Opinion
A23E0007
09-26-2022
IN THE INTEREST OF L. J. Z., et at. (Mother)
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
On September 26, 2022, pursuant to Court of Appeals Rule 40 (b), the mother of L. J. Z. and K. J. Z. filed an emergency motion from the August 29, 2022 order entered by the Juvenile Court of Paulding County terminating her parental rights.
The mother requests an extension of 6 months to file a discretionary application and asserts that additional time is required to obtain a transcript of the proceedings. Our rules require that "[a]n application for discretionary appeal must generally be filed in this Court within 30 days of the date of the entry of the trial court's order being appealed." Court of Appeals Rule 31 (a). However, this Court is permitted to grant and extension of time for filing an application, where, as in this case, the request is "made before expiration of the period for filing as originally prescribed or as extended by a permissible previous order." OCGA §§ 5-6-39 (a) (5), (d). See also Court of Appeals Rule 31 (i) ("No extensions of time will be granted to file a discretionary application unless a motion for extension is filed on or before the application due date.")
Thus, while this Court DENIES the mother's request for a 6 month extension, this Court GRANTS an extension of time for the mother to file her discretionary application until October 29, 2022.