Toward a "Civil Gideon" under the Montana Constitution: Parental Rights as the Starting Point
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: Litigants appear regularly in Montana courts without the assistance of counsel.In disputes ranging from abuse and neglect to landlord-tenant, consumer, public benefits, social security, insurance, dissolution, child support and parenting issues arising in administrative proceedings, Montana's courts of limited jurisdiction, the district courts, and the Montana Supreme Court, many litigants do not have access to attorney assistance. 2 Some elect not to be represented, but many low or moderate income individuals cannot secure free legal assistance and cannot afford to hire lawyers.Few would disagree that many of these litigants would benefit from counsel.Many believe counsel should be appointed for them.This article proposes theories under which Montana courts should be obligated to provide counsel to indigent parties in certain circumstances, focusing on the fundamental right to parent as * Professor and Clinic Director, University of Montana School of Law.The author would like to thank the Boalt Hall Social Justice Faculty who offered valuable suggestions at an early presentation of this paper, and to the participants at the University of Montana Law Review's 2004 symposium on Children and the Law, who also contributed to the development of these ideas.Special thanks go to Mark Kende and Betsy Griffing, who read and commented on an earlier draft.The article could not have been completed without the able research assistance of Elizabeth Mazur of the University of California at Berkeley and Merianne Stansbury of
Source: bepress Legal Repository
Author: Mary Helen McNeal
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W575385190