No Right to Divorce Counsel in Wash.
There is no right to taxpayer-funded counsel in a divorce case under the Washington state constitution, the state’s supreme court has ruled in a closely watched case.
But it would still be a good idea to provide divorce lawyers to those who can’t afford them, the supreme court says in its written opinion. A “wise public policy” may call for higher standards than “those minimally tolerable under the Constitution,” writes Justice Charles Johnson, explaining the court’s 7-2 decision.
The plaintiff in the case, Brenda King, lost primary custody of her two children in a 2006 divorce case in which her husband was represented and she wasn’t, because she couldn’t afford counsel, reports the Seattle Times. She was represented pro bono in her appeal to the state supreme court.
A dissenting opinion says that divorce involves both fundamental rights and state action. Hence, it states, the state constitution requires that counsel be appointed to help indigent parents navigate the complex legal requirements of a divorce case.
“Ms. King’s struggle to represent herself in this case demonstrates the legal hurdles that arise every day in courtrooms across Washington, showing the importance of counsel to a parent in a dissolution proceeding seeking to secure her fundamental right to parent her children,” the dissent explains. “The majority’s decision does not begin to address the obstacles an indigent parent encounters when she is unrepresented by counsel, nor does it realistically assess the loss she faces.”
A concurring opinion also was filed in the case.
