1 John T. Boyd, Chi ef Justice (Ret.), Sev enth Court ofAppeals, sitti ng by assignment. Tex . Gov ’t CodeAnn. §7 5.002 (a)(1 ) (Vern on Sup p. 200 3). NO. 07-03-0124 -CV IN THE COU RT OF APP EALS FOR THE SEVENT H DISTRICT OF TEXAS

AT AMA RILLO PANE L E APRIL 30, 2003

______________________________ IN THE INT EREST OF A.N., J.A.N., E.S.N. AND F.A.N., CH ILDREN

_________________________________ FROM THE 237 TH DISTRICT COURT OF LUBBOCK COUNTY; NO. 2001-515,62 5; HON. SAM M EDINA, PRESIDING

_______________________________ ABATEMENT AND REMAND

__________________________________ Before QUINN and REAVIS, JJ., and BOYD, S.J. 1 Pending before us is a “ Motion to Appoi nt Attorney Ad Li tem to Assiston Appeal.” The motion was filed by Jenni fer L. Hancock, who w as allegedly appointed to represent Susanna Narvais (Narvais) in a proceeding to term inate Narvais’ paren tal r ig hts viz her three children. Hancock requests that atto rney Donald M. Hunt be appointed to actin her stead wh ile the cause pends on appeal. General ly, a lit igan t isnot ent itled to app ointed co unsel in a c ivil case. H owe ver, when the suit involves the term ination of the pa ren t/c hild r elat ions hip, as it s upp ose dly does here, statute m andates that an indigent parent be appointed cou nsel. T EX . F AM .2 W e have of record no affi davit of indigence filed purs uant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 20.1(a). And, assuming an af fi dav it of indigence was fi led below to secure appointed counsel for tr ial, t hat doesnotfill the v oid. See Holt v. F.F. Enterprises , 990 S.W.2d 75 6, 757 -58 (Tex. App.--Amarillo 19 98, pet. denied ) (req uiring a new or current affi davit of indigence to accompan y the notice of appe al). 2 C ODE A NN . §107.013(a) (Vernon 2002). Though the statute says nothing of a pp ointed counsel on appeal, it has been construed to also enco mpas s that proceeding. In re T.V. , 8 S.W. 3d 448, 449 (Tex. App.–Waco 1999, no pet.). But, again, the parent mus t b e indigent, and we have no evidence be fore us i llustrating that Narvais falls within that category. 2 Consequentl y, we abate this appeal and remand the cause to the 237th Di strict Court of Lubbock County

(trial court) for further

proceedings. Upon rem and, the trial court sha ll imm ediately cause notice of a hearing to be given and, thereafter, conduct a hearing to determ ine the following: 1. whet her appellant desires to prosecute the appeal; and, 2. whet herappellant is indigent and entitl ed to appointed counsel on app eal. We fur the r dir ect the tria l court to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law addressing the foregoing subj ects. Should thetria l court find that appellant desires to pursue this appeal, is indigent, and is entitled to appointed counsel on appeal, we further direct it to appointcou nse l to Nar vaiscapable of effectively representing and prosecuting her contentions on appeal. The trial court may exerc ise i ts d isc ret ion b y ap poin ting Don ald M. Hunt, asrequested by Hanco ck. The nam e, addre ss, ph one num ber, telef ax n um ber, and state bar

number of the counsel appoi nted to represe nt Narvais, i f any, mu st also be3

included in the trial court's findings of fact and conc lusions of law. Furthermore, the trial
co urtshall also cause to be developed 1) a supplem ental clerk's record contai ning th e findings of

factand conclusi ons of law and 2) a repo rter's recor d transcri bing the evi dence and argum ent presented at the af orement ioned hearing. Ad ditio nally , th e tr ial c our t sh all
cause the reporter ’s record and supplem ental clerk's record to be filed w ith t he c lerk of t his court on or before May

20, 2003. Should additional time be ne eded to perfor m t h ese tasks, the trial court m ay request sam e on or before May 20, 2003. It is so ordered. Pe r C ur i am