Grandparent standing established by agreement on appeal, case remanded to trial court

Standing is a jurisdictional issue. If there is no jurisdiction, the court can't grant any relief. Jurisdiction cannot normally be created by agreement, but there are exceptions, as illustrated by this case, where the parties agreed on appeal that facts existed to allow grandparent to pursue a suit affecting the parent-child relationship even though it had already been dismissed by the trial court for lack of standing. The agreement the parties reached was in the form of a Mediated Settlement Agreement. Johnson v Hardy, No. 01-17-00640-CV (Tex.App. - Houston, Aug. 9, 2018)

MEDIATED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN GRANDPARENT ACCESS SUIT

Opinion issued August 9, 2018

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

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NO. 01-17-00640-CV

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STEPHANIE JOHNSON, Appellant

V.

BARRY HARDY AND SHAUN HARDY, Appellees

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 2

Galveston County, Texas

Trial Court Case No. 14-FD-2773

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This is an appeal from the dismissal of a suit for lack of evidence to support a grandparent’s standing under Section 102.004(a)(1) of the Family Code. On appeal, the parties have entered into a mediated settlement agreement, in which the appellees agree that appellant “has standing to pursue her claim,” meaning the parties agree that adequate facts exist to support standing under Section 102.004(a)(1), and further agree that the matter should be remanded for appellant to pursue her claims. See TEX. FAM. CODE § 102.004(a)(1). We therefore vacate the trial court’s judgment of dismissal and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with the parties’ mediated settlement agreement. See TEX. R. APP. P.42.1(a)(2).

The appeal is dismissed as moot. See TEX. R. APP. P. 43.2(f).

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Massengale, Brown, and Caughey.