We are often asked “Am I entitled to a free lawyer in a custody case in Shepherdsville, Mount Washington, Shelbyville, Taylorsville, Radcliff, Elizabethtown, Jeffersontown or Louisville, Kentucky?”
The short answer is not unless you suffer from a disability or are incarcerated. See May v. Coleman, 945 S.W.2d 426, 427 (Ky. 1997); Smith v. Bear, Inc., 419 S.W.3d 49, 55 (Ky.App. 2013). While it is true that parental rights are fundamental, your status as the legal parent of the child(ren) is not threatened in a civil custody action.
“The Courts of the Commonwealth have consistently recognized a parent’s superior right to the care and custody of his biological children and that he has a fundamental, basic and constitutionally protected right to raise his own children.” London v. Collins, 242 S.W.3d 351, 357 (Ky.App. 2007).
Now, if the Petitioner is seeking to terminate your parental rights, then your parental rights may not be terminated unless you have been represented by counsel at every critical stage of the proceedings. R.V. v. Commonwealth, Dep’t for Health & Family Servs., 242 S.W.3d 669, 671-73 (Ky.App. 2007). However, the answer to “am I entitled to a free lawyer in a custody case?” is in most cases no.
My name is John Schmidt and I have more than 25 years of experience as a Shepherdsville child custody and visitation lawyer. Family Courts here in Kentucky hear literally thousands and thousands of child custody and visitation cases each year. These include initial child custody and visitation orders in a divorce, as well as modifications to an existing child custody & visitation order or a request for a move away or relocation.
We invite you to contact us via e-mail, schedule an appointment or call us today at (502) 509-1490 to get answers to your questions and to learn more about your unique circumstances and how to protect what is most important to you in your family law case.