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FAMILY COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE REFUSED FATHER’S COUNSEL’S OFFER TO REMAIN AS STANDBY COUNSEL AND SHOULD NOT HAVE ALLOWED FATHER TO REPRESENT HIMSELF WITHOUT WARNING FATHER OF THE DANGERS OF SELF-REPRESENTATION (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department determined Family Court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to assign counsel to father in this child support proceeding, but Family Court should have conducted a right-to-counsel inquiry before allowing father to represent himself, especially in light of father’s counsel’s offer to remain on standby:

English is not the father’s first language. Although he had appeared in Family Court many times, he had been chastised for failing to appreciate the role of counsel, and the court had noted that his prior pro se submissions were inappropriate or inadequate … . Moreover, there was a critical error in holding that the discharged counsel could not be allowed to remain as standby counsel … . For these reasons, although the father’s request to represent himself was unequivocal, we cannot find that the waiver of his right to counsel at the confirmation hearing was voluntary, knowing and intelligent, based upon the court’s failure to make an appropriate warning of the dangers of so proceeding, coupled with the refusal to allow counsel to remain on standby … . Matter of Saber v Saccone, 2021 NY Slip Op 01811, Third Dept 3-25-21

 

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