For an appeal against a juvenile protective disposition decision, how long does the provision allow for lodging it, and from when does that period run?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the certified copy of the decision appealed against — the protective disposition, the additional disposition, or the ruling changing either — and the paper showing when it was served, since the length of the period matters only once a starting event is identified, together with the stamped receipt on the appeal papers showing when the appeal was lodged.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision at its word: the length of the period for lodging the appeal is the one the provision sets, and it applies to an appeal by the person the provision names, against the decisions the provision lists, where one of its stated grounds is made out. The text states only that 'the period within which an appeal may be brought is' that length.
Another reading stresses what the provision leaves out: it fixes the length of the period but not the event from which it runs, and not what follows if an appeal is lodged late. A protective disposition, an additional disposition and a ruling changing either are all covered, yet nothing in the provision tells a file how a late step is treated.
Your judgment
With no starting event named in the provision, what in the file fixes when the period for this appeal began?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We revisit this card if the provision is amended to name the event from which the period runs or the consequence of a late appeal, or if a decision on an appeal under this provision settles either point.