Opinion
04-21-00028-CV
09-28-2021
IN THE INTEREST OF N.M.B., A CHILD
From the 438th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas Trial Court No. 2016-EM5-06049 Honorable Antonia Arteaga, Judge Presiding
ORDER
Liza A. Rodriguez, Justice
Appellant Channel Beverly appeals from the trial court's dismissal of her petition in intervention in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship. She is now the sole appellant in this appeal. The reporter's record remains due to be filed.
As we have noted in previous orders, Channel Beverly filed a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs or an Appeal Bond. In our order of August 16, 2021, we explained that on June 22, 2021, the staff attorney to the Bexar County Civil District Courts filed a letter informing this Court that the trial court held a hearing on June 15, 2021 regarding Appellant Channel Beverly's inability to afford costs, and determined that she had to ability to afford costs and would be allowed to pay under a payment plan. A supplemental clerk's record containing the trial court's findings, however, was never filed in this Court.
In our order of August 16, 2021, we ordered Appellant Channel Beverly to file written proof that she had designated, in writing, the portions of the proceedings she desired court reporter Mary M. Wilson to include in the reporter's record. We further ordered Appellant Channel Beverly to provide written proof that she had paid or made arrangements to pay the court reporter's fee for preparing the reporter's record. On August 26, 2021, Appellant Channel Beverly filed written proof that she had done both. Thus, on September 1, 2021, we ordered court reporter Mary M. Wilson to file the reporter's record on or before October 1, 2021.
In a letter dated September 22, 2021, court reporter Mary M. Wilson asks for "direction" in regards to filing the reporter's record. She states that Appellant Channel Beverly made an initial payment of $500 and is "past due" $1,000 at this point. She also makes reference to the trial court ordering appellant to pay half the cost and another appellant (Shante Taylor who has since moved to have her appeal dismissed and whose appeal has been dismissed by this Court) to pay the other half of the cost for preparing the record. Once again, the trial court's order regarding Appellant Channel Beverly's claim of indigency was never filed in this Court.
We therefore ORDER the trial court to file, on or before October 28, 2021, its findings pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145(f). See TEX. R. Civ. P. 145(f)(2) ("An order requiring the declarant to pay costs must be supported by detailed findings that the declarant can afford to pay costs.") (emphasis added); see also id. 145(f)(3) ("The court may order that the declarant pay the part of the costs the declarant can afford or that payment be made in installments. But the court must not delay the case if payment is made in installments.") (emphasis added). We further ORDER the trial court clerk to file a supplemental clerk's record within ten days of the trial court filing its findings.
Finally, if Appellant Channel Beverly desires to appeal the trial court's findings, she must file a motion in this Court within ten days of a supplemental clerk's record containing the trial court's findings being filed in this Court.