In the Interest of A.M., a Child v. the State of Texas

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-25-00329-CV ___________________________

IN THE INTEREST OF A.M., A CHILD

On Appeal from the 324th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 324-528338-13

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

On July 10, 2025, Appellant G.C. filed a notice of appeal in our court

complaining about a “Final Order entered on June 9, 2025.” But no final judgment or

appealable order was attached to G.C.’s notice of appeal; instead, G.C. attached a June

9, 2025 letter from the trial court concerning its “rendition.” That letter directed one

of the parties to “draft an order in conformity with this rendition and forward [the]

proposed order to [the other party] for her review and signature.” Such a letter does

not constitute a final judgment. See Heinrich v. Heinrich, No. 07-19-00265-CV,

2019 WL 3884461, at *1 (Tex. App.—Amarillo Aug. 16, 2019, no pet.) (per curiam)

(mem. op.) (concluding letter from trial court expressing trial court’s rulings and

instructing prevailing party to prepare final order was not final judgment); In re B.W.S.,

No. 05-15-01207-CV, 2016 WL 7163866, at *2 (Tex. App.—Dallas Nov. 28, 2016, no

pet.) (mem. op.) (similar); see also Perez v. Perez, 658 S.W.3d 864, 871 (Tex. App.—El

Paso 2022, no pet.) (“Courts have generally not accorded final-judgment status to

letter rulings.”).

On July 10, 2025, we sent the parties a letter informing them that we had

received a copy of G.C.’s notice of appeal in this case but that it appeared that the

notice of appeal was premature because the trial court had not signed a final order.

See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(a), 27.1(a). We allowed the parties a reasonable time to

correct the defect in the record, giving them until July 30, 2025, to furnish us with a

signed copy of the order that G.C. seeks to appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3,

2 44.4(a)(2). We stated that if no final order was signed and furnished to us by that

date, then this appeal would be dismissed for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P.

42.3(a), 43.2(f).

The deadline has passed, and we have not received a signed copy of a final

judgment or appealable order.1 We thus dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f); see also Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191,

195, 200 (Tex. 2001) (holding that, generally, appeals may be taken only from final

judgments or interlocutory orders authorized by statute).

/s/ Dana Womack

Dana Womack Justice

Delivered: August 7, 2025

The trial court recently confirmed that it had not signed any final order or 1

judgment in this case.