I am responding to an appeal from a juvenile conviction and the case was transferred to Waco where the clerk is attempting demanding that I pay a filing fee for my motion to extension to file State's brief. Can he do this? I thought the State was exempt from paying these fees and the San Antonio court of appeals has never charged the State these fees. Any thoughts?

The Fort Worth charges us fees in juvenile cases. That was something we had hoped to get fixed in the 2007 juvenile bill. That bill seems to have collapsed with the departure of Rep. Toby Goodman.

As for the authority to charge a fee you should look at TRAP 5 (Fees in Civil Cases).

There is a provision in the family code that exempts the state from filing fees in CPS cases, but I don't know if it applies in juvie cases. Dallas COA was on again off again for several years on that.

This bill should fix this problem if it passes.

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/80R/billtext/html/HB02884I.HTM (see proposed 51.17(i))