In the Interest of M.C.M. and M.A.M., Children v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided April 26, 2023·No. 05-21-00242-CV·Published

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed April 26, 2023

S

Court of Appeals

In The

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-21-00242-CV

No. 05-21-00373-CV

IN THE INTEREST OF M.C.M. AND M.A.M., CHILDREN

On Appeal from the 366th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas

Trial Court Cause Nos. 366-53554-2020 and 366-50778-2021

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Pedersen, III, Goldstein, and Smith Opinion by Justice Smith

We deny Mother’s April 19, 2023 request for rehearing. On the Court’s own

motion, we withdraw our March 17, 2023 opinion and vacate the judgments of that date. This is now the opinion of the Court.

Mother, representing herself pro se, challenges the trial court’s temporary and final orders in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR) and a final protective order. In five issues, she asserts that a temporary order was improper and unconstitutional; the final SAPCR order1 and final protective order2 were

1 Appellate cause number 05-21-00242-CV.

2 Appellate cause number 05-21-00373-CV.

“structurally defective”; and, in the SAPCR, the trial court erred in failing to provide “procedural safeguards,” including appointing counsel and a guardian ad litem. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Background

Mother and Father began a romantic relationship in late 2005. Their daughter, M.C.M., was born in 2013; a son, M.A.M., was born in 2015. In January 2020, Mother and Father ended their relationship. On June 1, Father filed a SAPCR petition.3 On June 30, Mother filed a suit for divorce. The trial court subsequently consolidated the SAPCR into the divorce suit.4 On August 3, Father filed a motion for temporary orders. Following a hearing, the trial court appointed Mother and Father as temporary joint managing conservators of M.C.M. and M.A.M. and ordered that Father would determine the children’s primary residence and Mother would have an expanded possession schedule. The trial court also required both Mother and Father to submit a drug test result within a week.

Mother did not timely submit a drug test result and, on August 25, Father filed a motion requesting that the trial court deem Mother’s drug test positive. Mother then filed a drug test result that was positive for methamphetamine and

3 Trial court cause number 366-52880-2020.

4 Trial court cause number 363-53554-2020 (appellate cause number 05-21-00242-CV). The trial court’s order in the divorce suit is the subject of a separate appeal (appellate cause number 05-21-00360- CV).

amphetamine. At a hearing on Father’s motion, there was discussion about whether Mother could have tested positive for methamphetamine as a result of consuming prescription Adderall. The trial court required Mother to undergo a second drug test.

On September 16, Father requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) and temporary injunction (TI) and moved to modify the temporary orders. He submitted a declaration and report by a toxicologist, who opined that Mother’s positive methamphetamine test result was only possible following consumption of some form of methamphetamine, and not prescription Adderall. The trial court held a hearing on Father’s motion and ordered Mother to submit a drug test result negative for methamphetamine as a condition precedent to exercising her scheduled possession of the children.

Mother submitted a drug test result on September 18, but the result indicated that she was not tested for methamphetamine. Father supplemented his TRO and TI application and, on October 5, the trial court signed an order requiring that Mother’s possession be supervised until she delivered a 10-panel or higher drug test result that was negative for illicit substances other than those for which she had a valid prescription. The order further required that Mother undergo a substance abuse evaluation.

On January 6, 2021, Father filed an amended second emergency ex parte application for writ of habeas corpus and writ of attachment.5 Father requested the children’s return, alleging that Mother withdrew them from school during his possession period and did not return them. He also moved for additional temporary orders suspending Mother’s possession pending trial. During a January 7 hearing, the trial court heard evidence that Mother had failed to surrender possession of the children. The trial court granted Father’s application and also entered a temporary order suspending Mother’s possession until further order by the court. Mother filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied.

On January 26, the trial court held a bench trial on the informal marriage.

Following Mother’s case-in-chief, Father moved for judgment. The trial court granted the motion, finding Mother and Father were not informally married, and entered an order denying Mother’s claim of informal marriage and dismissing the divorce action.

The next day, January 27, the trial court held a bench trial in the SAPCR. The trial court also heard argument on a motion for enforcement of possession and access that Father filed before trial. At the close of evidence and arguments, the court entered oral orders into the record that, among other things, Mother and Father would

5 Father previously filed an application for writ of habeas corpus and writ of attachment alleging that Mother kept the children home from school and threatened not to return them for Father’s possession over the Thanksgiving holiday. Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion and allowed Mother to retain possession for the weekend preceding Thanksgiving.

be appointed joint managing conservators, Father would be granted the exclusive right to determine the children’s residence, and Mother would have a modified standard possession order. Mother’s possession would be supervised for three months, and she was required to do twice monthly drug testing for six months, undergo an alcohol assessment, and take an anger management class. Mother’s compliance was a condition to her possession of the children. On the motion for enforcement, the trial court found Mother guilty of possession violations and awarded Father $1,000 in attorney’s fees.

On February 5, Mother attempted to remove the children from school during Father’s possession period. On February 11, Mother was arrested for assault family violence and, on February 12, Father requested an ex parte temporary protective order and a two-year protective order against Mother.6 The trial court entered a temporary ex parte protective order and set a hearing on Father’s application for a two-year protective order.

On February 22, Father moved the trial court to enter and clarify its SAPCR rulings or, alternatively, for additional orders. Citing the temporary ex parte protective order7 and Mother’s continued disregard for the trial court’s orders, Father requested modifications to the trial court’s oral SAPCR rulings. Among other things, Father requested that he be designated sole managing conservator of the

6 Trial court cause number 366-50778-2021 (appellate cause number 05-21-00373-CV).

7 A City of Richardson municipal court also entered an order for emergency protection (case number 202100011414).

children, Mother be designated possessory conservator, and Mother’s possession periods be supervised by Hannah’s House or another similar supervision facility.

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In the Interest of M.C.M. and M.A.M., Children v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2023).

In the Interest of M.C.M. and M.A.M., Children v. the State of Texas (In the Interest of M.C.M. and M.A.M., Children v. the State of Texas) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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