Falah Algaissi v. Taima Abu Qamer

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District at Fort Worth affirmed a final divorce decree. The court held that the appellant failed to show good cause for his untimely failure to obtain the reporter’s record and that his appellate issues required review of that record. The court also concluded that the appellant’s approval and consent to the decree invited or waived any alleged error, and alternatively upheld the trial court’s conservatorship and property-division rulings.

Holdings

1. Because Husband failed to show good cause for his delay in obtaining the reporter's record as required by the appellate court's order, and all of his issues required review of the evidence, the court could decline to consider the reporter's record, presume that the underlying proceeding was properly conducted and supported by sufficient evidence, and overrule the appellate complaints on that basis.
2. Husband's signature approving and consenting to the divorce decree as to both form and substance waived his complaints about the decree and invited any alleged error, absent fraud, collusion, or misrepresentation.
3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by appointing the parents joint managing conservators and giving Wife the exclusive right to designate the children's primary residence. The conflicting testimony did not require a finding of family violence, and some substantive and probative evidence supported the best-interest determination.
4. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in valuing and dividing the community estate because the record contained legally and factually sufficient evidence supporting the values of the marital residence, Husband's business interest, his 401(k), and the vehicles.
5. The evidence supported the trial court's finding that Husband committed constructive fraud on the community and failed to rebut the presumption arising from his transfers and unexplained disposition of community assets. The court therefore did not need to address the separate actual-fraud finding.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by appointing the parties joint managing conservators and granting Wife the exclusive right to designate the children's primary residence despite alleged evidence of family violence.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by dividing the community estate and valuing particular assets without sufficient evidence of fair market value.
3. Whether the trial court erred by finding constructive and actual fraud on the community and awarding fraud-based relief without legally and factually sufficient evidence.
4. Whether Husband's failure to timely obtain the reporter's record and failure to show good cause prevented appellate review of his abuse-of-discretion complaints.
5. Whether Husband's approval and consent to the divorce decree as to both form and substance invited error or waived complaints about the decree.

Disposition

affirmed