In re P.R.

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals for the Second District conditionally granted mandamus relief in a divorce-related SAPCR involving a stepmother’s asserted standing to seek conservatorship of a child. The court held that the stepmother did not satisfy the Family Code’s requirement that a nonparent have shared a principal residence with the child within 90 days before filing suit, and it rejected application of the relation-back doctrine. The court directed the trial court to vacate its order, grant the father’s plea to the jurisdiction, and dismiss the SAPCR and temporary orders.

Holdings

1. A nonparent seeking standing under Section 102.003(a)(9) must have had actual care, control, and possession of the child for at least six months ending no more than ninety days before filing the SAPCR, including the required parent-like relationship and principal-residence component. E.S. lacked standing because she had not shared a principal residence with the child during the ninety-day period preceding her SAPCR filing.
2. The relation-back doctrine could not be used to measure E.S.'s Section 102.003(a)(9) standing from the date of her original divorce counterpetition because the SAPCR was a new and different claim from the divorce under the applicable Family Code provisions.
3. Mandamus relief was proper because the trial court abused its discretion by finding that E.S. had standing and denying P.R.'s plea to the jurisdiction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether E.S. had standing under Texas Family Code Section 102.003(a)(9) to file a SAPCR when she had not shared a principal residence with the child within ninety days before filing.
2. Whether the relation-back doctrine could measure E.S.'s standing from the date of her original divorce counterpetition rather than the later filing of the SAPCR.
3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying P.R.'s plea to the jurisdiction and retaining the SAPCR and temporary orders.

Disposition

writ_granted