Discretionary appointment of counsel

In Broom v. Jennifer J., 742 S.E.2d 382 S.C. 2013), the court held in a private termination of parental rights case that “under the United States Constitution and the South Carolina Constitution there is no absolute right to counsel for an indigent parent subject to a TPR proceeding.” The court noted that South Carolina had previously “declined to ‘join the majority of states which hold that due process requires the appointment of counsel for indigents in all termination of parental rights case,’ but did express ‘caution that under our interpretation of Lassiter [,] cases in which appointment of counsel is not required should be the exception.’”