Mother challenges Idaho guardianship and alleged ICPC breach in Utah Court of Appeals argument

Alexander Marshall, attorney for the appellant mother, argued before the Utah Court of Appeals that a probate guardianship granted to Idaho relatives was legally defective and that the district court’s later reliance on bond findings created reversible error. Marshall told the court the probate code permits nonparent custody only by parental consent or a prior finding of parental unfitness, and he said the relatives obtained custody without either showing.

Marshall urged the panel to treat the probate-stage defects as structural and prejudicial: he said the probate court ignored a same-day written objection by the mother, who was incarcerated, and did not provide her a copy of the guardianship petition. "We cannot infringe on a parent's rights without due process and that just wasn't given here," Marshall argued, stressing the effect of an unlawful initial order on later bonding findings.

Opposing counsel Theodore Weckl, representing Tyler and Katie Colby, responded that Utah’s guardianship statute gives courts broad discretion to appoint a guardian when a parent is temporarily unable to exercise parental rights. Weckl disputed…