"It is never too late to destroy yourself yet if you wish to build yourself you ought to refrain from useless and negative activities. Does he want to have a badly functioning body?"
Representation for civil matters
Over in The Great Debate, you're discussing lack of counsel in New Hampshire in civil child custody, child abuse, child neglect matters. I repeat, these are civil matters. There is only a constitutional right to counsel in criminal matters, matters for which the accused can go to prison for a fixed period of time. These NH cases are civil matters, involving fines and child custody. There is no constitutional right to counsel in civil matters. These civil cases can involve jail time, if a fine or payment is ordered by the court and the parent does not pay. The parent can be held in jail for contempt of court. But the parent will be released once he pays the fine or child support. The incarceration is an encouragement to comply, not a punishment for non-compliance. (For obvious reasons, it's also a last resort of the court system; hard to pay anything when you're not working; can't squeeze blood from a turnip.)
Lawyers are talking a lot these days about a right to counsel in civil matters. Obviously, custody of one's child can be a much bigger deal than the possibility of a few year's probation. It does seem incongruous that there may be a right to counsel for cases involving the latter but no right for the former. But, how to pay for it...?
Comment
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Comment by Rebekah on June 15, 2012 at 2:22pm -
Galt, as a lawyer, my training and experience conflict with your generalizations. In most California counties, for example, civil cases must be resolved in 1 year. Throughout California, civil cases must be resolved in 5 years. That's not really much time to complete what took me 3 years, full-time, to learn.
Moreover, while I don't doubt what you say about NH adoptions, in other big issues, like child custody following divorce, landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures on primary residences, there usually is not a right to counsel.
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Comment by John Galt on April 3, 2012 at 9:43pm -
Given how backed-up the legal system tends to be, the parties involved in the case ought to have plenty of time in which to study case law and precedent.
Also, in certain sorts of civil cases, there are provisions made for legal representation(In NH, where I reside, at least). My sister has put herself in an awful situation, and is going to have to give up her baby for adoption when she has it. She is doing so willingly, and our cousin and her husband are going to adopt the child, making the best of a bad situation. However, even though all parties are in agreement, the state requires that the adopters cover the cost of legal counsel for the process.
I'd lay odds that from state to state, there are very specific rules on who must provide what, and more situations are covered than people would tend to expect.
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