MAJORITY OPINION

Appellant, A.W. Wright & Associates, P.C., appeals an order granting summary judgment in favor of appellee, Glover, Anderson, Chandler & Uzick, L.L.P. (Glover Anderson). Appellant asserts three points of error. In point of error one, appellant contends the trial court erred in granting Glover Anderson’s motion for summary judgment because Glover Anderson failed to establish as a matter of law that appellant is not entitled to attorney’s fees under the referral contracts. In point of error two, appellant asserts that the trial court erred in awarding Glover Anderson attorney’s fees because it did not present summary judgment proof to support that award. Lastly, appellant contends that the trial court erred in dismissing its counterclaim for expenses incurred by appellant under the referral contracts. We reverse and remand.

Background

Between March 1992, and March 1995, Joseph Weiss and Glover Anderson entered into numerous referral contracts which provided that Joseph Weiss would receive a specified percentage of the final recovery in the referred cases. In February 1996, Joseph Weiss was disbarred. On May 10, 1996, A.W. Wright & Associates, P.C. purchased fifty percent of the stock of Joseph Weiss, P.C. Thus, A.W. Wright & Associates is the successor corporation to Joseph Weiss, P.C. Glover Anderson brought suit seeking a declaration that the referral contracts were void because Joseph Weiss was no longer a licensed attorney and Texas law prohibits non-lawyers from receiving referral fees. Both A.W. Wright & Associates, P.C. and Joseph Weiss filed an answer and asserted a counterclaim seeking a declaration that the referral contracts are not void and payments thereunder must be made. In its motion for summary judgment, Glover Anderson *468asked the court to declare that the portions of the referral agreements requiring Glover Anderson to share attorney fees with a non-lawyer are void as a matter of law. In the motion, Glover Anderson asserted that, under the referral contracts, Joseph Weiss was to perform the day to day handling of the cases and that Joseph Weiss could not, as a disbarred attorney, provide such services, thereby eliminating Glover Anderson’s obligation to comply with the contracts. Glover Anderson also asked the trial court to dismiss the counterclaim. Although not specifically set out in the summary judgment motion, Glover Anderson’s motion is based on the rationale of Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 5.04(a). The trial court granted the motion, and A.W. Wright & Associates, P.C. appealed.

Glover Anderson concedes point of error two — it acknowledges the lack of summary judgment proof in its motion to support the award of attorney’s fees under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act and does not oppose a remand of that issue— and three — it is not contesting appellant’s entitlement to expenses it incurred under the contracts as appellant asserted in its counterclaim. Accordingly, those points of error are sustained, and we address only appellant’s assertion that the trial court improperly granted summary judgment because Glover Anderson failed to establish as a matter of law that appellant was not entitled to collect attorney’s fees under the referral contracts.

Standard of Review

The question on appeal of a summary judgment is whether the summary judgment proof establishes as a matter of law that there is no genuine issue of fact as to one or more of the essential elements of the plaintiffs cause of action. Gibbs v. General Motors Corp., 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex. 1970). When reviewing a summary judgment record, we follow these well-established rules: (1) the movant for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, (2) evidence favorable to the nonmovant, will be taken as true when deciding whether there is a disputed material fact issue which precludes summary judgment, and (3) every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the nonmovant resolving any doubts in its favor. See Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Co., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548 (Tex. 1985). Further, the appellate court will not consider evidence that favors the movant’s position unless it is uncontroverted. See Great Am. Reserve Ins. Co. v. San Antonio Plumbing Supply Co., 391 S.W.2d 41, 47 (Tex. 1965). If the moving party fails to prove entitlement to summary judgment as a matter of law, an appellate court must remand the case for a trial on the merits. See Flowers v. United Ins. Co. of Am., 807 S.W.2d 783, 785 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, no writ).

Fee Sharing

Rule 5.04(a) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct states that “a lawyer or law firm shall not share or promise to share legal fees with a non-lawyer.” TEX. DISCIPLINARY R. PROF’L CONDUCT 5.04(a), reprinted in TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN., tit. 2, subtit. G app. A (Vernon 1998) (TEX. STATE BAR R. art. X, § 9). The rationale behind this rule is to prevent solicitation by lay persons of clients for lawyers and to avoid encouraging or assisting non-lawyers in the practice of law. See id. at comment 1.

