Termination of Parental Rights

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. K.C.

Case No.: 2017AP32

Officials: Brennan, J.

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

K.C. appeals from an order terminating her parental rights to J.F.C. She asks this court to vacate the order and remand the matter for a new fact-finding hearing. She argues that the trial court erroneously exercised its discretion when, as a sanction, it struck her contest posture and defaulted her at the grounds-phase of the trial. She further argues that WIS. STAT. § 48.235 (2015-16)2 , the statute governing the appointment of a guardian ad litem in a TPR proceeding, requires a trial court to obtain a competency evaluation prior to such an appointment, and no evaluation was ordered here. Finally, she claims her first adversary counsel asked the trial court to appoint a guardian ad litem for her without her consent, which deprived her of her right to adversary counsel.

This court concludes that the default sanction was not an erroneous exercise of discretion because a trial court may default a party for egregious conduct, and the record here supports the trial court’s finding of egregiousness. We also conclude that WIS. STAT. § 48.235(1)(a) clearly authorizes the trial court to appoint a GAL “in any appropriate matter,” which the trial court did here. Finally, this court concludes that K.C. made no showing that the first adversary counsel asked for the appointment of the GAL or that he failed to zealously, competently and independently represent K.C. here as her adversary counsel. For these reasons, the order is affirmed.

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.