In the Interest of T.M., a Child v. the State of Texas

Opinion

In the

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-25-00097-CV

IN THE INTEREST OF T.M., A CHILD

On Appeal from the 303rd District Court Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court No. DF-18-15345

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

Memorandum Opinion by Justice van Cleef

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This case involves a suit affecting the parent-child relationship.1 On August 4, 2025,

pro se Appellant filed a notice of appeal indicating her intent to appeal from a final judgment signed by the trial court on August 1, 2025. After reviewing the clerk’s record, the Court was unable to locate an appealable judgment or order signed by the trial court on August 1 or any other date. “We cannot exercise appellate jurisdiction without a written final judgment or appealable interlocutory order.” Williams v. Atmos Energy Corp., No. 05-25-00662-CV, 2025 WL 2607677, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Sept. 9, 2025, no pet.) (mem. op.) (citing Nat’l Judgment Recovery Ctr. v. Sweet, No. 05-17-01379-CV, 2018 WL 1101373, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Mar. 1, 2018, no pet.) (mem. op.)).

By letter dated October 15, 2025, we notified Appellant of the apparent defect in our jurisdiction and afforded her the opportunity to demonstrate proper grounds for our retention of the appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3. We warned Appellant that if we did not receive an adequate response by November 4, 2025, we would have no choice but to dismiss her appeal. Although Appellant filed a timely response to our letter, it did not include a satisfactory explanation as to how this Court had jurisdiction over her appeal.

Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

Charles van Cleef

Justice

Date Submitted: November 5, 2025 Date Decided: November 6, 2025

1 Originally appealed to the Fifth Court of Appeals, this case was transferred to this Court by the Texas Supreme Court pursuant to its docket equalization efforts. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001 (Supp.).