Opinion
No. 07-20-00194-CV
09-15-2020
IN THE INTEREST OF J.F. II, A CHILD
On Appeal from the 137th District Court Lubbock County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2017-527,563; Honorable Edward Lee Self, Presiding
ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND
Before PIRTLE and PARKER and DOSS, JJ.
Appellant, B.T., appeals the trial court's order terminating her parental rights to her son, J.F. II, in a suit brought by Appellee, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. We remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings.
To protect the privacy of the parties involved, we refer to them by their initials. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 109.002(d) (West Supp. 2019); TEX. R. APP. P. 9.8(b).
B.T.'s appointed trial counsel filed a notice of appeal on her behalf. The appellate record has been filed and B.T.'s brief was originally due August 24, 2020. By letter of August 27, 2020, we notified B.T.'s counsel that the brief was overdue and admonished him that failure to file a brief by September 8 would result in the cause being remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. B.T. has not filed a brief to date. Instead, on September 4, 2020, her trial counsel filed Appellant's Motion for Extension of Deadline to Render Opinion on Notice of Appeal, seeking the appointment of appellate counsel to represent B.T. on appeal.
Indigent parents have a statutory right to counsel in parental-rights termination cases brought by the Department. TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 107.013(a)(1) (West 2019). This right includes the right to effective counsel through the exhaustion of the appeal. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 107.016(3) (West 2019); In re M.S., 115 S.W.3d 534, 544 (Tex. 2003) (holding that the statutory right to counsel in parental-rights termination cases embodies the right to effective counsel). Effective assistance of counsel on appeal cannot be afforded without requiring that counsel file a brief on an appellant's behalf. Guillory v. State, 557 S.W.2d 118, 121 (Tex. Crim. App. 1977).
Accordingly, we grant B.T.'s motion, abate the appeal, and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(2); In re T.V., 8 S.W.3d 448, 449-50 (Tex. App.—Waco 1999, order) (per curiam) (remanding termination appeal for appointment of new counsel where appellant's counsel failed to file an appellate brief). Due to the time-sensitive nature of an appeal from a parental-rights termination order, the trial court shall utilize whatever means necessary upon remand to appoint appellate counsel to represent B.T. on appeal. See TEX. R. JUD. ADMIN. 6.2(a). The name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, and State Bar number of newly appointed counsel shall be provided in an order of the trial court. A supplemental clerk's record containing the order shall be filed with the clerk of this court on or before September 28, 2020. B.T.'s brief shall be due twenty days after the date new counsel is appointed.
It is so ordered.
Per Curiam