I was told that if I do not hire a lawyer, one will be provided. What is the difference?
Whitney S. Boan Protecting Your Right
Video Transcript
Well, for one thing, if you’ve been told that a lawyer will be provided there are limitations upon that. In other words, if you don’t hire a lawyer it does not mean that you’re automatically entitled to have one appointed to represent you. You have to qualify as being indigent financially and have a finding made by the court that you are indigent financially before a court appointed lawyer will be given to you by the court to assist you with your case. The difference between hiring a lawyer and having a court appointed lawyer however is that you have some choice about who you would hire as a lawyer if you privately retain one.
However, if the court appoints a lawyer for you, you may have the most wonderful lawyer in the world or you may have the worst lawyer in the world. You will have little to no control over who that lawyer is handling that case throughout the process. Call a lawyer today to see whether or not a privately retained lawyer can assist you in handling your case.