Opinion
No. 20,587.
Decided July 8, 1963.
Dependency proceeding in which the Attorney General confesses error.
Reversed.
1. APPEAL AND ERROR — Dependency Proceeding — Court — Jurisdiction — Confession of Error — Statute. Where dependency proceeding was commenced in county court of county in which child involved was neither physically present nor a legal resident, the court was without jurisdiction under C.R.S. '53, 22-1-2 and 3, and upon confession of error by the Attorney General judgment will be reversed.
Error to the County Court of Routt County, Hon. Eugene Steele, Judge.
Mr. NICHOLAS MAGILL, for plaintiff in error.
Mr. DUKE W. DUNBAR, Attorney General, Mr. FRANK E. HICKEY, Deputy, Mr. THOMAS A. NELSON, JR., Assistant, for defendant in error.
The Attorney General of the State of Colorado confesses error in this matter and admits that the county court of Routt County was without jurisdiction to entertain the dependency proceedings before it.
It is shown by the record that this proceeding was instituted by Verna Baer, a resident of Routt County, attempting to have the county court of that county determine the dependency of a minor who was living in Moffat County. Custody of the child had been awarded to his father in a divorce action in Mesa County, and the legal residence of the child was with his father in that county although he had been placed with others in Moffat County.
The child, therefore, was neither physically present in Routt County nor was his legal place of residence in Routt County.
The relevant statutes are C.R.S. '53, 22-1-2 and 3. The jurisdiction of county courts in dependency actions has been discussed by this court in Hudson v. Mattingley, 69 Colo. 528, 195 Pac. 113; Peterson v. Schwartzmann, 116 Colo. 235, 179 P.2d 662; Geisler v. People, 135 Colo. 121, 308 P.2d 1000. The statute and the cases reveal that the court committed error in refusing to grant the motion of the plaintiff in error to dismiss the proceedings on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court to vacate all orders issued herein and to dismiss the action.
MR. JUSTICE McWILLIAMS not participating.