Fourteenth Court of Appeals Dismisses Santos v. Lopez Godoy Appeal at Appellant’s Request

Santos v. Lopez Godoy, 14-26-00010-CV, April 14, 2026.

On appeal from 245th District Court, Harris County, Texas

Synopsis

The Fourteenth Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal in Santos v. Lopez Godoy after the appellant filed a voluntary motion to dismiss under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.1. The court granted the motion without reaching the merits of the underlying December 3, 2025 order.

Relevance to Family Law

For Texas family law litigators, this opinion is a reminder that an appellant can terminate an appeal by motion, leaving the trial court’s order in place unless some further relief is requested and granted. In divorce, SAPCR, modification, enforcement, and property-division litigation, that procedural move can have immediate strategic consequences: temporary orders may remain operative, enforcement exposure may continue, and leverage in settlement negotiations may shift once appellate review is withdrawn. Even though the memorandum opinion is procedurally brief, it underscores a practical point family lawyers confront regularly—appellate filings are not self-executing pressure tools, and if the appealing party abandons review, the trial court’s ruling effectively remains the controlling order.

Case Summary

Fact Summary

The appeal arose from an order signed by the 245th District Court in Harris County on December 3, 2025, under trial court cause number 2024-32727. The court of appeals’ memorandum opinion does not describe the substance of that order, but it confirms that the appellant, Alexia Beatriz Santos, invoked appellate jurisdiction and then, on April 7, 2026, filed a motion asking the Fourteenth Court of Appeals to dismiss her own appeal.

The opinion reflects no contested procedural complication. There is no discussion of a merits submission, no indication that the court was asked to vacate the trial court’s order, and no suggestion that the appellee sought affirmative appellate relief that would have prevented a straightforward dismissal. The court therefore addressed only whether it should grant the appellant’s voluntary motion under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.1.

Issues Decided

• Whether the Fourteenth Court of Appeals should grant the appellant’s voluntary motion to dismiss the appeal under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.1.
• Whether the appeal should be dismissed without reaching the merits of the underlying trial court order.

Rules Applied

Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.1 governs voluntary dismissal and disposition in civil appeals. As applied here, the rule authorizes an appellate court to dismiss an appeal on motion of the appellant, subject to the court’s procedural authority and any circumstances that would counsel otherwise.

The court’s opinion does not rely on an extended line of precedent or statutory analysis. Instead, it applies the routine procedural mechanism recognized by Rule 42.1: when an appellant files a proper motion to dismiss her own appeal, the appellate court may grant that motion and dismiss the proceeding.

Application

The court’s application was direct and purely procedural. After the appeal was taken from the December 3, 2025 order, the appellant later elected not to continue pursuing appellate review. She filed a motion to dismiss on April 7, 2026, expressly invoking Rule 42.1. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals then did exactly what Texas appellate courts commonly do when presented with an uncomplicated voluntary-dismissal request in a civil case: it granted the motion and terminated the appeal.

Notably, the court did not analyze the validity of the underlying order, did not address any substantive family-law issue, and did not modify the trial court’s judgment or order. The legal significance lies in the procedural endpoint. Once the appellant withdrew her request for appellate review, there was no merits dispute for the court to decide, and dismissal followed.

Holding

The Fourteenth Court of Appeals held that the appellant’s motion to dismiss should be granted under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.1. In response to that motion, the court dismissed the appeal.

By dismissing the appeal, the court left the underlying December 3, 2025 trial court order undisturbed. The appellate court rendered no merits decision and provided no substantive review of the order from which the appeal had been taken.

Practical Application

In family law practice, voluntary dismissal of an appeal is often tied to settlement, changed litigation objectives, cost-benefit reassessment, mootness, or the client’s desire to redirect resources to trial-court proceedings. If you represent the appellant in a divorce, custody, relocation, enforcement, or property case, Santos is a clean reminder that Rule 42.1 offers a straightforward exit path when continuing the appeal no longer serves the client’s objectives.