In interpreting Rule 5.04, this court held in Lee v. Cherry that a disbarred attorney may receive referral fees as long as the attorney has completed the legal work on the case prior to his disbarment. 812 S.W.2d 361, 364 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, writ denied). The facts in Lee are similar to the present case. Lee, while licensed, referred a case to Cherry. See id. at 361. There was a signed agreement to pay Lee a referral fee. See id. Lee *469subsequently resigned his law license. See id. at 362. Thereafter, Cherry settled the referred case, but refused to pay Lee the referral fee asserting that the agreement was void and unenforceable based on Rule 5.04. See id. Lee sued Cherry on the referral contract, and Cherry asserted the affirmative defense that the contract was void, and that Lee had waived any claim to attorney’s fees by resigning his license. See id. The trial court granted Cherry’s summary judgment motion. See id.

On appeal, Cherry relied on Rule 5.04 and the concept that disbarment was tantamount to abandonment of the client as the court held in Royden v. Ardoin, 160 Tex. 338, 331 S.W.2d 206 (1960). In Royden, the court held that where an attorney is disbarred or suspended prior to the completion of his contingent fee contract, he is not entitled to collect fees for his services that had been rendered. See id. at 209. The attorney in Royden contracted to represent a client, agreeing to assist her in recovering property from her deceased son’s estate. See id at 207. He was to be paid a portion of that recovery, but he was disbarred before he completed the work. See id. The disbarred attorney then sued the client to recover in quantum meruit. See id. The Texas Supreme Court held that his disbarment before completing the work was tantamount to a voluntary abandonment of the client. See id. at 209. Thus, the disbarred attorney was not entitled to recover. See id.

The Lee court, however, refused to extend the Royden holding to the particular referral fee contract at issue in that case, holding that voluntary abandonment only applies to those situations where the attorney has not completed the legal services prior to disbarment. See Lee, 812 S.W.2d at 363. Because Lee had performed all that was required of him under a client-approved referral fee contract prior to his resignation, this court reversed the summary judgment granted on Cherry’s affirmative defense. See id at 364. Accordingly, the critical question presented by appellant’s point of error one is whether Glover Anderson proved as a matter of law that Joseph Weiss had not completed his legal duties to the referred clients at the time that he was disbarred.

In the case at bar, Joseph Weiss was licensed at the time all referrals were made to Glover Anderson.1 All contracts that he had with Glover Anderson were referral contracts. Appellant asserts that all legal work on these contracts was completed at the time of referral to Glover Anderson. In its response to the summary judgment motion, appellant stated that the effect of the referral was to end Joseph Weiss’s legal duties to the client. Further, appellant attached to its response the affidavit of Frances Cisneros which asserts that Joseph Weiss did not perform any new legal services for a client whose case had been referred to another attorney because that referral attorney had complete autonomy with regard to the handling of the file.

Based on the language in the referral contracts, Glover Anderson contends that Joseph Weiss had not completed the legal work prior to the referrals to Glover Anderson. At issue is a sentence in the referral contracts which states: “Please be advised, that the day to day handling of the above referenced case will be handled by Frances Cisneros and Belinda Gonzales in our office. Any questions or assistance necessitated will be provided by them as they will maintain all correspondence and activity on this file in our office.” In its motion for summary judgment, Glover Anderson asserted that the statement “day to day handling” shows that Joseph Weiss had not yet finished his legal work for the clients at the time of referral. Appellant, however, contends that this description of activities by Joseph Weiss refers only to *470administrative matters, and that all legal work was completed upon referral.

Whether a contract is ambiguous is a question of law for the court to decide by looking at the contract as a whole in light of the circumstances present when the contract was entered. See Coker v. Coker, 650 S.W.2d 391, 394 (Tex. 1983). A contract is ambiguous when its meaning is uncertain or doubtful or it is reasonably susceptible to more than one meaning. See Skelly Oil v. Archer, 163 Tex. 336, 356 S.W.2d 774, 778 (1962). We hold the language in the referral contracts between Joseph Weiss, now A.W. Wright & Associates, P.C., and Glover Anderson is uncertain and doubtful as to whether the phrase “day to day handling” contemplated the performance of future legal services by Joseph Weiss after the date of referral, and that the contracts are, therefore, ambiguous.2 When a contract contains an ambiguity, the granting of a motion for summary judgment is improper because the interpretation of the contract becomes a fact issue. See Coker, 650 S.W.2d at 394. The determination of whether a contract is ambiguous is a threshold consideration because it is only after a contract is found to be ambiguous that parol evidence may be admitted to ascertain the true intention of the parties expressed in the instrument. See Friendswood Dev. Co. v. McDade + Co., 926 S.W.2d 280, 283 (Tex. 1996).

