Being properly served or noticed of court proceedings is perhaps the most basic element of due process for anyone involved in the court system. Receiving proper notice is especially important when one’s parental rights are to be terminated.

In the matter of In re M.K., a Minor, Appeal of: R.J.K., Father, 2022 Pa. Super. 7, the Pennsylvania Superior Court considered whether a father—R.J.K.—received proper notice of a hearing to terminate his parental rights. In M.K. the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas involuntarily terminated R.J.K.’s parental rights to his daughter M.K. after a hearing at which R.J.K. did not appear.