In the Interest of B.F. and B.F., Children v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 7, 2025·No. 06-24-00100-CV·Published

Opinion

In the

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-24-00100-CV

IN THE INTEREST OF B.F. AND B.F., CHILDREN

On Appeal from the 6th District Court Lamar County, Texas

Trial Court No. 92003

Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.

Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Stevens

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Father has filed a pro se appeal from the denial of a petition to modify the parent-child relationship. On appeal, Father argues the trial court erred by (1) allegedly failing to uphold temporary injunctions, (2) denying Father’s requested relief, (3) limiting Father’s access to the children by clarifying how much electronic communication a prior order had given to Father, (4) awarding amicus attorney fees without allowing him the opportunity to object, (5) allowing Mother to reopen the evidence, and (6) awarding attorney fees to Mother. Father also raises complaints about the substantive format of the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.

We find that Father’s complaints about the temporary proceedings are moot and that there was no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to deny Father’s petition. We also find that Father has failed to preserve his third, fourth, and fifth points of error and that the trial court’s award of attorney fees to Mother was proper. As for Father’s remaining complaints about the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, we find them meritless. As a result, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. I. Factual and Procedural Background A. Proceedings Leading to the Order Father Wanted Modified Mother and Father were divorced on August 5, 2022. They had mediated their divorce and agreed to all terms of their divorce decree. Pursuant to the agreed decree, Mother and Father were appointed joint managing conservators of their children, eleven-year-old Brian and seven- year-old Belle.

Father, an officer in the United States Air Force, was stationed in the Republic of Korea while the divorce was pending but was stationed in Italy when the divorce was finalized. As a result, Father agreed to give Mother the “the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the children within the geographically restricted area of the continental United States,” but, “in the event that [Father] reside[d] within 100 miles of the residence of the children[,] the residence of the children [was] restricted to remain within 100 miles of [Father]’s residence.” Even so, the decree provided,

In the event that . . . [Father] resides within 25 miles of the residence of the children, neither party shall have the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the children and the parents shall each reside within 25 miles of the residence of the children at the time that [Father] established his residence within 25 miles of the children.

The agreed decree provided for a standard possession order, gave Father the right to “reasonable electronic communication with the children,” and set Father’s child support obligations.

B. Father Filed A Petition to Modify and Agreed to Pay Amicus Attorney Fees On July 10, 2023, Father filed a petition to modify the parent-child relationship and argued that he should be allowed to designate the children’s primary residence without geographical restriction, among other things. Mother answered Father’s lawsuit and prayed for attorney fees.1 The parties entered and filed a binding Rule 112 agreement that provided for the appointment of an amicus attorney. Father made $155,000.00 per year while Mother, who had

1 By agreement, the matter was transferred from the 415th Judicial District Court of Parker County to the 6th Judicial District Court of Lamar County. 2 See TEX. R. CIV. P. 11.

been a stay-at-home mom, was a teacher who made $40,000.00 per year. As a result, the Rule 11 agreement provided that Father would be “responsible for the payment to and expenses for the amicus attorney,” unless the trial court later re-assessed the matter and ordered Mother to pay some or all of the fees and expenses. Pursuant to the parties’ agreement, the trial court appointed Erin Clegg as the amicus attorney and ordered Father to pay “100 percent” of her fee.

C. Testimony at Trial Supporting Father At the final hearing, Father informed the trial court that he wished to move the children to Colorado, where he had lived for just over a year. He testified that he had agreed to allow Mother to have the exclusive right to designate the children’s primary residence because of his job, explaining, “[M]ilitary assignments, you can’t just go anywhere.” However, Father said that he had moved to Colorado and was living with his new girlfriend, Clara, whom he began dating in October 2022. Father testified that his relationship between Clara and the kids was “new . . . still young,” but she spent a lot of time with the children and they were becoming accustomed to having her around, adding, “[S]he’s with us a lot.” Father said he would be retirement eligible in two years and believed it was in the best interests of the children for them to move in with him and Clara. Father said that he had purchased a home in a good school district that had everything the children might need.

Father also complained that the quality of his communications with the children had changed and that he occasionally had difficulty speaking to the children during Mother’s period of possession. Father called every morning and evening, but the children would not answer his calls sometimes. To demonstrate that the quality of his communications had changed, Father and

Clara recorded many of his calls with the children, but Father admitted that he did not know if the children were aware that they were being recorded.

Father testified that he decided to file the modification petition when he learned that Belle had slept in the bed with Mother and Mother’s boyfriend, which he thought was inappropriate. He learned that Brian had slept alone with Mother’s boyfriend in a hotel room once while they were on vacation and Mother and Belle decided to go out and about. Even so, Father clarified that he did not believe that the children were in danger. Father was also concerned about the amount of time the children were spending apart from one another and the time that Brian was spending apart from Mother. Father testified that he believed Brian was sleeping at his maternal grandparent’s home (a ten-minute drive from Mother’s home), his great-grandparents home, or at a friend’s house. Father knew that Brian enjoyed being at his maternal grandparent’s house but did not approve of the children spending nights there and did not think that a move to Colorado would impact the children.

Father admitted that Brian and Belle were still going to school in Texas, so he had not had day-to-day involvement with the children while they were in school. Although the children were with him during the summer, Father placed the children in summer camp even though Clara testified that Father had the option to sometimes work from home. Father, who had the children for forty-two days during the summer, chose to work from home only one day each week and took the children to summer camp on the other days when he had to work, although the children stayed with their paternal grandmother at home when she came to visit.

Father also admitted that both his children did well in school and made straight A’s.

Brian had the highest grade in math class and had the highest levels on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test. Even so, Father, who would not move back to Texas, believed it was better to uproot the children from their schools.

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In the Interest of B.F. and B.F., Children v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

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