NO. 07-07-0456-CV
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
AT AMARILLO
PANEL A
JANUARY 9, 2008
______________________________
IN THE INTEREST OF K.B.F.J., K.D.J., AND K.J., CHILDREN
_________________________________
FROM THE 320TH DISTRICT COURT OF POTTER COUNTY;
NO. 63,691-D; HONORABLE DON EMERSON, JUDGE
_______________________________
Before CAMPBELL and HANCOCK and PIRTLE, JJ.
ORDER
By memorandum opinion dated November 29, 2007, this Court dismissed Erika Lizette Fierro’s appeal for failure to timely pay the required filing fee of $175 in her challenge to the trial court’s order denying her petition to modify the parent-child relationship. Fierro had been notified by letter from this Court on November 7, 2007, to pay the required filing fee within ten days noting that failure to do so might result in dismissal. Fierro did not respond to the notice; instead, she did file an Affidavit of Indigence in the trial court on November 16, 2007. The affidavit, however, was not forwarded to this Court until December 12, 2007. The Clerk’s Record was subsequently filed on December 14, 2007.
A party who is excused by statute or the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure is not required to pay fees. Tex. R. App. P. 5. Rule 20.1(a) provides that a party who cannot pay the costs in an appellate court may proceed without payment of costs if a compliant affidavit of indigence, among other items, is filed. We find that the affidavit filed by Fierro substantially complies with Rule 20.1(b) and entitles her to proceed without payment of the filing fees in this Court. Accordingly, we now withdraw our opinion and judgment of November 29, 2007, and reinstate Fierro’s appeal. The deadline for the filing of the appellate record is extended to February 1, 2008.
It is so ordered.
Per Curiam