in the Interest of Linda Renee Pless, Jessica Nicole Piland and Christopher Kreitel, Jr., Children

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: July 30, 2002
• Docket: 06-02-00096-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

______________________________

No. 06-02-00096-CV

IN THE INTEREST OF LINDA RENEE PLESS,

JESSICA NICOLE PILAND AND

CHRISTOPHER KREITEL, JR., CHILDREN

On Appeal from the 336th Judicial District Court

Fannin County, Texas

Trial Court No. 34373

Before Morriss, C.J., Grant and Ross, JJ.

Opinion by Justice Grant

O P I N I O N

Christopher Kreitel, Sr., appeals the trial court's order terminating his parental rights over Christopher Kreitel, Jr. In the same proceeding, the trial court terminated the parental rights of Christie Piland over Christopher Kreitel, Jr., Linda Renee Pless, and Jessica Nicole Piland. Christie Piland has not appealed the trial court's order.

The Order of Termination was signed on March 20, 2002. Pursuant to Act of May 22, 2001, 77th Leg., R.S., ch. 1090, § 9, 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 2395, 2397-98 (codified at Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 263.405(a) (Vernon Supp. 2002)), an appeal from an order terminating parental rights is treated as an accelerated appeal. In an accelerated appeal, the notice of appeal must be filed within twenty days from the date the judgment or order is signed. Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(b). Therefore, the notice of appeal had to be filed by April 9, 2002.

In the present case, Kreitel filed the Notice of Appeal on June 17, 2002. The record shows Kreitel filed a Motion for New Trial on March 26, 2002, but the time for filing a notice of appeal is not extended by the filing of a motion for new trial, a request for findings of fact and conclusions of law, or any other post-trial motion. Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 263.405(c) (Vernon Supp. 2002).

We notified Christopher Kreitel, Sr., of this defect in our jurisdiction and gave him ten days in which to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3. We have not received a response.

The appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

Ben Z. Grant

Justice

Date Submitted: July 29, 2002

Date Decided: July 30, 2002

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