Summary
The Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, conditionally granted Meredith Johnson’s petition for writ of mandamus concerning the denial of her motion to compel discovery in a child-support proceeding. The court held that Texas Family Code section 154.063 requires production of the parties’ federal income tax returns for the past two years and that the requested returns were relevant to determining net resources and potential above-guideline child support. The court directed the trial court to vacate its order denying production and to compel production of the returns, while lifting the temporary stay.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the trial court clearly abused its discretion by denying Mother's motion to compel Father to produce federal income tax returns for the preceding two years in a child-support proceeding.
- Whether Mother had an adequate remedy by appeal for the denial of the requested discovery.
- Whether Mother's delay in seeking mandamus relief or the asserted inadequacy of the mandamus record justified denying relief.
Holdings
- Texas Family Code section 154.063 requires a trial court in a child-support proceeding to require a party to produce copies of income tax returns for the past two years, along with information sufficient to identify net resources and ability to pay child support. Because the requested returns were also relevant and discoverable to determine Father's net resources and the allocation of above-guideline child support, the trial court clearly abused its discretion by denying Mother's motion to compel.
- Mother lacked an adequate remedy by appeal because withholding the tax returns would severely compromise her ability to prove her child-support claim, and the missing discovery could not be made part of the appellate record for evaluation of the error's effect.
- The court declined to deny mandamus relief based on delay or record inadequacy. Mother's approximately six-week period between the signed discovery order and her petition was not unreasonable in light of her health issues, and she supplemented the record with the relevant hearing transcripts and documents.
Key quotations
“The plain language of this provision makes clear that the trial court has a duty to require the parties to comply with the provision’s disclosure requirements.” (p. 4)
“Given the trial court’s statutory duty in section 154.063, as well as the relevance of the requested income tax returns, we conclude that the trial court did not follow the law and clearly abused its discretion when it denied Mother’s motion to compel the production of Father’s income tax returns for the past two years.” (p. 7)
Factual background
The underlying proceeding concerns child support for a nine-year-old child who lives in Hawaii with Mother while Father lives in Texas. Father testified that he had retired after selling convenience-store businesses, held brokerage accounts valued somewhere between $1 million and $50 million, owned income-generating real estate and long-term capital investments, and was the sole member of an entity owning a plane. Father produced only limited, redacted portions of tax returns and gave incomplete or non-specific answers about his finances. Mother sought production of Father's federal income tax returns for the preceding two years to establish his net resources and the parties' ability to pay above-guideline child support.
Procedural history
Father originally filed a suit to establish paternity and child-support obligations, and Mother counterclaimed for child support above the statutory guidelines. After a 2023 trial, the trial court denied Mother's request for above-guideline support; the judgment was reversed and remanded because Mother was not allowed to testify remotely. On remand, the trial court denied Mother's motion to compel production of Father's income tax returns and signed the denial on December 18, 2025. Mother filed a mandamus petition on February 4, 2026. The court temporarily stayed the underlying proceedings, then conditionally granted mandamus and lifted the stay.
Remand instructions
The trial court must vacate its December 18, 2025 order to the extent it denied Mother's motion to compel production of Father's federal income tax returns for the past two years and must enter an order compelling production of those returns consistent with the opinion. The writ will issue only if the trial court does not comply. The temporary stay of the underlying proceedings was lifted.