Ex parte Greene, C14-90-144-CV

• Decision Date: 10 May 1990
• Docket Number: No. C14-90-144-CV,C14-90-144-CV
• Citation: 788 S.W.2d 724
• Parties: Ex parte Carroll B. GREENE. (14th Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 724

788 S.W.2d 724

Ex parte Carroll B. GREENE.

No. C14-90-144-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Houston (14th Dist.).

May 10, 1990.

Jim Heaney, Houston, for appellant.

Ronald A. Bass, Houston, for appellee.

Before PAUL PRESSLER, CANNON and ELLIS, JJ.

OPINION

ELLIS, Justice.

This is an original habeas corpus proceeding. Relator, Carroll B. Greene, seeks relief from an order of contempt and commitment entered by the 245th District Court of Harris County on February 12, 1990 in Cause No. 82-35736. We granted relator leave to file his petition and ordered the Sheriff of Harris County to release him on bond pending resolution of this cause. TEX.GOV'T.CODE ANN. § 22.221(d) (Vernon 1988). We conclude that the court's commitment order failed to satisfy the requirements of TEX.FAM.CODE ANN. § 14.33(a) (Vernon Supp.1990). We therefore grant the writ and order relator discharged.

In order for this court to order the sheriff to release relator from custody, an attack on the validity of the commitment order must establish that it is void, because either the trial court lacked jurisdiction, or deprived relator of his liberty without due process. Ex parte Barnett, 600 S.W.2d 252, 254 (Tex.1980); Ex Parte Crawford, 684 S.W.2d 124, 126 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, no writ).

By an order entered on February 19, 1983, the 245th District Court terminated relator's marriage to Patricia Greene, the real party in interest. In the commitment order now before us, the trial court recited that the prior divorce decree ordered relator to pay to Patricia Greene child support in the amount of $800.00 per month. The trial court then held that relator had violated the prior divorce decree, finding him "guilty of willful but not coercive contempt of court in that he has failed and refused to pay child support as heretofore ordered in the amount of $58,400.00." Punishment was assessed at confinement in the county jail of Harris County, Texas for a period of 180 days and court costs in the amount of $943.00.

With regard to contents of an enforcement order of the court, Section 14.33(a) of the TEX.FAM.CODE ANN. (Vernon Supp.1990) provides:

(a) Contents. An enforcement order shall contain findings setting out in ordinary and concise language the provisions of the final order, decree, or judgment for which enforcement was sought, the acts or omissions that are the subject of the order, the manner of noncompliance, and the relief awarded by the court. If the order imposes incarceration or a fine, an enforcement order must contain findings setting out specifically and with particularity or incorporating by reference the provisions of the final order, decree, or judgment for which enforcement was sought and the time, date, and place of each occasion on which the respondent failed to comply with the provision and setting out the relief awarded by the court...