### IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA DA 20

- 0450

_________________
IN THE MATTER OF THE GUARDIANSHIP OF: S.C.J., A Protected Person

. O R D E R

_________________ Appellant filed her opening brief in this case on December 1 0, 2020

. This Court reviews briefs to make sure they comply with the Court ’ s Rules of Appellate Procedure. After reviewing the opening brief, this Court has determined that the brief does not comply with the Rule s and must be corrected and resubmitted. M ontana R

ule of App ellate Proced

ure 10(6) requires the use of initials for parties in guardianship proceedings. As shown above, the caption of the case i dentif ies the Appellant by her initials only. Appellant should revise her brief to be sure that every mention of her name is replaced with her initials , “ S.C.J

. ” The A ppellant should also edit her brief to replace the names of her guardians, who are al so parties to the case, with their initials, “ S .J. ” and “T.J. ” The Appellant should also use only her initials to sign the brief, certificate of compliance, and certificate of service. As a court of appeals, the Montana Supreme Court decides cases on the basis of facts that were presented to the District C ourt. M ontana R ule of App ellate Procedure 12(1)(d) states that an appellate brief must contain “the facts relevant to the issues presented for review, with references to the pages or the parts of the record at which material facts appear.” Appellant S. C.J. ’ s brief includes facts supporting her argument, but the factual statements do not contain any references to documents in the court file or the transcript of the hearing held before Judge Berger on August 5, 2020. A ppell ant should edit her brief so that its reference s to the facts are supported by something said during that hearing or filed with the district court

. Appellant can refer to the transcript by 12/11/2020

Case Number: DA 20-04502

putting in parentheses the page and line num ber(s) where the fact s appear in the hearing transcript

. Her brief may not include facts or information that were not part of the court file or the hearing before Judge B erger. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the signed original and nine copies of the referenced brief be returned for revisions necessary to comp ly with the specified Rule s ; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Appell ant S.C.J. must revise the brief as directed in this order and file a new signed original and nine copies of the revised brief filed within ten (10) days of the date of this Order with the Clerk of this Court

. She also must serve a copy of the revised brief on the other parties to the case ; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the postage costs for returning the referenced copies of Appellant ’ s brief will be billed to the Appellant by the Clerk of this Court and shall be due and payab le upon receipt; and IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the times for any subsequent briefing contained in M ontana R

ule of App ellate Procedure 13 shall run from the date of filing of the revised brief. The Clerk of this Court is directed to mail a true copy of thi s Order to Appellant S .C.J. and to mail a true copy of this Order to all parties upon whom the brief was served.

Electronically signed by: Beth Baker Justice, Montana Supreme Court December 11 2020