Opinion
No. 04-13-00681-CV
11-26-2013
IN THE INTEREST OF O.L.R.M., MINOR CHILD.
From the 224th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2013-CI-10434
Honorable Antonia Arteaga, Judge Presiding
ORDER
On November 22, 2013, appellee, Adoption Advocates, Inc., filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, claiming the notice of appeal was untimely. More specifically, appellee contends that because the underlying matter in this appeal involved a termination of parental rights, the appeal is accelerated and the notice of appeal was untimely. We disagree with the premise upon which the motion is based. Following the termination of appellant's parental rights and the placement of the child for adoption, appellant filed a petition to attack the order of termination. In response, appellee filed a plea to the jurisdiction, claiming the petition was an improper collateral attack and asking the trial court to dismiss the matter. The trial court granted the plea and dismissed the matter, rendering a final judgment. It is from this judgment that appellant has sought to appeal, not the original termination order. Moreover, the terminations that occurred in this matter were as to the mother and another man who according to the mother was not actually the child's biological father. No issue with regard to termination as to appellant existed before the trial court; rather, the only issue was a determination of parentage. Accordingly, this is not an appeal from an order of termination that would be accelerated under section 109. 002(a) of the Family Code. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 109.002(a) (West Supp. 2012). We therefore DENY the motion to dismiss.
_________________
Marialyn Barnard, Justice
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said court on this 26th day of November, 2013.
_________________
Keith E. Hottle
Clerk of Court