# People in Interest of AE

> Colorado Court of Appeals · February 22, 1996 · 20 Brief Times Rptr. 215

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9534432

## Case

- **Full name:** The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner-Appellee, in the Interest of A.E., a Child, and Concerning R.H., Respondent-Appellant
- **Court:** Colorado Court of Appeals
- **Decided:** February 22, 1996
- **Citations:** 20 Brief Times Rptr. 215; 914 P.2d 534; 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 49; 1996 WL 74388
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Ney
- **Judges:** Taubman, Kapelke, Ney
- **Cited by:** 40 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9534432

## Opinion text

Judge NEY
specially concurring.
I concur with the majority that the judgment terminating the parent/ehild legal relationship between R.H. and A.E. must be reversed. I write separately because I believe that summary judgment procedures are not appropriate in a termination proceeding under the Children’s Code.
The majority recognizes that parents have a fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and management of their children such that, before the state may completely and irrevocably sever a parent’s rights in his or her natural child, due process requires that the parent be permitted to participate in a meaningful manner in the termination proceedings. Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 , 102 S.Ct. 1388 , 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982). However, although the majority recognizes that § 19-3-602(1), C.R.S. (1995 Cum.Supp.) provides for termination only after a separate hearing, it also determines that such a hearing need not be an evidentiary hearing and a summary proceeding may be used. With this conclusion I cannot agree.
Because termination of the pareni/child relationship so drastically affects a parent’s liberty interest, I would hold that summary judgment is inappropriate in the context of termination of parental rights. See In re Interest of Philip W., 189 Wis.2d 432 , 525 N.W.2d 384 (Wis.App.1994); In re Christina T., 590 P.2d 189 (Okla.1979).

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9534432. Public record. Not legal advice.