In the Interest of S.R.O.

143 S.W.3d 237, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 6086
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 7, 2004
DocketNo. 10-01-00184-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 143 S.W.3d 237 (In the Interest of S.R.O.) 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 S.R.O., 143 S.W.3d 237, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 6086 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

FELIPE REYNA, Justice.

Priscilla Garza and Gary Olson filed competing motions to modify the custody provisions of their divorce decree and com[239]*239peting motions to enforce various provisions of the decree. The court granted Garza’s motion to modify in part, wholly denied Olson’s motion to modify, and granted each party’s motion to enforce in part. Olson presents four issues in which he contends that the trial court erred by: (1) failing to make and file findings of fact and conclusions of law; (2) granting Garza’s motion to modify; (3) failing to render judgment in his favor for fifty percent of the children’s health care expenses not reimbursed by insurance and incurred while Olson had a temporary health insurance policy in effect; and (4) failing to hold Garza in contempt for allowing the children to remain unsupervised overnight with her extended family.

In response to Olson’s first issue, we abated the appeal to the trial court for entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law. See In re S.R.O., No. 10-01-00184-CV (Tex.App.-Waco May 28, 2003, order) (not designated for publication). The trial court has made those findings and conclusions. Olson now presents a supplemental issue challenging the adequacy of the court’s findings of fact.

BACKGROUND

Garza and Olson entered a mediated settlement agreement to resolve their divorce. Pursuant to their agreement, the December 1998 divorce decree provided in pertinent part that:

• they would be joint managing conservators of the children;
• Olson’s possession of the children on the first, third and fifth weekends of the month would extend from Friday afternoon to Tuesday morning;
• Olson would have possession of the children every Sunday except Mother’s Day from noon until 7:00 p.m.; and
• Olson would obtain health insurance for the children.

Garza filed her motion to modify the decree in July 1999. She asked that she be appointed sole managing conservator and that Olson’s weekend possessory rights be modified in accordance with the standard possession order because of changed circumstances and because the provisions of the decree had become unworkable and inappropriate.

Olson filed a counter-motion to modify. He alleged that he should be appointed sole managing conservator because the children’s living environment posed a danger to their physical and emotional health, because of changed circumstances, and because the joint managing conservatorship had proved unworkable and inappropriate. Olson specifically alleged that the children’s environment posed a danger because, among other allegations:

• Garza had failed to seek counseling as required by the decree; and
• her husband Raul had endangered the children with a “folk remedy.”

Olson asked the court to restrict Garza’s possessory rights for the same reasons.

Olson alleged in his motion to enforce that Garza had violated the terms of the divorce decree by:

• leaving the children alone -with her maternal extended family;
• failing to obtain counseling for herself;
• failing to pay fifty percent of the children’s medical expenses; and
• enrolling the children in a new school district without his consent.

He asked for a judgment for arrearages for her portion of the unreimbursed health care expenses.

Garza responded with her own motion to enforce the decree, in which she alleged that Olson had violated the terms of the [240]*240decree by failing to provide health insurance for the children and by failing to return the children to the designated adult “in a responsible manner.”

At the hearing, Garza testified that her remarriage constituted a material and substantial change of circumstances which would warrant her appointment as sole managing conservator and a change in the provisions of the decree regarding possession of the children. She explained that the decree has proved unworkable because Olson and she had been unable to agree about the children’s education and medical care. She stated that a modification of the decree would be a positive improvement for the children and in their best interest because it would allow them to more fully develop their relationship with Raul and herself as a family, it would allow them to have more meaningful weekend-long activities together, and it would allow her to make decisions more effectively arid efficiently for the children regarding their education and medical care.

Garza disputed many of Olson’s allegations. She testified that she has been diagnosed with dissociative identify disorder, also referred to as multiple personality disorder (“DID”). She began seeing a counselor who holds herself out as one who works with DID patients in January 1999. According to Garza, her counselor has fifteen years’ experience working with DID patients.

A particularly contentious issue appears to have been the “folk remedy” which Raul used for earaches. Garza explained that Raul would roll a newspaper into a cone and insert it into the affected ear. He then lit the end of the newspaper. Garza testified that the smoke and heat drew “the air and the pressure up out of the ear relieving the pain.” She stated that Raul or she would remove the cone as the fire burned down and put it out. No one was ever burned. Garza testified that they did this to three of the children and to herself. She said that it relieved her symptoms.

Garza explained that she had failed to reimburse Olson for her share of the children’s medical expenses because he had not provided her copies of the receipts. She conceded however that they had agreed that he could provide only monthly summaries of the pertinent expenses.

Raul explained that he learned the folk remedy from his mother who used it for his brothers and sisters and himself as children. No one has ever been hurt by the treatment. He stated that it would be in the best interest of the children for them to have full weekends so they could grow closer as a family.

Olson testified that Garza’s counselor does not specialize in the treatment of persons with DID. He identified a psychologist who does specialize in DID. He stated that Garza and he had agreed that he could provide her monthly summaries of the children’s medical bills rather than the actual receipts. She has not reimbursed him for her share of any of these expenses.

Olson explained that primary custody by Garza poses a danger to the children because: the folk remedy is dangerous; the children are usually ill when they visit; Garza had failed to appropriately dispense medications to the children; the Garzas use inappropriate discipline; and the children have suffered various injuries while in the Garzas’ care. Olson testified that the children fear Raul because he does not allow them to speak to Olson at church and in other settings.

Olson testified that he obtained a short-term health insurance policy for the children after the divorce which was in effect from December 14, 1998 until April 18, 1999. The children were without insur-[241]*241anee for three months until he secured permanent insurance in July 1999.

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Bluebook (online)
143 S.W.3d 237, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 6086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-sro-texapp-2004.