Lake Worth Texas Municipal Court: Juveniles

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Juveniles

All juveniles are required to appear in Court for all proceedings in their case. A juvenile is anyone under the age of 17. The juvenile and their parent or guardian must appear at the Lake Worth Municipal Court office during office hours and request a court date. A parent or guardian of the juvenile must also appear at the scheduled court date with his or her child. Additional charges for Failure to Appear, Parent’s Failure to Appear with Child at Hearing, and Failure to Provide Written Notice of Current Address against the juvenile defendant and the parent or guardian will be filed if the parent or guardian and juvenile do not appear and do not keep a current address with the court to notify the juvenile and their parent or guardian of appearance dates with the Court.

Below is Article 45.057(h) and (i) of the Code of Criminal Procedures. As of September 1, 2003 a juvenile and their parent have a continuing obligation to appear and keep a current address with the Court until the final disposition of the citation.

(h) A child and parent required to appear before the court have an obligation to provide the court in writing with the current address and residence of the child. That obligation does not end when the child reaches age 17. On or before the seventh day after the date the child or parent changes residence, the child or parent shall notify the court of the current address in the manner directed by the court. A violation of this subsection may result in arrest and is a Class C misdemeanor. The obligation to provide notice terminates on discharge and satisfaction of the judgment or final disposition not requiring a finding of guilt.
(i) If an appellate court accepts an appeal for a trial de novo, the child and parent shall provide notice under Subsection (h) to the appellate court.

Failure to comply with this statue will result in additional charges to be filed with the court and the juvenile will be eligible for arrest upon his or her 17^th birthday for Failure to Appear.