Estate of Jackie Lee Montague v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 23, 2025
• Docket: 07-25-00004-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-25-00004-CV

ESTATE OF JACKIE LEE MONTAGUE, DECEASED

On Appeal from the County Court Potter County, Texas Trial Court No. CCPR-23-256, Honorable Nancy Tanner, Presiding

January 23, 2025 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before PARKER and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Appellant, Embry Montague, appearing pro se, appeals from the trial court’s Order

Admitting Will to Probate and Granting Letters Testamentary Pursuant to Texas Estates

Code 401.001. The trial court signed the order on November 20, 2023. As no post-

judgment motions or requests for findings were filed, a notice of appeal was due within

thirty days thereafter, by December 20, 2023. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1(a). Montague

filed a notice of appeal on January 7, 2025.

A timely notice of appeal is essential to invoking this Court’s jurisdiction. See TEX.

R. APP. P. 25.1(b), 26.1; Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 616-17 (Tex. 1997). By

letter of January 13, 2025, we notified Montague that her notice of appeal appeared untimely and directed her to show how we have jurisdiction over the appeal. Montague

has filed a response, which we construe as a request for an extension of time to file the

late notice of appeal. We are without authority to grant such an extension and must deny

the request. See TEX. R. APP. P. 2 (prohibiting an appellate court from altering the time

for perfecting an appeal in a civil case); 26.3 (permitting an appellate court to extend the

time to file a notice of appeal up to fifteen days).

Because Montague has not demonstrated grounds for continuing the appeal, we

dismiss Montague’s untimely appeal for want of jurisdiction. TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a).

Per Curiam