Steve Van Horne v. Texas Health and Human Services

Order Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed December 23, 2025.

In The

Fifteenth Court of Appeals

NO. 15-25-00211-CV

STEVE VAN HORNE, Appellant

V.

TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Appellee

On Appeal from the 459th District Court
Travis County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. D-1-GN-25-004625

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Steve Van Horne has filed a motion challenging the trial court’s
order, signed on August 14, 2025, finding him not indigent and requiring him to
pay court costs in the underlying matter. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 145(g). The order
contains detailed findings and conclusions, and a reporter’s record of the hearing

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on the indigency contest has been filed by the court reporter. Id. R. 145(f).

To establish his indigency, Van Horne was required to show “by a
preponderance of the evidence that [he] would be unable to pay the costs, or a part
thereof, or give security therefore, if [he] really wanted to and made a good-faith
effort to do so[.]” Higgins v. Randall Cnty. Sheriff’s Office, 257 S.W.3d 684, 686
(Tex. 2008). Having reviewed the motion and the record we cannot conclude that
that the trial court’s order constitutes an abuse of its discretion. See Strickland v.
iHeartMedia, Inc., 668 S.W.3d 34, 37 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2022, no pet.)
(reviewing trial court’s order sustaining contest to indigency under abuse-of-
discretion standard). Accordingly, we deny the motion and affirm the trial court’s
order.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Chief Justice Brister and Justices Field and Farris.

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