UCCJEA Home State Jurisdiction Mandamus Denied | In re T.A.S.D. (2026)

In re T.A.S.D., 04-26-00402-CV, July 08, 2026.

On appeal from County Court, Jim Wells County, Texas

Synopsis

A relator seeking mandamus to vacate an initial custody order as void for lack of UCCJEA jurisdiction must bring a record showing Texas lacked home-state jurisdiction under Family Code section 152.201(a)(1). In In re T.A.S.D., the Fourth Court denied mandamus because the relator’s showing did not establish that Texas was not the child’s home state within six months before the SAPCR was filed, even if the child had not lived in Texas during the immediately preceding five months.

Relevance to Family Law

This opinion matters directly to Texas custody litigation because UCCJEA challenges often surface in SAPCRs filed alongside divorce proceedings, modification suits, and interstate possession disputes. The case is a reminder that a home-state attack is won or lost on the record: if you intend to argue that a Texas custody order is void for want of initial jurisdiction, you must prove the child’s residence history with precision and address the statute’s six-month lookback language, not merely the child’s location in the months immediately before filing.

Case Summary

Fact Summary

The relator, E.D., sought mandamus relief from an April 18, 2023 custody order involving T.A.S.D. in a Jim Wells County SAPCR. Her theory was jurisdictional: she contended the trial court lacked authority to make the initial child-custody determination because the child had not resided in Texas during the five months before the real party in interest filed suit.

The court’s short memorandum opinion reveals two important features of the dispute. First, the relator framed the challenged custody order as void, attempting to invoke the principle that mandamus is available without showing an inadequate appellate remedy when the underlying order is void. Second, the court focused on the disconnect between the relator’s factual assertion and the governing statutory test. Section 152.201(a)(1) does not ask only whether the child lived in Texas immediately before filing; it asks whether Texas was the child’s home state within six months before commencement, provided the child is absent and a parent or person acting as a parent remains in Texas.

The court also noted a separate procedural problem: both the petition and mandamus record disclosed the full name of a minor child and other sensitive information requiring redaction under the appellate rules and local rules. The court therefore struck those filings after denying relief.

Issues Decided

• Whether the relator established that the trial court lacked jurisdiction under Texas Family Code section 152.201(a)(1) to enter the April 18, 2023 initial custody order.
• Whether mandamus should issue on the theory that the custody order was void for lack of UCCJEA jurisdiction.
• Whether the relator’s emergency motion for temporary relief should be granted.
• Whether the petition and mandamus record should be struck for failure to comply with redaction requirements under Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.8 and 9.9 and the Fourth Court’s local rules.

Rules Applied

The court relied on the familiar mandamus standards and the UCCJEA’s initial-jurisdiction provision.

• Mandamus requires the relator to show:
• a clear abuse of discretion or violation of a legal duty; and

• no adequate remedy by appeal.
  Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 839–40 (Tex. 1992) (orig. proceeding).

• An exception applies when the challenged order is void:

• if the trial court issued a void order, the relator need not show the lack of an adequate appellate remedy.
  In re Sw. Bell Tel. Co., 35 S.W.3d 602, 605 (Tex. 2000) (orig. proceeding).

• Under the UCCJEA, a Texas court has jurisdiction to make an initial child-custody determination if:

• Texas “was the home state of the child within six months before commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this state but a parent or person acting as a parent continues to live in this state.”
  TEX. FAM. CODE § 152.201(a)(1).

• Appellate filings involving minors and sensitive data must be properly redacted:

• TEX. R. APP. P. 9.8 and 9.9;
• 4TH TEX. APP. (San Antonio) LOC. R. 4.2 (2025).

Application

The court’s analysis was brief but pointed. E.D. argued the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the child had not resided in Texas in the five months before the SAPCR was filed. But the court measured that assertion against the actual statutory language, which looks to whether Texas was the child’s home state within six months before commencement, not merely whether the child was physically present in Texas throughout the immediate pre-filing period.

That distinction mattered. A child may be absent from Texas at filing and yet Texas may still qualify as the home state if the child lived here within the six-month lookback period and a parent or person acting as a parent continues to reside here. On the record presented, the relator did not demonstrate the negative proposition necessary for mandamus—that Texas lacked home-state jurisdiction under section 152.201(a)(1). Without that showing, the relator could not establish that the April 18, 2023 order was void.

Once the voidness argument failed, the relator was left with ordinary mandamus standards. The court concluded she had not shown entitlement to extraordinary relief under Rule 52.8(a). The temporary-relief motion then became moot.

