Opinion ID: 1973902
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: When notice of appeal was filed in this case, a final decree had not yet been entered. Rather than exercise our discretion to quash the appeal, this panel caused the following Per Curiam Order to be entered: ORDER This appeal taken from an order dismissing exceptions to a decree nisi terminating the appellant's parental rights. An appeal will not lie from an order denying exceptions. Entry of a final decree is necessary for appellate review. Kopchak v. Springer, 292 Pa.Super. 441, 437 A.2d 756 (1981) (where appellant failed to have a final decree entered on the docket, but instead appealed from order dismissing exceptions to decree nisi, appeal would be quashed). The appellant is, therefore, directed to praecipe for the entry of a final decree. Pa.R.A.P. 301. If the appellant does not submit proof of entry of a final decree on the trial court docket, within fifteen days of the date of this order, this appeal shall be dismissed. Order of April 5, 1990. When an order is interlocutory and unappealable, an appeal taken from the order may be quashed. In many cases, however, an order quashing an appeal only serves to unnecessarily delay review by causing the parties to go back to the start, praecipe a final order, and then repeat correctly completed procedures with no discernable benefit derived over simply directing the appellant to praecipe the final order without quashing. When, as here, the case involves parental rights and the swiftly passing childhoods of four individuals, any unnecessary delay ought be avoided when practicable alternatives exist. Hence, we elected to exercise our discretion to direct appellant to perfect our jurisdiction by filing a praecipe for entry of a final decree. See Pa.R.A.P. 301; Pa.R.A.P. 905(a). In response to our order of April 5, 1990, a final decree was entered April 10, 1990. Our jurisdiction was thereby perfected. See Pa.R.A.P. 905(a).