In the Matter of Marriage of Juan Ramiro Tovar and Irma Tovar and In the Interest of R.T., III, and M.T., Children--Appeal from 197th District Court of Cameron County

NUMBER 13-00-770-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI

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JUAN RAMIRO TOVAR, Appellant,

v.

IRMA TOVAR, Appellee.

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On appeal from the 197th District Court of Cameron County, Texas.

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O P I N I O N

Before Justices Dorsey, Ya ez, and Rodriguez

Opinion by Justice Ya ez

Appellant, Juan Ramiro Tovar, and appellee, Irma Tovar, were granted a divorce by a decree dated July 26, 2000. Appellant now argues that the trial court's division of the community property was inequitable. We affirm.

In his second issue on appeal, appellant challenges the trial court's division of his retirement fund. The trial court ordered that the retirement plan be divided in two equal shares, with the debts against the plan also being divided in two equal shares. Because the administrator of the retirement plan withdraws payments on the debt directly from appellant's account, the trial court ordered appellee to pay her share of the debt directly to appellant. Appellant argues that this is, in effect, a disproportionate division of the estate, because he does not believe that appellee will pay her share of the debt.

Appellant challenged neither the division of the retirement fund nor the division of the debt against that fund, and appellant himself suggested that the trial court order that appellee pay her half of the debt directly to appellant. As a prerequisite to presenting a complaint for appellate review, the record must show that the complaint was raised to the trial court by a timely request, objection, or motion. Tex. R. App. P. 33.1. Appellant may not raise to this Court a complaint that was not raised before the trial court; therefore, we dismiss his second issue on appeal.

Because this issue is dispositive, we do not address appellant's first issue. (1) Tex. R. App. P. 47.1. The judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED.

LINDA REYNA YA EZ

Justice

Do not publish. Tex. R. App. P. 47.3.

Opinion delivered and filed this, the 6th day of December, 2001.

1. In his first issue, appellant argued that this Court should disregard the trial court's conclusion of law that, in the event that the division of the community property is found to be disproportionate, the record would support the awarding of a disproportionate share of the community property to the appellee.