The opinion also underscores an appellate practice point that family lawyers ignore at their peril. Even in an emergency jurisdictional mandamus, compliance with redaction rules remains mandatory. The court struck both the petition and the record because they revealed a minor’s full name and other sensitive data.

Holding

The Fourth Court held that the relator did not establish entitlement to mandamus relief because the mandamus record did not show the trial court lacked home-state jurisdiction under Family Code section 152.201(a)(1). A claim that the child was not in Texas during the five months before filing did not, by itself, negate Texas home-state jurisdiction within the six months before commencement.

The court also held that, absent a showing that the custody order was void for lack of UCCJEA jurisdiction, the relator could not obtain mandamus on that basis under Walker and In re Sw. Bell. The petition for writ of mandamus was therefore denied, and the motion for temporary relief was denied as moot.

Separately, the court struck the petition and mandamus record because they contained unredacted identifying information regarding a minor child and other sensitive data in violation of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure and the court’s local rules.

Practical Application

For family litigators, In re T.A.S.D. is less about a new rule than about disciplined UCCJEA proof. If you are challenging initial jurisdiction, do not frame the facts in shorthand terms such as “the child had been gone for five months.” Instead, build a residence chronology keyed to the statutory elements: where the child lived for the relevant consecutive six-month period, the precise filing date, any temporary absences, and whether a parent or person acting as a parent remained in Texas.

The case is especially relevant in these settings:

• interstate divorce filings that include SAPCR claims;
• original custody suits filed after one parent relocates with the child;
• enforcement or modification fights where a party retroactively attacks the original custody order as void;
• emergency mandamus proceedings seeking to halt enforcement of a standing custody order.

Strategically, the decision also warns against assuming that a UCCJEA challenge automatically creates a void-order pathway to mandamus. It does not. The relator must prove the jurisdictional defect with a clean, complete record. If the record leaves room for Texas to qualify as the home state within the six-month pre-filing window, the voidness argument will likely fail.

Finally, the redaction ruling should not be treated as a housekeeping aside. In family mandamus practice, rushed filings often create confidentiality violations. That can derail credibility with the court even where the merits are substantial.

Checklists

Build the UCCJEA Home-State Timeline

• Identify the exact filing date of the original SAPCR.
• Count backward six months from the commencement date.
• Document where the child lived during each segment of that six-month period.
• Determine whether any absence from Texas was temporary or permanent.
• Confirm whether a parent or person acting as a parent continued to live in Texas at filing.
• Separate “physical presence at filing” from “home state within six months before filing.”
• Gather school, medical, lease, daycare, and travel records supporting the timeline.

Prepare a Mandamus Record That Can Carry a Voidness Argument

• Include the challenged order.
• Include the live pleadings relevant to initial jurisdiction.
• Include affidavits, testimony excerpts, and exhibits establishing the child’s residence history.
• Make sure the record affirmatively disproves Texas home-state jurisdiction under section 152.201(a)(1), rather than merely suggesting another state may have been involved.
• Address all statutory elements, including continued Texas residence of a parent or person acting as a parent.
• Cite Walker v. Packer and In re Sw. Bell Tel. Co. accurately and explain why the order is void, not merely erroneous.
• Avoid leaving factual gaps that permit the appellate court to infer Texas may still have qualified as the home state.

Defend Against a UCCJEA Mandamus Attack

• Anchor the court’s jurisdiction to the exact language of Family Code section 152.201(a)(1).
• Emphasize any evidence that Texas was the home state within six months before filing.
• Show that a parent or person acting as a parent remained in Texas.
• Characterize the relator’s proof as incomplete if it addresses only the months immediately preceding filing.
• Distinguish between a disputed fact issue and a clear jurisdictional defect.
• Argue that absent proof of a void order, ordinary mandamus standards govern.

Avoid Appellate Filing Errors in Family Cases

• Redact the full name of every minor child.
• Review all petitions, appendices, exhibits, and clerk’s or reporter’s record materials for sensitive data.
• Comply with TEX. R. APP. P. 9.8 and 9.9.
• Check the local rules of the court of appeals before filing.
• Use initials consistently in the petition and record references.
• Conduct a final confidentiality review before submitting emergency filings.

Citation

In re T.A.S.D., No. 04-26-00402-CV, 2026 WL ___ (Tex. App.—San Antonio July 8, 2026, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.).

Full Opinion

Read the full opinion here

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