Estate of Donald Edgar Smith v. the State of Texas

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-23-00160-CV

ESTATE OF DONALD EDGAR SMITH, DECEASED

On Appeal from the 434th District Court Blanco County, Texas1 Trial Court No. CV08825, Honorable Evan C. Stubbs, Presiding

October 24, 2023 ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and DOSS, JJ.

Appellants, Katrina Smith and Shayla Smith Henderson, appeal from the trial

court’s Order Approving Sale of Real Property. Under Texas Estates Code section

356.556(c), the court’s action in approving a report of sale “has the effect of a final

judgment.” The court’s order must, among other things, “detail[] the terms of the sale.”

TEX. ESTATES CODE ANN. § 356.556(a)(3). On March 10, 2023, the trial court signed an

order approving the sale of property from the Estate of Donald Edgar Smith, deceased,

to Martin E. Vaughan “in accordance with the terms of the Contract” which is “attached

1 Originally appealed to the Third Court of Appeals, this appeal was transferred to this Court by the

Texas Supreme Court pursuant to its docket equalization efforts. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001. hereto as Exhibit ‘1’ . . . .” However, no exhibits are attached to the order and,

consequently, the terms of the sale are not detailed in the order.

For these reasons, we abate this appeal and remand the cause to the trial court

for entry of a judgment nunc pro tunc. The trial court is directed to enter a corrected order

attaching “Exhibit 1” as referenced therein. The trial court shall cause the corrected order

to be included in a supplemental clerk’s record filed with the Clerk of this Court no later

than November 27, 2023.

It is so ordered.