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County agrees to assume payment responsibility for privately filed termination-of-parental-rights defense
Summary
The Uintah County Commission approved a contract form to have the county pay legal defense fees in privately filed termination-of-parental-rights cases after the Indigent Defense Commission stopped processing those payments. Staff expects a small annual cost and said historic volume is low.
Lance Dean of the public defender's office told the commission that the Indigent Defense Commission would no longer handle payments for private petitions to terminate parental rights and that the statutory obligation to provide counsel remains. Dean said the county will now be the payor for these privately filed termination-of-parental-rights cases and presented a contract form for the commission's approval.
Dean said private termination-of-parental-rights matters are infrequent, estimating about three cases per year, and said current contract rates are $90 per hour. He told commissioners he would later request an updated hourly rate for private counsel. Dean estimated the total annual exposure would likely be under $8,000.
A motion to approve the contract form passed by voice vote.
Votes at a glance: - Approve private termination-of-parental-rights contract form (county to assume payor role) ' Approved (voice: Aye, Aye).