Glover Anderson failed to establish that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. Because the referral contracts are ambiguous, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for Glover Anderson.3 The trier of *471fact must resolve the ambiguity by determining the true intent of the parties. See id. at 394-95.

Accordingly, we sustain appellant’s three points of error, reverse the judgment of the trial court, and remand this cause to the trial court for further action not inconsistent with this opinion.

concurring.

Glover moved for summary judgment in this case on the ground that:

Under the terms of the referral con-traet[s], the day-to-day handling of the cases was to be performed by Joe Weiss & Associates. Weiss could not complete that contract requirement after he had been disbarred. Accordingly, [Glover] cannot, and should not, pay any portion of the attorney fees it earns on these cases to Joe Weiss, his professional corporation, or any person claiming through them.

An affidavit attached to Glover’s motion specified that all of the cases in question either had or would have judgments or settlements reached and any proceeds collected after the date Weiss was disbarred.1

Wright’s summary judgment response argued that the referral agreements did not obligate Weiss to perform any legal work and that a fact issue was raised as to the level of Weiss’s involvement in the cases after the effective date of the referral agreements. However, it did not contend that the referral agreements were ambiguous. On appeal, Wright argues that: (i) the referral agreements did not require the rendition of any legal services by Weiss; (ii) the referral agreements are ambiguous as to whether “day to day handling” refers to handling legal matters or purely administrative matters; and (iii) Glover failed to sustain its summary judgment burden to prove that Weiss had any obligation to perform legal services under the referral agreements or that he failed to complete any such obligations before he was disbarred.

This case turns on an interpretation of whether the referral agreements obligated Weiss to continue performing legal work, and, if so, what legal work and for how long. This is because, if Weiss did not remain obligated to perform legal work, then any fact question concerning what happened after the agreements were entered is not material.

The majority opinion bases its reversal on a finding that the referral agreements are ambiguous and thereby present a fact question as to their meaning. Although I agree that the agreements are ambiguous, I would note that, as described below, an anomaly has emerged in the case law concerning whether such an ambiguity in an agreement may be a ground for reversal of a summary judgment if it is only raised by the non-movant for the first time on appeal.

As general rules: (1) whether a contract is ambiguous is a question of law for the court;2 (2) the interpretation of an unambiguous contract is a question of law for the court;3 (3) the interpretation of an ambiguous contract is a question of fact;4 (4) where the parties have not claimed *472ambiguity, the interpretation of a contract is decided by the court as a question of law;5 (5) issues not expressly presented to the trial court by written motion, answer or other response shall not be considered on appeal as grounds for reversal;6 and (6) except for the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support a summary judgment, a non-movant may not, on appeal, raise any ground for reversing the summary judgment that was not presented to the trial court by written response to the motion.7

Wright neither pled nor asserted in its summary judgment response that the referral agreement was ambiguous.8 On the contrary, it’s response took the position that the language should be interpreted in its favor.9 It then asserted that a fact issue existed as to what involvement Wright had in the cases after the agreements were entered: “At this juncture, it is apparent that, at a minimum, a fact issue is raised as to the level of involvement of [Wright] after the effective date of the referral Agreements with respect to whether a question of “abandonment” exists under Cherry."

Under the foregoing rules, Wright would not be able to raise ambiguity for the first time on appeal, nor would an appeals court be able to determine that the agreements were ambiguous sua sponte . However, in at least one case, the Texas Supreme Court has reversed a summary judgment because an ambiguity in the disputed agreement created a fact issue, even though both parties asserted that the agreement was unambiguous and sought summary judgment based on his or her respective interpretation. See Coker v. Coker, 650 S.W.2d 391, 392, 394-95 (Tex. 1983).10 Although a reversal of this case based on a finding of ambiguity is consis*473tent with Coker, it is not apparent to me how that approach can be reconciled with the rules outlined above, particularly in that it allows a judgment to be reversed on an issue upon which the trial court was never given an opportunity to rule.11