But the strategic analysis should not stop with dismissal mechanics. Family-law orders often have ongoing real-world effects. A party who dismisses an appeal from a conservatorship ruling, possession schedule, injunctive provision, reimbursement finding, or post-divorce enforcement order should assume the trial court’s order remains operative unless the parties’ agreement or a separate court order changes the landscape. If your client has been using the appeal as leverage while negotiating a global resolution, dismissal may eliminate that leverage instantly.

For appellees, this type of dismissal can be a favorable outcome, but only if counsel confirms what remains in force. If the appeal challenged a turnover provision, supersedeas issue, attorney’s-fee award, or enforcement mechanism, dismissal may clear the way for immediate reliance on the trial court’s existing order. In family cases, that can affect possession exchanges, support enforcement, retirement division implementation, deed transfers, and sale-of-property provisions.

Practitioners should also remember several tactical points:

• If settlement drives the dismissal, make sure the settlement documents address whether any remand, agreed modification, or vacatur is required in the trial court.
• If temporary appellate relief was sought or obtained, confirm whether dismissal affects that relief and whether further trial-court action is needed.
• If the client is considering dismissal because the controversy has become moot, evaluate whether any collateral consequences remain, especially in custody and enforcement matters.
• If fees or sanctions are in play, do not assume dismissal resolves them unless the order or agreement expressly does so.

Checklists

Before Moving to Dismiss an Appeal

• Confirm the client’s objectives in writing and document informed consent to dismissal.
• Review the trial court order to identify what will remain effective once the appeal is dismissed.
• Determine whether any settlement agreement requires additional appellate language beyond a simple dismissal.
• Evaluate whether the client needs vacatur, remand, or some other form of relief rather than mere dismissal.
• Check for any pending motions, supersedeas issues, or interim orders that may be affected by dismissal.
• Confirm whether appellate costs have been allocated by agreement or should be addressed in the motion.

If You Represent the Appellant in a Family Law Case

• Assess whether dismissal will leave in place adverse conservatorship, possession, support, injunction, or property-division provisions.
• Consider whether dismissal may accelerate enforcement of the underlying order.
• Coordinate dismissal timing with any Rule 11 agreement, mediated settlement agreement, or post-judgment trial-court filings.
• Make sure the client understands that dismissal ordinarily ends appellate review without a merits ruling.
• Verify whether any deadlines in related trial-court proceedings continue to run notwithstanding dismissal.

If You Represent the Appellee

• Review the motion to dismiss promptly and decide whether to oppose any requested relief beyond dismissal.
• Confirm whether the trial court order is now immediately enforceable in practical terms.
• Evaluate whether implementation steps should follow, such as withholding orders, QDRO work, deed transfers, or possession enforcement.
• Preserve any claim for costs or other agreed terms if they are not reflected in the dismissal request.
• Communicate clearly with the client about what dismissal does—and does not—change.

Settlement-Driven Appellate Dismissal Checklist

• Reduce all material terms to writing before dismissing the appeal.
• Decide whether the appellate court should merely dismiss or also dispose of the appeal pursuant to agreement.
• Ensure the settlement addresses pending enforcement risk and future modification issues.
• Confirm who bears appellate costs and fees.
• Align the dismissal filing with any required trial-court submissions to avoid a gap in enforceability or jurisdictional confusion.

Avoiding the Non-Prevailing Party’s Position

• Do not file an appeal reflexively without a defined appellate objective.
• Reassess early whether the appeal is strategically worth pursuing in light of cost, timing, and client goals.
• If circumstances change, do not assume the appellate court will grant broader relief than requested.
• Understand that abandoning the appeal generally means the underlying order remains intact.
• Build dismissal strategy around downstream family-law consequences, not just docket management.

Citation

Santos v. Lopez Godoy, No. 14-26-00010-CV, 2026 WL ___ (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Apr. 14, 2026, mem. op.).

Full Opinion

Read the full opinion here

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