ALABAMA RULES OF JUVENILE PROCEDURE
Rule 13.
Issuance of notices and service of summons.
The following procedures shall apply for the issuance of notices and service of summons in delinquency, in-need-of-supervision, and dependency cases in the juvenile court:
(A) Summons. Service of summons shall be pursuant to the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, except as hereinafter provided:
(1) After a petition alleging delinquency, in need of supervision, or dependency has been filed, the clerk of the court shall ensure that summonses are issued to the child, if he or she is 12 or more years of age; to the parent(s), legal guardian(s), or other legal custodian(s); and to other persons who appear to the juvenile court to be proper or necessary parties to the proceedings, requiring them to appear personally before the juvenile court at the time fixed to answer or testify as to the allegations of the petition. A copy of the petition shall be attached to each summons.
(2) There shall be no service by publication of any proceeding in the juvenile court except in proceedings to terminate parental rights.
(3) The service of the summons shall give the juvenile court jurisdiction over the persons served, but the inability to serve any party shall not deprive the court of jurisdiction to proceed.
(4) An adult who is a party may waive service of the summons by written stipulation or by voluntary appearance at the hearing. A person who is summoned but fails to appear, without reasonable cause for the failure to appear, may be proceeded against for indirect criminal contempt.
(B) Notices of detention, shelter-care hearings, and 72-hour hearings. Oral or written notice of all detention and shelter-care hearings in delinquency and in-need-of-supervision cases, stating the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearings and that the child, parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian has the right to counsel, shall be given by a juvenile probation officer to the parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian if they can be found and to the child if the child is over 12 years of age. Oral or written notice of the 72-hour hearing in dependency cases, stating the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearing and the right to counsel, shall be given to the parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian if he or she can be found.
(C) Notices of other hearings. Except for detention, shelter-care, and 72-hour hearings, written notice of all hearings and hearings on the merits of the petition as otherwise provided in this rule shall be provided to all parties in the proceedings and shall include the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearings.
(D) Notices to foster parents, preadoptive parents, and relative caregivers. The juvenile court shall ensure that foster parents, preadoptive parents, and relative caregivers of a child in foster care under the responsibility of the State are notified, orally or in writing, of the date, time, and place of any juvenile court proceeding to be held with respect to a child in their care.
[Amended eff. 5-1-94; Amended eff. 6-22-2007; Amended eff. 2-1-2008; Amended eff. 1-9-2009.]
Comment
Notice by publication, when personal service cannot be effected, is not provided for in most juvenile cases. Effectiveness of this notice must be balanced against the necessity for immediacy of the hearing and the requirement of confidentiality of juvenile court proceedings. Rule 27 provides modification procedure when a party has not been served personally or by publication.
Rule 23(B) provides for a waiver of the right to notice of the hearing. See also § 12-15-53(e), Ala. Code 1975, providing for a waiver of service of summons.
[Comment amended eff. 5-1-94.]
Comment to Rule 13(E)
Adopted effective June 22, 2007
Subsection (E) was added to comply with 42 U.S.C. § 629h(b)(1), which conditions funding for the Alabama Court Improvement Program grant for fiscal year 2007 on the requirement that the Supreme Court have in effect a rule requiring state courts to ensure that foster parents, pre-adoptive parents, and relative caregivers of a child in foster care under the responsibility of the State are notified of any proceeding to be held with respect to the child. The language in subsection (E) was taken verbatim from 42 U.S.C. § 629h(b)(1).
Comment to Amendment to Rule 13
Effective February 1, 2008
Rule 13 was amended to clarify when summons and notices of hearings should be provided in juvenile court proceedings.
The word "service" was added in place of "notice" in subsection (A)(2) to track the language in Rule 4.3, Ala. R. Civ. P. The first sentence in subsection (A)(4) was added to track the language in § 12-15-53(e), Ala. Code 1975, except that the statute exempts the child from this waiver provision; that exemption was not included in the amended rule. Also, the words "indirect criminal" were added before the word "contempt" to specify the type of contempt proceeding that may be brought for failing to have reasonable cause to appear as a result of a summons.
