In Re TC

200 S.W.3d 788, 2006 WL 2167158
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 3, 2006
Docket2-05-074-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 200 S.W.3d 788 (In Re TC) 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 TC, 200 S.W.3d 788, 2006 WL 2167158 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

200 S.W.3d 788 (2006)

In the Interest of T.C. and G.C., Children.

No. 2-05-074-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

August 3, 2006.

*789 Phillip L. Reynolds, Tiffany L. Haertling, Denton, for appellant.

Bruce Isaacks, Criminal District Attorney, Kathleen A. Walsh and Vicki Foster, Assistant District Attorneys, Denton, for appellee.

PANEL F: CAYCE, C.J.; WALKER and McCOY, JJ.

*790 OPINION

SUE WALKER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This appeal arises from the trial court's determination that Appellants'[1] appeals from the termination of their rights to T.C. and G.C. would be frivolous. After a four-day jury trial, the jury found by clear and convincing evidence that Appellants' rights to T.C. and G.C. should be terminated, and the trial court signed a final order reflecting the jury's findings. The trial court subsequently held the hearing required by family code section 263.405(d) and denied father's motion for new trial, found that mother and father are indigent, and determined that because neither mother nor father had presented a substantial question for appellate review, both of their appeals are frivolous. See generally TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 263.405(b), (d) (Vernon Supp.2005) (providing procedures for determining indigency and right to obtain free record for appeal of judgment terminating parental rights). Mother and father now appeal, challenging the constitutionality of family code section 263.405 and civil practice and remedies code section 13.003, as well as the trial court's findings that their appeals are frivolous. See id. § 263.405(g).

II. CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES

Mother argues in her first two points and father argues in his first four points that family code section 263.405 violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the United States and Texas Constitutions. Father also argues in his seventh point that Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 13.003 violates his right to due process of law.

The gist of Appellants' arguments is that section 263.405 of the Texas Family Code is unconstitutional because it treats an indigent party's appeal differently from a non-indigent party's appeal and because it makes a distinction between parents in a private termination case and parents in a termination case brought by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS). Specifically, Appellants argue that the statute allows a trial judge to deny an indigent appellant a record of the trial, while a non-indigent appellant could purchase a record and provide it to the appellate court and that the statute subjects a parent whose parental rights have been terminated in a suit brought by the government to a hearing held by the trial court to determine whether his or her appeal is frivolous, while a parent whose parental rights have been terminated in a suit brought by an individual is able to freely appeal the termination order. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that family code section 263.405 applies equally to indigent and to non-indigent parents and applies equally in termination suits initiated by TDFPS and by private individuals.

In addressing Appellants' constitutional challenges to family code section 263.405, we begin with the premise that, if possible, we must interpret a section 263.405 in a manner that renders it constitutional. FM Props. Operating Co. v. City of Austin, 22 S.W.3d 868, 873 (Tex.2000); Quick v. City of Austin, 7 S.W.3d 109, 115 (Tex.1998). A party raising a facial challenge to the constitutionality of a statute must demonstrate that the statute always operates unconstitutionally. Wilson v. Andrews, 10 S.W.3d 663, 670 (Tex.1999). In other words, a challenger must establish that no set of circumstances exists under which the statute would be valid. Id. In *791 reviewing a facial challenge to a statute's constitutionality, we consider the statute as written, rather than as it operates in practice. See Barshop v. Medina County Underground Water Conservation Dist., 925 S.W.2d 618, 626-27 (Tex.1996).

Turning to the language of the statute at issue, family code section 263.405, it provides in relevant part:

(d) The trial court shall hold a hearing not later than the 30th day after the date the final order [terminating parental rights] is signed to determine whether:
(1) a new trial should be granted;
(2) a party's claim of indigence, if any, should be sustained; and
(3) the appeal is frivolous as provided by Section 13.003(b), Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
....
(f) The appellate record must be filed in the appellate court not later than the 60th day after the date the final order is signed by the trial judge, unless the trial court, after a hearing, grants a new trial or denies a request for a trial court record at no cost.
(g) The appellant may appeal the court's order denying the appellant's claim of indigence or the court's finding that the appeal is frivolous by filing with the appellate court the reporter's record and clerk's record of the hearing held under this section, both of which shall be provided without advance payment, not later than the 10th day after the court makes the decision. The appellate court shall review the records and may require the parties to file appellate briefs on the issues presented, but may not hear oral argument on the issues. The appellate court shall render appropriate orders after reviewing the records and appellate briefs, if any.

TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 263.405(d), (f)-(g).

Section 263.405 does not set out the test the trial court is required to apply to determine whether a party is indigent and is therefore entitled to a free record. See TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 263.405(f). That test is set forth in section 13.003 of the civil practice and remedies code, which is captioned "Free Transcript of Statement of Facts on Appeal" and states in part:

(a) Subject to Subsection (c), a court reporter shall provide without cost a statement of facts and a clerk of a court shall prepare a transcript for appealing a judgment from the court only if:
(1) an affidavit of inability to pay the cost of the appeal has been filed under the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure; and
(2) the trial judge finds:
(A) the appeal is not frivolous; and
(B) the statement of facts and the clerk's transcript is needed to decide the issue presented by the appeal.

TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 13.003(a) (Vernon 2002).

Thus, juxtaposing family code section 263.405 and civil practice and remedies code section 13.003(a), a trial court's determination that an appeal is frivolous has two statutory consequences. First, under family code section 263.405(g), it limits the scope of appellate review to the trial court's determination that the appeal is frivolous. In re S.J.G.,

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in the Interest of K.D., a Child
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Bluebook (online)
200 S.W.3d 788, 2006 WL 2167158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-tc-texapp-2006.