Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
in the Estate of Kristy Marie Turnbow
Citation: Not availableDocket: 02-21-00167-CV
Court: Court of Appeals of Texas; July 7, 2022; Texas; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
The Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District of Texas dismissed Trevor Turnbow's appeal regarding a probate court order that held him in contempt and sanctioned him $100,000 for violating a cease-and-desist order multiple times. The court found it lacked jurisdiction over the appeal because contempt orders are not directly appealable; they can only be reviewed through a writ of mandamus or habeas corpus. Generally, appeals are permitted only from final judgments, which must resolve all claims and parties. In probate cases, a judgment can be final for appellate purposes if it addresses discrete issues, but not every interlocutory order is appealable. The court noted that sanction orders arise within other proceedings and are not independently appealable until a final judgment is issued. Turnbow's argument that the sanction order constituted the final remaining issue was rejected, leading to the conclusion that the sanction order was not appealable. A sanction order does not finalize claims or parties, thus cannot render an interlocutory proceeding final, as established in Hutchins, 2012 WL 5503530, at *2. Turnbow's reference to a 'Notice of Settlement' dated November 22, 2021, to argue that sanctions resolved the last issues in the trial court is unconvincing; such a notice is not a dispositive order or a judgment signed by a judge, per Tex. R. App. P. 26.1. Additionally, Turnbow's alleged breach of the settlement agreement, as pointed out by appellee Shayla Turnbow Dunlap, indicates ongoing litigation in the probate court. Contempt orders are not independently appealable, and since Turnbow failed to demonstrate an appeal of an order disposing of a specific phase of the probate proceedings, the appeal is dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction. The appellate court may review documents beyond the record to ascertain its jurisdiction, as referenced in Sabine Offshore Serv. v. City of Port Arthur, 595 S.W.2d 840, 841 (Tex. 1979) and other cases. Justice Wade Birdwell delivered this decision on July 7, 2022.