Articles Posted in Temporary Orders

Courts are working to head off problems with custody orders caused by the Coronavirus.  If you have a custody order you must keep up with these orders, since they apply to you. The most recent order on family cases in Kaufman County is from March 25th.

Standing Order Governing Possession and Access During the Shelter in Place Order of Kaufman County Judge Signed March 24, 2020

For all cases arising from the Family Law Courts of Kaufman County, the Court ORDERS that:

If you have a current pending divorce or suit affecting the parent-child relationship then you most likely have temporary orders in place.  If not, in most family law cases you do want to ensure that you have temporary orders granted by the Court so that you know what you should and should not be doing while the case is pending.  That is, temporary orders set the status quo of your case and instruct the parties as to their rights and duties with respect to their children, property, debts, and other issues in the case.  For instance, you may have been granted exclusive use of the marital residence, your vehicle, and primary possession of the children.  These are all essential things to establish in a case without delay, unless you and the other party are working amicably towards a final resolution.

Enforcement of Violated Temporary Orders

Once the Court has granted the temporary orders, they are enforceable against both parties.  If any portion of those orders is violated by either party, there are options.   The other party may have been ordered to pay child support and they may not be doing that and you may need that support in order to survive.  Or, the other party may have been ordered to participate in counseling or drug testing and they not be doing so.  It might even be that the other party will not stay away from the property or give you the car you were awarded temporarily.  All of these issues are concerning and when you are not getting the results from the provisions the Court put into place it can be very frustrating.  But, you do have recourse.  Typically, you can file an enforcement action of temporary orders asking that the wrong be corrected and asking for attorney’s fees for having to go back to Court and ask the judge to tell someone to do what they were already ordered to do.  If it is a failure to pay child support, the violating party also faces possible jail time.  You will have to be able to prove that the temporary orders were put in place, prove the violations, and then the burden becomes the other party’s to state why they did all of those things.  Depending upon those reasons, the Court may be a little lenient upon the person.  It is always a hope that the Court would at least grant your attorney’s fees for your attorney’s time to draft the enforcement and have the hearing.

You just finished the first big hearing in all family law cases that sets the status quo of the case and gives you an idea as to how the judge is leaning in your situation—the temporary orders hearing.  You do not like the outcome and you feel that the judge was wrong in their decision.  But, what do you do about it?  Are you stuck with this ruling or can you appeal it?  Unfortunately, the answer is “it depends.”  Like all family law cases, the outcome will depend upon the venue and court you are located in.

If you are located in Dallas County, the answer is yes.  There are district and associate judges in all family courts in Dallas County and all temporary orders hearings are held in front of the associate judges.  Therefore, if you do not like the associate judge’s ruling on your temporary orders hearing you can take another bite at the apple in front of the district judge by requesting a “de novo hearing.”  The key is, however, that you have an extremely limited time in order to do so and many people miss their deadline.  Specifically, the legislature amended Texas Family Code Section 201.015(a) this past year to now state that “a party may request a de novo hearing before the referring court by filing with the clerk of the referring court a written request not later than the third working date after the date the party receives notice of the substance of the associate judge’s report.”  So, basically the day that the associate judge renders their judgment—you must have your de novo on file within three working days from that date.  If your de novo hearing request is timely and properly filed (there are specifics on its contents also), then the referring court (the district judge) will set your de novo hearing.  This is your second chance where the district judge will re-hear the issues and evidence that are on appeal from the associate judge’s ruling.  Just a side note that many people are confused on—the associate judge’s ruling remains in full force and effect until it is changed by the district judge. Therefore, you do need to comply with it until or when/if the district judge changes it.

If your case is in Rockwall County or Kaufman County, the answer is yes; but it is a higher hurdle and burden.  You cannot appeal temporary orders hearings in these actual counties because you only have one judge—the district judge.  But, you can appeal the decision of the district judge to the appellate courts on a temporary orders level through a petition for writ of mandamus.   The legislature did not want to leave people without a vehicle to appeal temporary orders and so this option is available.  The only problem with this type of pleading or action is that the burden is very high.  In fact, if you are going to try to appeal it will most likely be based upon the “abuse of discretion” prong which is extremely difficult to prove.  This is basically claiming that the district judge abused their discretion when making the ruling in the temporary orders.  Therefore, you might just be spinning your wheels and many people do not end up filing a mandamus for several reasons (including the fact that you still have to have your final trial in front of the same district judge who will then know you filed a mandamus on them).

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