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TEXAS: In re B.G.
07.15.2010 | Termination of Parental Rights
The Supreme Court of Texas reversed the court of appeals’ judgment that affirmed the trial court’s order denying appellant-father’s request for the appellate record of his termination case because he had not filed a statement of appellate points by the statutory deadline, holding that “due process does not allow the lack of the required statement to be the basis for denying the parent an appellate record.” Under section 263.405(i) of the Texas Family Code, an appeal from a parental termination case is limited to the issues included in a statement filed with the trial court within 15 days after the termination judgment; the supreme court had previously held that where a parent is not appointed appellate counsel until after the 15 days have passed, that it would violate due process to preclude that parent from complaining on appeal that he had ineffective assistance of counsel because the statement of issues was not filed on time. In the present case, the court similarly found that appellant-father’s due process rights were violated when the trial court denied him a copy of the appellate record because he did not file the statement of appellate issues on time due to not having counsel appointed until after the required time period.
No. 07-0960, 2010 Tex. LEXIS 477 (Tex. July 2nd, 2010)
Link to Full Opinion
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