Right to counsel

Iowa Code § 232.89(1) provides that “Upon the filing of a petition the parent, guardian, or custodian identified in the petition shall have the right to counsel in connection with all subsequent hearings and proceedings. If that person desires but is financially unable to employ counsel, the court shall appoint counsel.”

In Interest of H.H., the court held it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial court to fail to appoint counsel at the adjudication hearing pursuant to the statute where “[t]he father failed to file a request for court-appointed counsel until approximately one hour before the start of the hearing.” No. 15–1217, 2015 WL 5577225 (Iowa Ct. App. Sept. 23, 2015) (unpublished).  The court reasoned:

The father was able to cross-examine the witnesses. Further, the adjudicatory hearing had been scheduled at ninety days from the date of the pre-adjudication hearing for good cause shown instead of the sixty days required by statute. . . . The father was represented by private counsel prior to the adjudicatory hearing and was represented by court-appointed counsel at the dispositional hearing. . . .  we find it was in the child’s best interests to proceed with the adjudication and the father did not suffer an injustice[.]

H.H., 2015 WL 5577225 at *4.

As to intervening grandparents, they do not have a statutory right to counsel in such proceedings, and the Iowa Supreme Court has never determined (or, apparently, been asked to determine) whether grandparents have a constitutional right to counsel therein.  See State Pub. Def. v. Iowa Dist. Court for Linn Cty., 728 N.W.2d 817, 820 (Iowa 2007).

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Note:  Per Iowa R. App. P. Rule 6.904(2)(c), although “[a]n unpublished opinion or decision of a court or agency may be cited in a brief if the opinion or decision can be readily accessed electronically”, “[u]npublished opinions or decisions shall not constitute controlling legal authority.”  Any discussion of unpublished decisions included here is for illustrative purposes only.  Please check applicable rules before relying upon it.