Offers of Proof for Excluded Evidence: Opinions, May 10, 2018

Originally published by mkhtx.

The First District Court of Appeals released a memorandum opinion this morning in Jacob v. Jacob, No. 01-16-00835-CV, denying mother’s appeal of an order denying her request for an increase in child support. The mother and father had a child and divorced in 2010. Subsequently, the mother had another child and consequently sought a reduction in her monthly child support. At trial, she sought to introduce evidence of her increased expenses and costs related to the new baby, but father objected to the evidence as going outside the scope of her disclosures. Crucially, mother did not make an offer of proof and the Court of Appeals overruled the issue because the error was not preserved. Additionally, mother filed a motion for new trial regarding the excluded evidence, which was denied by the trial court, and the  Court of Appeals affirmed because a motion for new trial cannot preserve error related to the admission or exclusion of evidence. Finally, mother challenged the trial court’s failure to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law, but the Court of Appeals said the remedy for that was to move in the appellate court to abate the case and order the trial court to issue the FF/CL. The trial court was affirmed.

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