In re Guardianship of Evelyn Ramirez, an Incapacitated Person

Summary

The Texas Eighth Court of Appeals denied Olga Alcantara’s petition for a writ of mandamus and request for a stay challenging an order authorizing Evelyn Ramirez’s guardian to finalize a settlement in a federal civil-rights lawsuit. The court held that Alcantara failed to establish a clear abuse of discretion and had not supported her arguments with applicable legal authority. The court also denied her request to obtain transcripts of additional hearings because those proceedings concerned collateral guardianship and visitation issues.

Holdings

1. Alcantara was not entitled to mandamus relief because she failed to establish that the probate court clearly abused its discretion in entering the September 15, 2025 order.
2. The court would not consider complaints about prior guardianship orders or alleged deficiencies in the guardian's conduct because those matters were not addressed in the September 15, 2025 order and constituted improper collateral attacks in this mandamus proceeding.
3. The court denied Alcantara's request to order the court reporter to transcribe additional hearing records because the hearings concerned collateral issues relating to Carlos's appointment and visitation and were not relevant to the challenged settlement order.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Alcantara established that the probate court clearly abused its discretion by entering the September 15, 2025 order authorizing settlement of the federal civil-rights lawsuit.
2. Whether Alcantara could use the mandamus proceeding challenging the September 15 order to obtain review of collateral complaints concerning Carlos's appointment and performance as guardian, visitation, medical examinations, accountings, and counsel conflicts.
3. Whether the court of appeals should order the court reporter to transcribe additional hearing records.

Disposition

writ_denied