In the Interest of M.P.B.

257 S.W.3d 804
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 20, 2008
DocketNo. 05-07-00093-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by100 cases

This text of 257 S.W.3d 804 (In the Interest of M.P.B.) 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 M.P.B., 257 S.W.3d 804 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice WRIGHT.

M.P.B.’s father appeals the trial court’s order appointing M.P.B.’s grandmother as the non-parent primary joint managing conservator and Father as a parent joint managing conservator. In three issues, Father contends (1) Grandmother did not have standing to bring suit, (2) the trial court denied him the right to a jury trial, and (3) Grandmother failed to overcome the statutory presumption that it is in a child’s best interest to have custody awarded to a parent. We overrule Father’s issues and affirm the trial court’s order.

Background

M.P.B. was born April 19, 2003 in Texas. On June 25, 2003, the trial court entered an order declaring Father as the father of M.P.B., and appointing Mother and Father as joint managing conservators with Mother as the primary conservator. Mother and M.P.B. lived with Grandmother for a short time, and then in an apartment near Grandmother’s house. Father moved to California and had limited contact with M.P.B. When M.P.B. was twenty months old, Mother died in a house fire. A few days later, Grandmother filed suit seeking appointment as the primary conservator of M.P.B. Thereafter, Father filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking posses[808]*808sion of M.P.B. After the trial court denied Father’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, Father countersued seeking to be appointed primary managing conservator. Father also filed a motion to dismiss Grandmother’s petition on the grounds that she lacked standing to file an original suit seeking conservatorship, which, after a hearing, the trial court denied. In the meantime, M.P.B’s grandfather, Grandmother’s ex-husband, and his wife intervened seeking visitation one weekend a month. Following a bench trial, the trial court appointed Grandmother as the non-parent primary joint managing conservator with the exclusive right to designate M.P.B.’s primary residence, and Father as a parent joint managing conservator. The trial court also ordered visitation one weekend a month for Grandfather.1 This appeal followed.

Standing

In his first issue, Father contends Grandmother lacked standing to file an original suit requesting appointment as a joint managing conservator. Grandmother responds that she has standing to file an original suit affecting the parent-child relationship pursuant to section 102.003(a)(9) and section 102.004(a)(1) of the family code. After reviewing the record, we agree with Grandmother that she has standing to file an original suit under section 102.003(a)(9).

The question of who has standing to bring an original suit affecting the parent-child relationship seeking managing conservatorship is a threshold issue. In re SSJ.-J, 153 S.W.3d 132, 134 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2004, no pet.); In re Pringle, 862 S.W.2d 722, 724 (Tex.App.-Tyler 1993, no writ). Standing is a component of subject matter jurisdiction and is a constitutional prerequisite to maintaining a lawsuit under Texas law. Rupert v. McCurdy, 141 S.W.3d 334, 338 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2004, no pet.) (citing Tex. Ass’n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 443-44 (Tex. 1993)). Standing focuses on who is entitled to bring an action and is determined at the time suit is filed in the trial court. See M.D. Anderson Cancer Ctr. v. Novak, 52 S.W.3d 704, 708 (Tex.2001); Rupert, 141 S.W.3d at 340. A party’s standing to pursue a cause of action is a question of law. Rupert, 141 S.W.3d at 338. A court deciding a plea to the jurisdiction should consider evidence and review the substance of the legal claims only to the extent necessary to determine whether subject-matter jurisdiction over the case exists. See Bland Indep. Sch. Disk v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 555 (Tex.2000). When, as here, the trial court makes no separate findings of fact or conclusions of law, we must draw every reasonable inference supported by the record in favor of the trial court’s judgment. See Worford v. Stamper, 801 S.W.2d 108, 109 (Tex.1990). We review the trial court’s implied factual findings for legal and factual sufficiency, and we review the trial court’s implied legal conclusions de novo. See id. at 339.

Section 102.003(a)(9) of the family code provides that “a person, other than a foster parent, who has had actual care, control, and possession of the child for at least six months ending not more than 90 days preceding the date of the filing of the petition” may file an original suit requesting managing conservatorship. See Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 102.003(a)(9) (Vernon Supp.2007). “In computing the time necessary for standing under Subsections (a)(9), (11), and (12) the court may not require that the time be continuous and uninterrupted, but shall consider the child’s principal residence during the rele[809]*809vant time preceding the date of commencement of the suit.” Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 102.003(b) (Vernon Supp.2007). A “principal residence” is (1) a fixed place of abode; (2) occupied consistently over a substantial period of time; (3) which is permanent rather than temporary. Doncer v. Dickerson, 81 S.W.3d 349, 362 (Tex. App.-El Paso 2002, no pet.) (citing Snyder v. Pitts, 150 Tex. 407, 241 S.W.2d 136, 141 (1951) (articulating elements of residence under general venue statute)). A determination of standing under this section is necessarily fact specific and resolved on an ad hoc basis. Doncer, 81 S.W.3d at 362.

Here, the record shows that when Grandmother filed suit on January 26, 2005, M.P.B. was twenty-one-months old. M.P.B. lived with Mother at Grandmother’s house for about three months before moving to a nearby apartment in June 2003. After that time, M.P.B. continued to have her own room at Grandmother’s house and spent “significant” periods of time with Grandmother. Grandmother explained that M.P.B. spent more time at Grandmother’s house than she did at Mother’s apartment. Grandmother testified that M.P.B. spent “every weekend of her life” at Grandmother’s. The weekends “may start on Thursday or they may start on Friday. We always go through Sunday and we would always have her one other night during the week on a Wednesday.” In fact, M.P.B. was with Grandmother at her house when Mother was killed in the house fire. Grandmother further testified that if she was off of work for “spring break or for vacation in the summer or Christmas break, [M.P.B.] is always with us.” When Grandmother took “three weeks at Christmas ... [and] an additional week of vacation, M.P.B. was with us the whole time.”

According to Grandmother, M.P.B. spent more time at her house than at Mother’s apartment.

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Bluebook (online)
257 S.W.3d 804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-mpb-texapp-2008.