in the Interest of J.B.W. and K.G., Children

99 S.W.3d 218, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 180
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 9, 2003
Docket02-01-00340-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by79 cases

This text of 99 S.W.3d 218 (in the Interest of J.B.W. and K.G., Children) 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 the Interest of J.B.W. and K.G., Children, 99 S.W.3d 218, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 180 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

JOHN CAYCE, Chief Justice.

Introduction

Frances W. appeals from the trial court’s termination of her parental rights in her children, J.B.W. and K.G. David G. appeals from the trial court’s termination of his parental rights in K.G. J.B.W.’s alleged biological father was a party below, but he does not appeal the trial court’s termination order. We will affirm.

Background Facts and Procedural History

On March 6, 1999, David injured J.B.W. while Frances was at a Laundromat. When Frances returned from the Laundromat and discovered the injuries, she became hysterical. Frances and David argued until David left; then Frances went to the hospital with J.B.W. After J.B.W. was discharged from the hospital, Frances, J.B.W., and K.G. went to a women’s shelter to stay. Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) re *221 moved the children from Frances on March 8, 1999, when TDPRS feared Frances was going to reunite herself and the children with David. David was arrested on June 28, 1999 and was, at the time of trial, serving a six-year sentence for injuring J.B.W.

TDPRS was appointed temporary managing conservator of the children on March 8, 1999. Also on March 8, 1999, TDPRS petitioned to terminate appellants’ parental rights in K.G. On May 26, 1999, TDPRS petitioned to terminate Frances’s parental rights in J.B.W. The cases were consolidated, and trial began on February 15, 2000. Trial was continued to March 29, 2000, but never resumed.

On December 11, 2000, while the children were still in TDPRS’s custody, TDPRS filed another lawsuit seeking to terminate appellants’ parental rights in J.B.W. and K.G. On May 18, 2001, the trial court dismissed TDPRS’s 1999 lawsuit for want of prosecution. The December 2000 lawsuit was tried to the court in August 2001, and the trial court rendered judgment terminating appellants’ parental rights in J.B.W. and KG. on October 18, 2001.

Trial Court’s Subject Matter Jurisdiction

In their third issue, appellants complain for the first time on appeal that the trial court had no subject matter jurisdiction to render the October 2001 termination decree. They contend that the trial court’s jurisdiction expired sometime in September 2000 under former section 268.401 of the family code 1 and that all of the trial court’s rulings made after that date are, therefore, null and void.

Before reaching the merits of this argument, we must first address the State’s contention that appellants have waived their jurisdictional complaint because they did not raise it in their “statements of points,” as required by section 268.405(b) of the family code. 2

A complaint that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction raises fundamental error and therefore may be made at any time on appeal. 3 Thus, the failure to include a subject matter jurisdiction complaint in the statements of points on appeal does not deprive us of our jurisdiction to review the merits of the complaint. 4 We, therefore, hold that appellants did not waive their right to complain about the trial court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction by failing to include the complaint in their statements of points on appeal. 5 We will now address the merits, if any, of appellants’ jurisdictional complaint.

*222 Section 263.401 of the family code provides that, unless the trial court has rendered a final order on the first Monday after the first anniversary of the date the court appointed TDPRS as temporary managing conservator in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship, the court “shall dismiss” a suit filed by TDPRS that seeks the termination of the parent-child relationship. 6 The trial court may extend this deadline for up to 180 days if, by the Monday after the first anniversary date, the court finds that continuing TDPRS’s conservatorship of the child is in the child’s best interest and renders an order that complies with section 263.401(b). 7 If the trial court grants an extension, but does not render a final order within the 180-day period, it must dismiss the suit. 8

A party may, however, waive the right to object to the trial court’s failure to comply with these statutory deadlines. Under current section 263.402(b), a party “who fails to make a timely motion to dismiss the suit or to make a motion requesting the court to render a final order before the deadline for dismissal ... waives the right to object to the court’s failure to dismiss the suit.” 9 To be timely, a motion to dismiss must be made before TDPRS has introduced all of its evidence, other than rebuttal evidence, at the trial on the merits. 10 This provision became effective on September 1, 2001 — shortly after the August 2001 trial on termination ended in this case, but before the trial court rendered its termination decree in October 2001 — and expressly applies to all termination suits pending on that date “regardless of whether the suit was filed before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.” 11

Applying the current version of section 263.402(b) to this case, appellants were required to move to dismiss the suit before TDPRS introduced all of its evidence at the August 2001 trial on termination. Appellants made no such motion or similar objection in the trial court, however, and the case remained on the trial court’s docket until it rendered the October 2001 decree of termination. Appellants have, therefore, waived their right to object to the trial court’s failure to dismiss the suit because they did not raise the objection in the trial court. 12

Notwithstanding the legislature’s clear and unambiguous expression of intent that the September 1, 2001 amendments to section 263.402(b) apply to all termination suits pending on the effective date of the amended statute, appellants assert - that the amended version of the statute should not apply to this case. Instead, they contend that this case should be controlled by the former statute, in which the deadlines for rendering or dismissing in a termination suit were jurisdictional and could not be waived. Additionally, appellants argue that applying the waiver provision to this case would lead to a prejudicial, absurd result in that it would require them to have made an objection to the trial court’s failure to dismiss during trial that they were not statutorily required to make until *223 after the trial had ended. Appellants contend that this result would be contrary to the legislature’s intent and impair their vested right to challenge the trial court’s failure to dismiss for the first time on appeal, as they would have been permitted to do under the former statute.

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Bluebook (online)
99 S.W.3d 218, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-jbw-and-kg-children-texapp-2003.