Motion and Memorandum to Vacate Appointments

One of the questions the Parental Defense Alliance is most frequently asked is, “under what circumstances can a party be appointed counsel?”

The statute that governs the appointment of counsel in child welfare cases is U.C.A. § 78A-6-1111

Simply it states that in order to be entitled to counsel, the case must be a state initiated Petition in which the party is indigent.  Indigent means that the party makes less than 150% of the U.S. poverty guidelines (See http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/14computations.cfm), or lacks the income, assets, and credit to obtain or finance counsel.

This conflicts with Utah Rule of Juvenile Procedure 37(d) which states that “Counsel may be appointed by the court for an indigent respondent who is a parent, guardian or custodian of the child…”  Counties are entitled to notice of all appointments and the county is entitled to a hearing.

We have recently added to our Forms bank a Motion and Memorandum to Vacate Appointments.  http://www.parentaldefense.org/Forms-Library

Being diligent in reviewing the applications for appointment of counsel will allow public defenders to serve that portion of the population that truly qualify for the assistance to decrease the strain on our public defenders.

If you feel as if an application for appointed counsel was inappropriately granted speak with your contract administrator or County Clerk to determine if they would like challenge the appointment.  As a note, it is the County that has the right to challenge the appointment, not the individual attorney and as such you must have your county’s authorization to represent them, or they must have their county attorney’s office challenge the matter.