Opinion
No. CV-18-494
08-02-2018
MARLENY REYES-RAMOS PETITIONER v. ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES AND MINOR CHILDREN RESPONDENTS
PETITION TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS DISSENTING OPINION. JOSEPHINE LINKER HART, Associate Justice
I dissent; Marleny Reyes-Ramos is plainly indigent, and this court should grant her petition to proceed in forma pauperis. Her affidavit provides that she only earns approximately $1,000 each month and that she only has approximately $200 in her bank account. While Reyes-Ramos's husband, Rolando Juarez, earns approximately $500 each week, the law generally treats separate parents as separate parties with separate legal interests in dependency-neglect proceedings. See, e.g., Adkins v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs., 2017 Ark. App. 229 (in dependency-neglect appeal, mother's case dismissed as moot, father's case reversed and remanded for further proceedings). Accordingly, Juarez's income should not be imputed to Reyes-Ramos for purposes of this appeal. Accordingly, I would grant Reyes-Ramos's petition to proceed in forma pauperis.