E.L. v. Dep't of Children & Families
E.L. v. Dep't of Children & Families
Opinion of the Court
AFFIRMED.
TORPY and BERGER, JJ., concur.
EVANDER, J., concurs, with opinion.
This is an appeal of a final judgment of termination of parental rights (TPR). Appellant does not challenge any of the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. Rather, he argues that he is entitled to a new trial because the trial court failed to conduct a Nelson
In Nelson , our sister court stated:
[W]here a defendant, before the commencement of trial, makes it appear to the trial judge that he desires to discharge his court appointed counsel, the trial judge, in order to protect the indigent's right to effective counsel, should make an inquiry of the defendant as to the reason for the request to discharge. If incompetency of counsel is assigned by the defendant as the reason, or a reason, the trial judge should make a sufficient inquiry of the defendant and his appointed counsel to determine whether or not there is reasonable cause to believe that the court appointed counsel is not rendering effective assistance to the defendant. If reasonable cause for such belief appears, the court should make a finding to that effect on the *1260record and appoint a substitute attorney who should be allowed adequate time to prepare the defense. If no reasonable basis appears for a finding of ineffective representation, the trial court should so state on the record and advise the defendant that if he discharges his original counsel the State may not thereafter be required to appoint a substitute.
Nelson , 274 So.2d at 258, 259 (emphasis added).
The Florida Supreme Court has expressly held that the right to counsel in TPR cases includes the right to effective assistance of counsel. J.B. v. Fla. Dep't of Children & Families ,
Although the State has a significant interest in the finality of both criminal and TPR judgments, the interest in finality is substantially heightened in the TPR context by the very important consideration that must be given to the child's interest in reaching permanency and to the harm that results when permanency is unduly delayed.
As a result, in the context of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the court concluded that it was not appropriate to simply transplant the standards governing criminal cases, as set forth in Strickland v. Washington ,
In further recognition of the State's "substantially heightened" interest in finality in TPR cases, the court also concluded that a parent is required to file a motion alleging a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel within twenty days after a TPR judgment and, in that motion, explain how counsel's alleged ineffective representation prejudiced the parent's case "to such an extent that the result would have been different absent the deficient performance."
Consistent with J.B. , I do not believe that it is appropriate simply to transplant Nelson and the body of caselaw that it has spawned into the TPR context. See J.B. ,
First, I do not believe that a request for substitute counsel is timely, as a matter of law, simply because it occurs before the actual commencement of trial. Rather, in determining the timeliness of an indigent parent's request for substitute counsel, a trial court should consider whether the indigent parent has acted in a diligent manner in bringing his or her dissatisfaction with appointed counsel to the attention of the trial court. See In re Lillian SS. ,
Second, because of the state's overriding interest in providing permanency for a child, and consistent with J.B. , the parent should be required to file a post-trial, pre-appeal motion explaining how, but for the trial court's failure to appoint substitute counsel, the parent's rights would not have been terminated. Although a trial court should always make appropriate inquiry when an indigent parent makes a timely request for substitute counsel based on alleged ineffective assistance of counsel, I believe the prejudice standard to be applied when the trial court errs in failing to appoint substitute counsel should be consistent with the prejudice standard for ineffective assistance of counsel claim pronounced by the Florida Supreme Court in J.B. Here, Appellant made no effort to explain how the trial court's failure to appoint substitute counsel prejudiced him "to such an extent that the result would have been different."
For all the reasons set forth above, I believe the final judgment terminating Appellant's parental rights is properly affirmed.
Nelson v. State ,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.