G.M. v. T.B.

Summary

The Sixth District Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a contempt judgment against a mother in a parental-visitation dispute. The court held that the record did not establish ineffective assistance of counsel, but the mother had not knowingly waived her right to appointed counsel when counsel was permitted to withdraw after she failed to appear. The court ordered a new contempt hearing with appointed counsel.

Holdings

1. The ineffective-assistance claim could not be established on appeal because T.B. relied on emails that were not part of the record, and the record itself did not show that counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonable representation.
2. The magistrate erred by allowing appointed counsel to withdraw without fully considering whether T.B. knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived her right to counsel. An unexplained failure to appear at a hearing, standing alone, does not establish waiver.
3. The challenge to the trial court's failure to appoint counsel to respond to G.M.'s objections was moot because the contempt hearing's outcome was being reversed and a new contempt hearing ordered.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the record supported T.B.'s claim that appointed counsel provided ineffective assistance at the contempt proceedings.
2. Whether the magistrate erred by allowing T.B.'s appointed counsel to withdraw without determining whether T.B. knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived her right to counsel.
3. Whether the trial court erred by awarding compensatory parenting time without appointing counsel for T.B. to respond to G.M.'s objections to the magistrate's decision.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded