in Re Kayla Tindell

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 12, 2018
Docket03-18-00274-CV
StatusPublished

This text of in Re Kayla Tindell (in Re Kayla Tindell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
in Re Kayla Tindell, (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-18-00274-CV

In re Kayla Tindell

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM WILLIAMSON COUNTY

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Relator Kayla Tindell has filed a petition for writ of mandamus asking this Court to

compel the trial court to vacate its temporary orders in the underlying suit affecting the parent-child

relationship. See Tex. Gov’t Code § 22.221; see also Tex. R. App. P. 52.1. We will conditionally

grant in part the petition for writ of mandamus because we conclude that the trial court abused its

discretion by rendering temporary orders that changed the agreed order’s designation of Tindell as

the parent with the exclusive right to determine the primary residence of the child. See Tex. R.

App. P. 52.8(c); see also Tex. Fam. Code § 156.006(b)(1) (prohibiting trial court from rendering

temporary orders that change person designated as having exclusive right to designate child’s

primary residence unless temporary order is in child’s best interest and “the order is necessary

because the child’s present circumstances would significantly impair the child’s physical health or

emotional development”). BACKGROUND1

This mandamus proceeding arises out of a petition to modify the parent-child

relationship filed by real party in interest Zachary Ramirez on September 22, 2017. Ramirez sought

to modify the parties’ prior agreed order in the suit affecting the parent-child relationship, which was

signed January 30, 2017, by the Williamson County District Court. The agreed order named Tindell

and Ramirez as joint managing conservators of their son RHT, who was a little over two years old

at the time of the proceeding that resulted in this mandamus. The agreed order gave Tindell the

exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence “within 250 miles of Zachary Ramirez’s

current residence located at . . . Rowlett, Texas 75088.” The agreed order also set out a custom

possession order that allowed the parents to have possession at mutually agreed times, or in the

absence of mutual agreement, the custom schedule gave Ramirez visitation with the child on the

first, third, and fifth weekends of the month from 6:00 p.m. Friday until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. At

all other times, the schedule provided for the child to be with Tindell, who had been the child’s

primary caregiver since his birth. In the September 2017 petition to modify, Ramirez requested

that the trial court appoint him to be the person who has the right to designate the primary

residence of the child, and he requested modification of the possession order but did not specify a

requested schedule.

Ramirez’s initial September 2017 petition did not contain an affidavit or a request

for temporary orders. See Tex. Fam. Code § 156.006(b-1) (requiring person who files motion for

1 Unless otherwise noted, the facts in this section are undisputed and derived from the pleadings and the testimony and other evidence presented at the hearing on temporary orders.

2 temporary order under Subsection(b)(1) to attach affidavit on person’s “personal knowledge or the

person’s belief based on representations made to the person by a person with personal knowledge”

that contains facts supporting person’s allegation that child’s present circumstances would

significantly impair child’s physical health or emotional development). On November 20, 2017,

Ramirez filed an amended petition that included a request for temporary orders and an affidavit. As

the basis for the “extraordinary relief” requested in his petition, Ramirez asserted that Tindell had

engaged in the conduct alleged in his affidavit. Ramirez alleged in the affidavit that “[i]n the last

year [he has] had serious concerns for [Tindell’s] behavior and decisions” and that he believed “her

actions are harmful and unsafe” for their child. His specific allegations included Tindell’s “unstable

lifestyle” involving an alleged ten moves with the child between family members’ homes and the

homes of various friends and boyfriends, her lack of a car or a job, her current pregnancy, and

his belief that she was not taking her prescribed medications. In his petition, in addition to

requesting that he be appointed the person with the right to designate the child’s residence, Ramirez

requested that Tindell be denied access to the child, or alternatively, that her visitation with the child

be supervised.

The trial court first orally granted Ramirez’s request for temporary orders at a default

hearing on December 18, 2017. Although Ramirez tendered evidence that Tindell had been served

on December 8, 2017, Tindell did not appear. Ramirez testified that he was concerned about the

child’s health and safety because Tindell “moves around all the time with these questionable guys”

and had lived in at least ten residences in the past year. He also testified that Tindell told him she

drank and smoked marijuana on the weekends that she did not have the child. The only testimony

3 directly related to the child was Ramirez’s statement that one of the “questionable guys” had

“abused” Tindell in front of the child, but he did not provide any details about that event. Ramirez

also testified that as far as he knew Tindell did not currently have a permanent place to stay with the

child. Ramirez did not testify about the child’s physical health or emotional development. After

hearing Ramirez’s testimony, the trial court orally ruled without referring to the Section 156.006

standard for temporary orders. The trial court changed the agreed order’s designation of Tindell as

the person with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child and appointed

Ramirez as the person with that right instead. In addition, the trial court ordered that Tindell’s

visitation with the child was limited to supervised visits of two hours on the first, third, and fifth

weekends of each month.

On January 19, 2018, the trial court conducted a hearing on Tindell’s motion to set

aside default judgment. After denying the motion to set aside the default judgment, the trial

court ruled that “the temporary orders stand based on what was presented in the affidavit, along

with the default testimony, and that the default stands.” At the same hearing, after making that

ruling, the trial court stated that there were some outstanding issues that it wanted to make

determinations about, and accordingly, the court proceeded to hear additional evidence related to

the temporary orders.2

2 In his mandamus response, Ramirez points out that there was a prior hearing on the motion to set aside the trial court’s default judgment on January 5, 2018, but he complains that Tindell failed to include her motion to set aside the default, her original answer to the petition to modify, or the transcript of the January 5, 2018 hearing in the mandamus record in violation of Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 52.7. Tindell responds that she did not include the motion to set aside the default judgment or the January 5 hearing transcript because the focus of that hearing was whether she had received proper service and notification of the December 18 hearing, an issue that is not

4 During this hearing, the trial court heard conflicting testimony concerning Ramirez’s

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