In the Interest of C.R., a Child v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 26, 2025
Docket02-25-00152-CV
StatusPublished

This text of In the Interest of C.R., a Child v. the State of Texas (In the Interest of C.R., a Child v. the State of Texas) 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 the Interest of C.R., a Child v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-25-00152-CV ___________________________

IN THE INTEREST OF C.R., A CHILD

On Appeal from the 324th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 324-741266-23

Before Birdwell, Bassel, and Wallach, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Wallach MEMORANDUM OPINION

Mother appeals from the trial court’s order granting Father’s motion to modify

the parent-child relationship; the order gives Father the exclusive right to designate

their son’s (Craig’s) primary residence and orders Mother to pay child support using

the minimum wage as the basis for determining her payments. 1 After reviewing

Mother’s pro se brief, we hold that she has not shown that the trial court abused its

discretion and affirm the trial court’s modification order. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.1.

I. Background

Mother and Father had a child, Craig, in 2008. Mother and Father were never

married.

In February 2017, in an “Order in Suit Affecting Parent–Child Relationship,”

the trial court appointed Mother and Father as Craig’s joint managing conservators,

designated Mother as the conservator with the exclusive right to determine Craig’s

primary residence, and ordered Father to pay child support to Mother.

In August 2023, Father filed a “Petition to Modify Parent–Child Relationship”

in which he asked the trial court to designate him as the conservator having the

exclusive right to determine Craig’s primary residence and to modify child support.

Father also filed a motion under Section 153.009 of the Texas Family Code to have

1 We use the alias “Craig” to identify the child and refer to his family members by their relation to him. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 109.002(d); Tex. R. App. P. 9.8(b)(2).

2 the trial court interview Craig—who was then fourteen years old—in chambers to

determine Craig’s wishes regarding, among other issues, who should have the

exclusive right to determine his primary residence.2 See Tex. Fam. Code Ann.

§ 153.009.

In April 2024, after a hearing on temporary orders and an in-chambers

interview with Craig, an associate judge designated Father as the conservator with the

right to determine Craig’s primary residence, terminated Father’s obligation to pay

child support, and instructed the attorneys to calculate Mother’s child support, which

was to begin in August 2024. Mother requested a de novo hearing before the district

judge. See id. § 156.006(a), (b)(3).

The district judge conducted a temporary-orders hearing on July 1, 2024, and

interviewed Craig in chambers on July 10, 2024. On July 11, 2024, by letter, the

district judge informed the parties that it was affirming the associate judge’s report

with one modification: Mother’s summer access to Craig, which the district judge

modified to alternating weeks. See id. The trial court instructed Father’s attorney to

draft an order.

On September 10, 2024, based on the two earlier hearings and interviews with

Craig, the trial court signed the temporary order designating Father as the conservator

with the exclusive right to determine Craig’s primary residence, terminating Father’s

The subsequent in-chamber interviews played a role in the trial court’s rulings 2

and are the basis of some of Mother’s complaints.

3 obligation to pay child support effective April 1, 2024, and ordering Mother to pay

child support to Father in the amount of $773.44 per month beginning on August 1,

2024.

Thereafter, on March 3, 2025, a visiting judge conducted a bench trial. After

hearing the evidence, the visiting judge adopted the district judge’s temporary order

with one exception: the visiting judge ordered that Mother’s child support be

calculated based on the minimum wage beginning April 1, 2025. The final order set

Mother’s child support at $228.00 per month.

II. Briefing Deficiencies

As a preliminary matter, we address Mother’s brief, which presents its own

challenges. Although nominally Mother has enumerated twelve issues, she breaks her

argument section down into twenty-two categories. Further complicating the matter,

each page of her approximately forty-five-page brief contains a myriad of complaints.

For the reasons given below, we will treat her brief as one issue globally asserting that

the trial court abused its discretion by (1) designating Father as the conservator with

the exclusive right to determine Craig’s primary residence and (2) ordering Mother to

pay child support.

A. Legal Principles

Mother represents herself pro se. Despite that, we must hold her to the same

standards as parties represented by counsel. Anastasi v. McHorse, No. 03-23-00274-CV,

2024 WL 968887, at *5 (Tex. App.—Austin Mar. 7, 2024, no pet.) (mem. op.).

4 On the other hand, we must construe briefs liberally but reasonably so that the

right to appeal is not lost by waiver. Id.; see Tex. R. App. P. 38.9. Construing briefs

liberally but reasonably is not always straightforward. Our construction cannot be so

liberal that we abandon our role as a neutral adjudicator and assume the role of an

advocate. Craaybeek v. Craaybeek, No. 02-20-00080-CV, 2021 WL 1803652, at *5 (Tex.

App.—Fort Worth May 6, 2021, pet. denied) (mem. op.). Appellate courts cannot

make arguments for a party and then adjudicate the case based on the arguments that

the court made on that party’s behalf. Id.

Rather, the appellant must discuss her assertions, cite to and expound on the

facts and the authorities on which she relies, and put forth some specific argument

and analysis showing that both the record and the law support her contention. Id.

Rule 38.1(i) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure requires an appellant’s brief to

“contain a clear and concise argument for the contentions made, with appropriate

citations to authorities and to the record.” Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(i).

B. Application

Although voluminous, Mother’s pro se brief fails in its record references and its

citations to legal authorities.

1. Record References

The record references in Mother’s brief are deficient. There are no record

references in her statement of the issues presented, in her statement of facts, in her

summary of the arguments, or in her argument section.

5 Mother’s brief is not, however, devoid of record references. In an “Appendix

of Record References Supporting Statement of Facts,” she devotes a little over three

pages to record references, but she does so largely independently of any of her

arguments.

Further complicating the matter, many of the record references in her appendix

are inaccurate or fabricated. For example, she appears to refer to five volumes of the

reporter’s record, but there are only three volumes.3 She refers to reporter’s record

pages 103–05, 200–10, and 250–55, but the reporter’s record of her trial consists of

only 83 pages. Elsewhere she alleges that the trial court allegedly suppressed parental

speech, denied her the right to respond, ruled disproportionately in Father’s favor, 4

refused to allow her to cross-examine a key witness, and retaliated against her; she

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