In Re AEE

89 S.W.3d 250, 2002 WL 31318055
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 17, 2002
Docket06-01-00145-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 89 S.W.3d 250 (In Re AEE) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re AEE, 89 S.W.3d 250, 2002 WL 31318055 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

89 S.W.3d 250 (2002)

In the Matter of A.E.E., a Juvenile.

No. 06-01-00145-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Texarkana.

Submitted October 1, 2002.
Decided October 17, 2002.

*252 Terry L. Cox, Law Offices of Cox & McCarter, LLP, Marshall, for appellant.

Richard Berry Jr., Criminal District Attorney, Harrison County, Al Davis, Assistant District Attorney, Marshall, for appellee.

Rick Hagen, Longview, Attorney Ad Litem.

Before MORRISS, C.J., GRANT and ROSS, JJ.

OPINION

Opinion by Justice ROSS.

A.E.E., born January 7,1986, was declared by juvenile court as a child who had engaged in delinquent conduct. She was placed on probation until age eighteen, and as a condition of probation, was ordered to live in the home of a maternal aunt. Billy Emmons, the child's father, appeals asserting three grounds of error: (1) that the State presented no evidence to satisfy the statutory requirements of Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 54.04(i) (Vernon 2002); (2) that the court's decision to remove A.E.E. from his home was an unconstitutional infringement on his fundamental right as a parent to make decisions as to the care, custody, and control of his child, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and (3) that the trial court erred in not specifically stating in its order the reasons for the disposition, as required by Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 54.04(f) (Vernon 2002).

Because this case stems from a juvenile proceeding, the record offers only spotty details of the background events leading to this proceeding. It is apparent from the record that A.E.E. did not know Emmons during the early part of her life. When she was approximately eleven years old, Emmons was ordered to take a paternity test, which apparently resulted in Emmons being adjudged A.E.E.'s father. Emmons was granted visitation rights with A.E.E. and was eventually appointed A.E.E.'s managing conservator. A.E.E.'s mother did not attend the hearing at which Emmons was appointed managing conservator, and her whereabouts were unknown during this juvenile proceeding.

A.E.E. had lived with Emmons at his home in Panola County for more than two years when she ran away. She was found at the Sabine Valley Mental Health Mental Retardation Center in Harrison County. A.E.E. told the doctors at Sabine Valley she would kill herself if she was forced to return to her father's home, but the doctors did not believe A.E.E. was really suicidal. Emmons was called to Sabine Valley, and two police officers were also called to assist in getting A.E.E. to leave with her father. Because A.E.E. refused to cooperate and used force against the officers to keep from going with her father, she was arrested and charged with delinquent conduct.

During the juvenile proceedings, A.E.E. offered testimony that her home environment with Emmons was not emotionally supportive. She testified she did not feel Emmons encouraged her with her schoolwork. She also complained about her household chores and about having to assist *253 Emmons in his fence-building business after school and on weekends. A.E.E. testified that her father did not take her to the dentist when she had cavities and that, in her opinion, he did not take her to the doctor soon enough when she was experiencing pain with a condition that eventually required surgery.

A.E.E. pled true to the charge against her in juvenile court and was adjudicated a child who had engaged in delinquent behavior. She was placed on probation until age eighteen and ordered to attend counseling. As a condition of probation, A.E.E. was ordered to live with her mother's sister. Emmons appeals the court's decision to remove A.E.E. from his home.

We first address the question of Emmons' standing to bring this appeal. The State did not initially raise this issue, but an appellate court can question, on its own motion, the standing of a party to appeal from a juvenile court's order. See In re P.C., 970 S.W.2d 576, 577 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1998, no pet.). In a presubmission order, we requested the parties to address this issue.

Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 56.01 (Vernon 2002)[1] controls the right to appeal an order from a juvenile court. Accordingly, an appeal may be taken by or on behalf of a child from an order disposing of the case entered under Section 54.04, unless Section 56.01(n) applies. Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 56.01(c)(1)(B). Section 56.01(n) provides as follows:

(n) A child who enters a plea or agrees to a stipulation of evidence in a proceeding held under this title may not appeal an order of the juvenile court entered under ... Section 54.04 ... if the court makes a disposition in accordance with the agreement between the state and the child regarding the disposition of the case, unless:
(1) the court gives the child permission to appeal; or
(2) the appeal is based on a matter raised by written motion filed before the proceeding in which the child entered the plea or agreed to the stipulation of evidence.

The disposition in this juvenile proceeding was under Section 54.04, and that disposition was pursuant to an agreement between the State and the child. The agreement was that, if A.E.E. pled true to the charge, she would be placed on probation and, as a condition of that probation, she would be placed in the home of her maternal aunt. Because the juvenile court disposed of the case in accordance with this agreement, Section 56.01(n) is applicable. Further, the court did not give the child permission to appeal and this appeal is not based on a matter raised by written motion filed before the proceeding. It is clear A.E.E. could not appeal from this juvenile proceeding. The issue then is whether Emmons has standing to appeal the disposition of his child under these circumstances.

Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 56.01(c)(1) provides that an appeal may be brought *254 "by or on behalf of a child." However, Emmons is attempting to assert his parental rights through this appeal. Nowhere does he claim to be appealing on behalf of A.E.E.

The State, in its supplemental brief, stated it found no Texas case on point for this issue. However, the State cited two cases from other jurisdictions. In Arizona, a mother had standing to appeal the restitution order of a juvenile disposition because the mother was required by Arizona law to pay the restitution. The court held that, even though the only named parties to the action were the state and the juvenile, the mother was also an aggrieved party who had standing because the order from the juvenile proceeding was imposed on the mother. In re Kory L., 194 Ariz. 215, 979 P.2d 543, 545 (Ct.App.1999). In California, a mother did not have standing to bring an appeal when the juvenile court placed her son on probation in her home. In re Almalik S., 68 Cal.App.4th 851, 854, 80 Cal.Rptr.2d 619 (Cal.Ct.App.1998).

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89 S.W.3d 250, 2002 WL 31318055, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-aee-texapp-2002.