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In re Interest of L.D.R.

STATE OF TEXAS IN THE TENTH COURT OF APPEALS
Nov 8, 2017
No. 10-17-00224-CV (Tex. App. Nov. 8, 2017)

Opinion

No. 10-17-00224-CV

11-08-2017

IN THE INTEREST OF L.D.R., A CHILD


From the County Court at Law Bosque County, Texas
Trial Court No. CV16151

ORDER

This appeal was abated on August 16, 2017, for 49 days so the appellant, the trial court, the trial court clerk, and the reporter, could take action which would help us to understand whether appellant was indigent and was entitled to a free record on appeal. We set out the specific steps to be taken and what would need to occur if those steps were or were not taken. After 49 days passed, we reinstated the appeal on October 18, 2017.

According to the docketing statement filed on August 28, 2017, a "Statement of Inability to Pay Court Costs" was filed in the trial court on July 17, 2017 and no "Motion Challenging the Statement" was filed. We noted in the reinstatement order issued on October 18, 2017 that neither the notice of appeal nor the amended notice of appeal contained the required statement regarding the presumption of indigence, see TEX. R. APP. P. 25.1(d)(8), nor was any other communication received as required by Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 20.1 regarding the filing of the "Statement" in the trial court until the docketing statement was received after the abatement order was issued. If this information had been communicated to the Court as required, the abatement order would have been unnecessary.

In response to, and based upon, the information in the docketing statement, we ordered in the reinstatement order that the clerk's record and the reporter's record were due 30 days from the date of the October 18, 2017 order and that each record must be provided without payment for the preparation thereof. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 145; TEX. R. APP. P. 20.1.

Two days after the reinstatement order was issued, we received from the trial court clerk a copy of a trial court order signed and filed on August 30, 2017. The trial court's order states, in its entirety, as follows:

Whereas the Respondent Stuart Wayne Ridge, Jr., has filed a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Cost or an Appeal Bond. on July 14, 2017, this court finds that Mr. Stuart Wayne Ridge Jr, does not meet the Indigency guidelines and this application is DENIED. [sic]

We note that it appears this order was rendered in response to our August 16, 2017 abatement order but we are unable to determine from what we have before us whether the provisions of Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145 were followed. Specifically, it does not appear in what we have been provided whether a motion, by any of the persons who can do so pursuant to the Rule, was filed challenging the "Statement." TEX. R. CIV. P. 145 (f)(1)-(4). Moreover, we are unable to determine if there was a hearing held as required by the Rule. Id. (f)(5). Finally, we note that the order does not contain the "detailed findings that the declarant can afford to pay cost" as required by the Rule. Id. (f)(6).

We were provided a copy of the trial court's order only after we had reinstated the appeal and ordered the record to be filed without payment for the preparation thereof. We had rendered our October 18, 2017, order based upon the information that we had been provided as of that date. While the trial court's order does raise a question about what procedure was utilized to challenge the appellant's "Statement" regarding cost in the trial court, we have not received enough information, or a motion for reconsideration of our earlier ruling, to cause us to change or modify that order. Accordingly, the reporter's record and the clerk's record remain due in this court, without payment for the preparation thereof, on or before November 17, 2017.

PER CURIAM Before Chief Justice Gray, Justice Davis, and Justice Scoggins
Order issued and filed November 8, 2017
Publish


Summaries of

In re Interest of L.D.R.

STATE OF TEXAS IN THE TENTH COURT OF APPEALS
Nov 8, 2017
No. 10-17-00224-CV (Tex. App. Nov. 8, 2017)
Case details for

In re Interest of L.D.R.

Case Details

Full title:IN THE INTEREST OF L.D.R., A CHILD

Court:STATE OF TEXAS IN THE TENTH COURT OF APPEALS

Date published: Nov 8, 2017

Citations

No. 10-17-00224-CV (Tex. App. Nov. 8, 2017)

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