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COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
NO. 2-10-073-CV
IN THE INTEREST OF J.T.E.E.,
J.T.E, AND D.T.E., CHILDREN
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FROM THE 211TH DISTRICT COURT OF DENTON COUNTY
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MEMORANDUM OPINION[1]
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The underlying proceeding involved a termination of parental rights. The final order of termination was signed on March 11, 2009. Almost seven months later, on October 7, 2009, Grandparents filed a petition in intervention. The Department filed a motion to strike the intervention, and the trial court granted the Department=s motion. In its order striking the petition in intervention filed by Grandparents, the trial court stated that the petition was untimely because it was filed outside the ninety-day time frame allowed under section 102.006(c) of the Texas Family Code; thus, the trial court found that Grandparents lacked standing.
Grandparents are now attempting to appeal the AOrder On The Department=s Motion To Strike Intervention,@ which was signed February 25, 2010. The State has filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction based on Grandparents= lack of standing. The certificate of conference states that the attorney for Grandparents is opposed to the motion, but Grandparents have not filed a response with this court opposing the State=s motion to dismiss.
Texas Family Code section 102.006(c) allows a grandparent to file an original suit or a suit for modification requesting managing conservatorship of the child not later than the ninetieth day after the date that the parent-child relationship is terminated in a suit by the Department. Tex. Fam. Code Ann. ' 102.006(c) (Vernon 2008). Here, Grandparents failed to file their petition in intervention within the ninety-day time frame and thus lacked standing to intervene. We therefore grant the State=s motion to dismiss and dismiss this appeal. See generally In re Northrop., Nos. 01-09-00814-CV, 01-09-00815-CV, 2009 WL 3327236, at *3B4 (Tex. App.CHouston [1st Dist.] Oct. 15, 2009, orig. proceeding) (stating that A[b]ecause the Texas Family Code creates a presumption that the prompt and permanent placement of the child in a safe environment is in the child=s best interest, we cannot say that the court abused its discretion in striking the petition in intervention,@ which was untimely filed).
SUE WALKER
JUSTICE
PANEL: WALKER, MCCOY, and MEIER, JJ.
DELIVERED: April 22, 2010
[1]See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.