Every Foster Parent Fears the Motion to Continue. Your Worst Enemy in a TPR Trial.

In the science of conflict resolution, delay is always on someone’s side. An unscrupulous opposing counsel will often seek a last-minute continuance of the trial on some technicality.

Two Things You Need to Know as the Trial Approaches

1. Make sure your legal counsel is doing everything in their power to prevent the trial being continued.

Verify that service has been perfected on all parties. All parties must comply with any pre-trial orders from the judge. Consider circulating an email to all attorneys one or two weeks before the trial to see if there are any discovery or procedural problems. If a party has problems, ask the court for a pre-trial hearing to sort everything out before the day of trial.

2. Know what the law says.

The trial court has an extreme amount of discretion on whether or not to grant a continuance, but that only goes so far. In T.W. v. C.B, (1.23.2026) the Court of Civil Appeals explained that the trial court can do pretty much whatever they want as long as it’s not “plainly and palpably wrong.”

T.W. v. C.B. – Continued and Continued and. . . Attempted to Continue

The father filed a petition to terminate the mother’s legal rights. The mother requested appointed counsel on March 20, 2025. An attorney was appointed for her and the hearing was reset for April 25, 2025. Upon ending up in jail for not paying child support, the mother requested a continuance on April 10, 2025 so that she had more time to prepare. A day later, the father filed a response saying that the delay would prejudice him and not be in the best interest of the child. The court listened to this and denied the mother’s motion to continue on April 14, 2025.

At the trial, the mother’s counsel again requested a continuance because they did not have the adequate time to prepare. The court denied this request and on May 29, 2025, the juvenile court terminated the parental rights of the mother.

The juvenile court based this decision on three reasons. One, they found that there were no viable alternatives to the termination of parental rights. Two, the child’s stepmother planned to adopt the child and they had a good relationship. And three, a sound relationship did not exist between the mother and child.

The mother appealed this judgment on June 4, 2025.

Was the Trial Court Wrong in Denying the Motion to Continue?

No. The court reasoned that the mother’s counsel had adequate time to prepare for the hearing since she was given thirty days. Each case is fact specific and varies on how long the parties should have to prepare for trial. In this case, thirty days was adequate.

They also reasoned that the mother did not specify how she was wronged in not receiving adequate time to prepare. It was clear that she simply did not have the time. In other words, the mother did not elaborate as to why this case needed more time or why it was more complicated than others.

Overall, the court decided that the trial court did not erroneously deny the mother’s motion to continue. Therefore, they confirmed the ruling as valid. The court had a large amount of discretion in whether or not they granted the mother’s motion to continue. The Court of Civil Appeals did not find this decision “plainly and palpably wrong.”

Conclusion

Remember that delay is not on your side. Pushing things off doesn’t resolve them. Adopt these principles in order to fight delay as well as you can. And always, if you would like us to do them for you, don’t hesitate to reach out at 334-546-2009.