In the Interest of A.W., N.W., N.W., P.W., Children v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Thirteenth Court of Appeals affirmed an order terminating the mother’s parental rights to four children. The court held that the mother failed to preserve her legal and factual sufficiency challenges and her complaint that the termination order lacked findings required by Texas Family Code subsections 161.001(f) and (g).

Holdings

1. Mother failed to preserve her legal- or factual-sufficiency complaints because she did not file or urge any of the required trial-court motions or objections, including a motion for new trial.
2. The court need not address Mother's sufficiency challenge to subsection 161.001(b)(1)(N) because the jury also found unchallenged predicate grounds under subsections (D), (E), and (O), and termination requires clear and convincing proof of only one predicate ground in addition to best interest.
3. A complaint that a termination order lacks the written findings required by subsections 161.001(f) and (g) must be timely raised in the trial court; because Mother did not object or otherwise apprise the trial court of the alleged omission, she could not assert the error for the first time on appeal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Mother preserved her legal- and factual-sufficiency challenges to the jury's finding under Texas Family Code section 161.001(b)(1)(N) and to the best-interest finding under section 161.001(b)(2).
2. Whether the court needed to address Mother's challenge to subsection (N) when she did not challenge additional predicate grounds under subsections (D), (E), and (O).
3. Whether Mother's complaint that the termination order lacked the written findings required by Texas Family Code subsections 161.001(f) and (g) was preserved for appellate review.

Disposition

affirmed