Opinion
No. 05-17-00671-CV
08-16-2017
HERMELINDA SOTO, Appellant v. ANSELMO SOTO, Appellee
On Appeal from the 162nd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. DC-13-00802
ORDER
This is an appeal from the trial court's March 30, 2017 judgment partitioning by sale certain real property co-owned by the parties. Before the Court are appellee's counsel's (1) notice that appellee passed away May 1, 2017; (2) motion to withdraw as counsel; and (3) unopposed motion to stay proceedings until an executor is appointed for appellee's estate.
An appeal in a civil case that affects the parties' property rights is not mooted by the death of a party. Kenseth v. Dallas Cty., 126 S.W.3d 584, 593-94 (Tex. App. —Dallas 2004, pet. denied). The deceased party may be represented by an executor, administrator, or heir, and the appeal will be adjudicated as if all parties were alive. See TEX. R. APP. P. 7.1(a)(1); Casillas v. Cano, 79 S.W.3d 587, 591 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2002, order). Accordingly, we ORDER as follows. We DENY the motion to withdraw without prejudice to refiling an amended motion that complies with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 6.5. See TEX. R. APP. P. 6.5. We GRANT the motion to stay to the extent we ORDER the parties to file, no later than October 16, 2017, a status report informing the Court whether an executor has been appointed. We ABATE the appeal during that period.
/s/ CRAIG STODDART
JUSTICE