Florida state/county appointed attorneys

[ricthemic]

Question please. Can a non-Floridian residents here on vacation or snow birding for three or four months who for what ever reason require an attorney for a non criminal court action be granted a state appointed and state tax payer funded attorney? Asking because I am currently witnessing this in a county well outside of TV. This case has been going on for many months and I can't understand why we have to pay for their attorney while they are visiting and if this is the case, soooo we are responsible for millions of vacationers?
Thanks in advance for your advice

[DonH57]

Ok. I'll bite. To what case are you refering to? In which county?

[redwitch]

For a non-criminal case? Didn't know that was possible.

[NavyNJ]

I'm not sure why FL would be any different than other states, and would be willing to bet it actually isn't. Public Defenders are usually only appointed by the Court in criminal cases. In fact, I think FL is one of many states struggling to keep that program funded sufficiently, even though anyone convicted actually has to reimburse the State for those costs. I'd like to hear more about the case involved here, and who the OP thought was a public Defender. Might have been Legal Aid or even ACLU, but those are not paid with public funds.

[blueash]

In fact, I think FL is one of many states struggling to keep that program funded sufficiently, even though anyone convicted actually has to reimburse the State for those costs.

Is that true? Isn't the provision of an attorney to provide the best representation of a client? Does a defendant get to have his attorney fees, if he paying them himself, reimbursed by the government if he is not convicted? How about if he is convicted of a lesser charge or the attorney negotiates a plea bargain. You were facing manslaughter and instead plead guilty to DWI. Sounds like your attorney maybe helped you be not guilty of a more serious crime. So do you pay the government because you were guilty of DWI or not pay because you were not found guilty of manslaughter?

[NavyNJ]

Is that true? Isn't the provision of an attorney to provide the best representation of a client? Does a defendant get to have his attorney fees, if he paying them himself, reimbursed by the government if he is not convicted? How about if he is convicted of a lesser charge or the attorney negotiates a plea bargain. You were facing manslaughter and instead plead guilty to DWI. Sounds like your attorney maybe helped you be not guilty of a more serious crime. So do you pay the government because you were guilty of DWI or not pay because you were not found guilty of manslaughter?

Blueash: All good questions, which I don't have official answers for. But, taking just the bolded portion of your post - No, there is no promise or implication that a provision of legal counsel by the State (or even by private hire) offer "the best representation" of a client. Now, could someone later argue that their representation (public or privately paid) was "incompetent"? Sure. But that's different than what you asked.

And as for the rest of it, all I can tell you is that, at least in FL, unless you are found not guilty or the charges are somehow dismissed, you are obligated to repay the State for whatever monies they provided the Public Defender. That may be thru seizure of any money you get paid while in jail, or from your financial accounts, or possibly thru a lien placed on your property/assets. I have no idea, btw, how much of those funds are actually ever collected by the State! Just because they can go after the money doesn't mean they actually get it. Oh, and to the question you asked about having one's "private" attorney fees reimbursed by the State if not convicted - I assumed that was asked tongue-in-cheek (tic)! :)

Still interested to learn what the OP was watching to ask the original question though......