Bradley Smith v. Lorena Smith Appeal from 459th District Court of Travis County (memorandum opinion)

 Annotate this Case
Download PDF
TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN NO. 03-21-00608-CV Bradley Smith, Appellant v. Lorena Smith, Appellee FROM THE 459TH DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY NO. D-1-FM-20-007149, THE HONORABLE J. ANDREW HATHCOCK, JUDGE PRESIDING ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OPINION PER CURIAM Bradley Smith has filed a notice of appeal of the trial court’s oral rendition of a divorce dissolving his marriage to Lorena Smith. However, Bradley’s notice of appeal is premature because the trial court has not yet signed a divorce decree, see Tex. R. App. P. 26.1, 27.1(a), and this Court requested that Bradley provide authority as to how this Court may exercise jurisdiction over his appeal in the absence of a signed final judgment. See Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001) (providing general rule that appeal may be taken only from final judgment); see Tex. R. App. P. 26.1 (providing timetable for perfection of appeal based on date judgment is signed). Bradley has filed a response requesting that this Court abate this appeal until the trial court signs the divorce decree and rules on his pending motion for new trial, either expressly or by operation of law. This Court grants Bradley’s motion to abate this appeal. The appeal is abated until further order of this Court. The trial court shall file a supplemental clerk’s record with this Court within thirty days of its losing plenary power of this cause. The supplemental record should include the signed final divorce decree and the trial court’s ruling, if any, on Bradley’s motion for new trial. The parties shall file with this Court a status update of the trial court’s proceedings within sixty days of this order. It is so ordered on April 27, 2022. Before Justices Goodwin, Baker, and Triana Abated and Remanded Filed: April 27, 2022 2

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.