Subsection (B) in its entirety is new and tracks § 12-15-60(b), Ala. Code 1975.
Subsection (C) was added to ensure that written notice of all hearings (not including detention and shelter-care hearings as provided in subsection (B) and hearings on the merits of the petition as provided in subsection (A)(1)) are provided to all parties in the proceedings.
A title was added to subsection (D), formerly subsection (E) (adopted effective June 22, 2007).
Comment to Amendment to Rule 13
Effective January 9, 2009
Subsection (A)(1) of this rule was amended to clarify that the clerk of the court shall ensure that summonses are issued in delinquency, dependency, and child-in-need-of-supervision cases to the parties listed requiring them to appear personally before the juvenile court at the time fixed to answer or to testify as to the allegations of the petition. This language is to be read together with Ala. Code 1975, § 12-15-122(a), which provides that "[a]fter a petition alleging delinquency, in need of supervision, or dependency has been filed, the juvenile court shall direct the issuance of summonses ...." It is the duty of the clerk of the court to issue summonses. See Rule 4.I.(C), Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration, and Ala. Code 1975, § 12-17-94(a)(1). In addition, the provision requiring that a summons be served at least 24 hours prior to the hearing was deleted.
Subsection (A)(4) was amended to clarify that an adult party may waive service of the summons to be consistent with Ala. Code 1975, § 12-15-122(d).
Subsection (B) was amended to provide that oral or written notice of all detention and shelter-care hearings in delinquency and in-need-of-supervision cases, stating the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearings and the right to counsel, shall be given by a juvenile probation officer to the parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian, if they can be found, and to the child if the child is over 12 years of age. This language was added to be consistent with Ala. Code 1975, § 12-15-207(b).
Language was also added to subsection (B) to provide that oral or written notice of the 72-hour hearing in dependency cases, stating the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearing and the right to counsel, shall be given to the parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian, if he or she can be found. This language was added to be consistent with Ala. Code 1975, § 12-15-308(b). Similar changes were made to subsection (C) to make that subsection consistent with subsection (B).
Subsection (D) was amended to provide that foster parents, preadoptive parents, and relative caregivers are to be given notice, orally or in writing, of the date, time, and place of any juvenile court proceeding being held with respect to a child in their care. This language was intended to be consistent with Ala. Code 1975, § 12-15-307, which is part of the Dependency and Termination of Parental Rights Article of the Alabama Juvenile Justice Act of 2008. A "preadoptive parent" is a person who has been approved by an agency to adopt a child but has not been granted adoptive-parent status by court order.
Note from the reporter of decisions: The order amending effective June 22, 2007, Rule 1, Rule 20, and Rule 28(C), and adopting effective June 22, 2007, Rule 13(E); the Comment to Rule 13(E) Adopted Effective June 22, 2007; the Comment to Amendment of Rule 1 Effective June 22, 2007; the Comment to Amendment of Rule 20 Effective June 22, 2007; and the Comment to Amendment of Rule 28(C) Effective June 22, 2007, is published in that volume of Alabama Reporter that contains Alabama cases from 957 So.2d.
Note from the reporter of decisions: The order amending Rule 13, effective February 1, 2008, and adopting the Comment to Amendment to Rule 13 Effective February 1, 2008, is published in that volume of Alabama Reporterthat contains Alabama cases from 972 So.2d.
Note from the reporter of decisions: The order amending effective January 9, 2009, Rule 1(A), Rule 8, Rule 13, Rule 20(A), Rule 24, Rule 28, and Rule 31, and adopting effective January 9, 2009, the Comment to Amendment to Rule 1(A) Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Amendment to Rule 8 Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Rescission of Rule 11 Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Amendment to Rule 13 Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Rescission of Rule 16 Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Amendment to Rule 20(A) Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Amendment to Rule 24 Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Amendment to Rule 28 Effective January 9, 2009; the Comment to Amendment to Rule 31 Effective January 9, 2009; and the Comment to Rescission of Rule 32 Effective January 9, 2009, is published in that volume of Alabama Reporter that contains Alabama cases from 996 So. 2d.