3 (Tex. App.—Austin Aug. 14, 2018, pet. denied) (holding that pro se appellant had waived his issues by inadequate briefing); cf. Smale v. Williams, 590 S.W.3d 633, 639 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2019, no pet.) (“The law is well settled that ‘[a] party proceeding pro se must comply with all applicable procedural rules’ and is held to the same standards as a licensed attorney.” (quoting Paselk v. Rabun, 293 S.W.3d 600, 611 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2009, pet. denied))). Despite his inadequate briefing, we will address the merits of Husband’s complaints to the extent possible. See Eco Planet, LLC v. ANT Trading, No. 05-19-00239-CV, 2020 WL 6707561, at *5 (Tex. App.—Dallas Nov. 16, 2020, pet. denied) (Osborne, J., concurring) (“Appellate courts have the discretion to waive issues for inadequate briefing.” (first citing Fredonia State Bank, 881 S.W.2d at 284; and then citing Horton v. Stovall, 591 S.W.3d 567, 569–70 (Tex. 2019))); cf. Perry v. Cohen, 272 S.W.3d 585, 587 (Tex. 2008) (“[A]ppellate courts should reach the merits of an appeal whenever reasonably possible.”).

3 appointed the Children’s sole managing conservator and that Husband be denied

access to them.

Husband filed both an answer generally denying Wife’s allegations and a

counterpetition for divorce. In his counterpetition (as subsequently amended), he

requested that he and Wife be appointed as the Children’s joint managing

conservators.

In November 2023, the trial court heard Wife’s protective-order application.

After considering the evidence, the trial court found that Husband had committed

family violence and was likely to do so again in the future. Based on these findings, it

signed a protective order granting Wife exclusive possession of the Children and

prohibiting Husband from, among other things, going within 500 feet of “any

location” where Wife or the Children are known to be or “communicating in any

manner” with them “except through [Wife’s] attorney or AppClose.”5 Husband

claims that he has not had any in-person contact with the Children since before the

protective order was signed.

5 Husband unsuccessfully challenged the protective order in a separate appeal. See generally Paris v. Paris, No. 02-25-00236-CV, 2025 WL 2679333 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Sept. 18, 2025, no pet.). Although the present appeal concerns only the divorce proceeding, we take judicial notice of the record in the related appeal from the protective order. See In re C.B., No. 02-25-00026-CV, 2025 WL 728233, at *2 n.6 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Mar. 6, 2025, orig. proceeding [mand. denied]) (noting that appellate court may take judicial notice of record in prior related appeal); Trevino v. Pemberton, 918 S.W.2d 102, 103 n.2 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 1996, orig. proceeding) (recognizing that an appellate court may take judicial notice of its own records in a related proceeding involving the same or nearly the same parties).

4 In December 2024, the trial court conducted a one-day bench trial in the

divorce proceeding. Based on the evidence presented, the trial court signed a divorce

decree that, among other things, named Wife the Children’s sole managing

conservator, named Husband a possessory conservator, awarded Wife the couple’s

2015 Toyota Tundra as well as a $10,000.00 judgment against Husband for damage

that he had caused to the vehicle, and awarded Wife $37,738.59 in attorney’s fees. The

decree explicitly states that it does not supersede the protective order and provides

that “no in-person visitations between [Husband] and the [C]hildren shall occur until

All Protective Orders against [Husband] in protection of [Wife and the Children]

have expired[6] . . . and Husband has completed a . . . Batter[er]s Intervention and

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Austin Paris v. Alexandra Paris, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/austin-paris-v-alexandra-paris-txctapp2-2026.