Wake County, Ex Rel. Carrington v. Townes

COPELAND, Justice.

The dispositive issue, which is also one of first impression in our Court, is whether constitutional due process guarantees the provision of appointed legal counsel to an indigent defendant in a civil paternity suit instituted by a county on behalf of its department of social services’ child support enforcement agency. We conclude that indigent defendants do not have an absolute constitutional right to appointed counsel in this legal setting and that due process affords only a qualified entitlement to appointed counsel as determined by the trial court on a case-by-case…