Opinion
NO. 14-18-00024-CV
02-13-2018
IN THE INTEREST OF L.M.R.B, B.A.B, R.A.B. & E.P.B., CHILDREN
On Appeal from the 314th District Court Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 2016-04256J
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This is an appeal from a final decree terminating the parent-child relationship between appellant J.B. and his children, L.M.R.B., B.A.B., R.A.B., and E.P.B. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 161.001(b) (West 2014 & Supp. 2017). Appellee is the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The final decree was signed August 3, 2017. Appellant filed a motion for new trial the same day. The record suggests appellant's appointed trial counsel filed a motion to withdraw on August 15, 2017. The trial court denied the motion for new trial on September 19, 2017, and granted counsel's motion to withdraw on October 11, 2017. The trial court appointed appellate counsel for appellant on October 26, 2017. Appellant, through his appointed appellate counsel, filed a notice of appeal on January 8, 2018.
An appeal in a parental termination suit is accelerated. Tex. R. App. P. 28.4(a)(2)(A). A notice of appeal in an accelerated case must be filed within 20 days after the judgment is signed. Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(b). The deadline may be extended by 15 days (that is, until 35 days after the judgment is signed) if, within that 15-day period, the appellant files the notice of appeal in the trial court and a motion for extension of time in the court of appeals. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3; Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). Unlike in a non-accelerated appeal, a timely-filed motion for new trial does not extend the deadline to file the notice of appeal in an accelerated appeal. In re K.A.F., 160 S.W.3d 923, 926-27 (Tex. 2005.
The notice of appeal was due by August 23, 2017. Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(b). It was not filed until January 8, 2018, which was 138 days past the deadline. A court of appeals lacks jurisdiction to hear an appeal that was not timely perfected. When the court lacks jurisdiction, it must dismiss the appeal. See Baker v. Baker, 469 S.W.3d 269, 272 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2015, no pet.).
On January 19, 2018, we notified the parties that we would dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction if no party demonstrated, by January 29, 2018, meritorious grounds for retaining the appeal. We granted appellant's request for an extension to February 5, 2018, to respond to the dismissal notice. On February 5, 2018, appellant's counsel filed a response in which he agrees the court lacks jurisdiction.
We DISMISS the appeal.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Boyce, Donovan, and Wise.