Sharyon Gathe v. Joseph C. Gathe, Jr.

376 S.W.3d 308, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6610, 2012 WL 3223670
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 9, 2012·No. 14-11-00401-CV·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

OPINION

SHARON McCALLY, Justice.

Appellant, Sharyon Gathe, appeals the divorce decree entered by the trial court on February 7, 2011, between her and appellee, Joseph C. Gathe, Jr. We reverse and remand.

Background

On November 3, 2006, both Sharyon and Joseph filed their respective petitions for divorce, and the cases were subsequently consolidated into the action filed by Shar-yon. On May 16, 2007, Judge Georgia Dempster signed an order on temporary support, providing for the payment of “fixed expenses” and other sums to be disbursed to the parties “to be used at the respective client’s discretion for personal expenses.”

On September 24, 2008, Judge Demp-ster struck Sharyon’s jury demand for her counsel’s failure to attend a pretrial conference, and ordered the parties to attend mediation. Judge Dempster conducted a bench trial from September 29, 2008, to October 1, 2008, and granted the divorce but did not issue a ruling on the property issues or children’s issues. At an October 29, 2008 status conference, Judge Demp-ster announced that she was refusing to *311 accept the parties’ mediated settlement agreement on custody issues, and stated that she “want[ed] a trial on custody.” The bench trial addressing custody occurred on November 13 and 14, 2008. On November 14, 2008, Judge Dempster orally rendered judgment by granting the divorce, adopting Joseph’s proposed property division, and ruling on the children’s issues. On March 27, 2009, Judge Demp-ster signed the divorce decree.

On April 27, 2009, Sharyon filed a motion for new trial, raising a number of complaints, including that the trial court erred by not including accounts receivable from Joseph’s medical practice from August 31, 2008, through November 14, 2008 — the date of oral rendition of judgment — in the division of property, and that the terms regarding the children’s extracurricular activities were vague and unenforceable. On June 9, 2009, Judge Lisa Millard held a hearing on Sharyon’s motion for new trial. That same day, Judge Millard signed an order granting the motion for new trial on the accounts receivable issue and the children’s extracurricular activities issue. Judge Millard also granted the motion to reform the judgment to be consistent with the parties’ mediated settlement agreement on the children’s issues. Judge Millard’s order states, in relevant part:

1. It is therefore ORDERED that the Final Decree of Divorce signed March 27, 2009 in this cause is hereby set aside for all purposes and that a new trial in this cause is granted on issues [sic] No. 13 and Issue No[.] 7 as contained in Petitioner[’s] motion which necessitates a new trial on the division of property.
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3. It is further ORDERED that the Final Decree of Divorce signed on March 27, 2009 in this cause is hereby set aside and that a modified and reformed final judgment shall be entered to reflect modification and reformation consistent with enforcement of the parties!’] mediated settlement agreements as executed in this cause. 1

At a hearing on September 28, 2009, Judge Dempster denied Joseph’s request to set aside Judge Millard’s order granting the motion for new trial, and ordered that the temporary orders were in effect. 2 Due *312 to Judge Dempster’s health issues, the case was assigned to Judge Thomas Stans-bury on June 29, 2010. On September 15, 2010, Judge Stansbury orally granted Joseph’s request to limit the scope of the new trial to the amount of accounts receivable related to Joseph’s medical practice.

On December 14, 2010, Judge Stansbury entered an “Order Releasing Funds” stating, in relevant part: “To eliminate any confusion, any and all temporary orders for interim support that may be construed to be in effect in this case are superceded by this order.” The trial court further ordered that a certain brokerage account “referred to on page 40 of the Decree of Divorce entered by the Court on March 27, 2009 ... shall be divided as directed in said Decree.” The March 27, 2009 decree had awarded Sharyon 52.34% of that account.

On January 14, 2011, Judge Stansbury signed the following Order for New Trial and Scheduling Order, in relevant part:

The Court finds that the Final Decree of Divorce (“Decree”) was signed in this case on March 27, 2009, and that the Decree is fully enforceable in all respects except for the two points on which this Court grants the Motion for New Trial.
Specifically, the Court grants the Motion for New Trial on the following specific points:
1. The Court erred in signing off on the terms contained on pages 19 and 20 of the Decree under the heading “b. Extracurricular Activities” because such terms are vague, ambiguous, confusing and generally unenforceable and those terms need to be made enforceable; and
2. The Court erred when it fixed each party’s fifty percent (50%) interest in the accounts receivable in the Joseph C. Gathe, Jr. MD PA as of August 31, 2008 because that was prior to the trial of the case, and the Court should have fixed each party’s fifty percent (50%) interest in the accounts receivable in the Joseph C. Gathe, Jr. MD PA (the “Practice”) as of November 14, 2008, which was the last day of this case.

On February 7, 2011, Judge Stansbury held a new trial hearing and signed a new decree. As relevant here, the new decree awarded Joseph and Sharyon each 50% of the accounts receivable of Joseph’s medical practice as of November 14, 2008. With respect to the evidence heard, the February 7, 2011 decree stated:

On September 29 through October 1, 2008 and November 13 through November 14, 2008 the Court heard this case. The Court also considered evidence presented on June 9, 2009; September 28, 2009;

September 15, 2010; December 13, 2010; and February 7, 2011. With respect to the date of the decree, the new decree stated:

This divorce judicially PRONOUNCED AND RENDERED in court at Houston, HARRIS County, Texas, on November 14, 2008 and further noted on the court’s docket sheet bn the same date, but signed on February 7, 2011.

On April 29, 2011, Sharyon filed her notice of appeal. On May 23, 2011, Judge James Lombardino held a hearing on Sharyon’s request for temporary orders pending appeal, and denied her request.

*313 Sharyon brings the following five issues in this appeal: (1) the trial court erred in limiting the scope of the new trial; (2) the failure of the trial court to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law prevents Shar-yon from effectively presenting her appeal; (3) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the division of property in the February 7, 2011 decree; (4) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the granting of the parties’ divorce; and (5) the trial court erred by reciting in the February 7, 2011 decree that judgment was rendered on November 14, 2008.

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Sharyon Gathe v. Joseph C. Gathe, Jr., 376 S.W.3d 308, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6610, 2012 WL 3223670 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

376 S.W.3d 308 (Sharyon Gathe v. Joseph C. Gathe, Jr.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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