Opinion ID: 2815838
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Right to Counsel in TPR Proceedings

Text: “It is a basic tenet of our society and our law that individuals have the fundamental constitutionally protected rights to procreate and to be a parent to their children. These constitutional rights are recognized by both the Florida Constitution and the United States Constitution.” D.M.T. v. T.M.H., 129 So. 3d 320, 334 (Fla. 2013). Moreover, as the Supreme Court has recognized, “[t]he - 10 - fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child does not evaporate simply because they have not been model parents or have lost temporary custody of their child to the State.” Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 753 (1982). Accordingly, “[w]hen the State moves to destroy weakened familial bonds, it must provide the parents with fundamentally fair procedures.” Id. at 753-54. Under Florida statutory law, parents have a right to counsel in both dependency and TPR proceedings. §§ 39.013(1), (9)(a), Fla. Stat. (2011). In In re D.B., 385 So. 2d 83, 87 (Fla. 1980), however, this Court addressed the question of whether state provision of counsel to indigent parents in dependency and TPR proceedings was necessary for fundamental fairness. We held that as to dependency proceedings, appointment of counsel is not required by the constitution. Id. at 87, 90. On the other hand, we determined that “counsel is necessarily required under the due process clause of the United States and Florida Constitutions, in proceedings involving the permanent termination of parental rights to a child.” Id. at 90. Although the United States Supreme Court subsequently held in Lassiter v. Department of Social Services, 452 U.S. 18, 31-32 (1981), that appointment of counsel in all TPR proceedings is not a due process requirement under the United States Constitution, that decision does not impact our Court’s determination otherwise under the due process clause of Florida’s - 11 - constitution. See M.E.K. v. R.L.K., 921 So. 2d 787, 790 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006) (“In the area of termination of parental rights, the Florida due process clause provides higher due process standards than the federal due process clause.”).