Discharging your court-appointed attorney and requesting new counsel
A parent has the right to discharge their attorney and ask the court to appoint substitute counsel. Courts generally require good cause — such as a breakdown in communication, failure to investigate, conflict of interest, or failure to advocate — and the request is made to the judge, not to the caseworker or the agency.
If your appointed attorney is not doing what you need — won't meet with you, won't look at your evidence, ignores your goals, or has a conflict — you can ask the court to replace them. Put the request in writing to the judge and be specific about what is wrong.
It does not mean you can switch attorneys repeatedly to delay the case, or that the court must grant every request. The judge decides whether good cause exists; frivolous or last-minute requests near a hearing may be denied to keep the case on schedule.
- •What specifically has my attorney failed to do?
- •Have I raised the problem with them in writing?
- •Is there a conflict of interest?
- •Have I asked the judge (not the caseworker) for substitute counsel?
- •Written request to the court for substitute counsel
- •Letters/emails to your attorney showing the breakdown
- •A short list of specific failures (no meetings, no evidence review, etc.)
- •Any conflict you discovered
- ✕Asking the caseworker to switch your attorney (they can't)
- ✕Vague complaints with no specifics
- ✕Waiting until the day of a hearing to raise it
- ✕Discharging counsel without a replacement lined up when a hearing is imminent
- C.R.S. § 19-3-202 — Appointed counsel
- C.R.S. § 19-3-202 — Counsel and jury trial
- C.R.S. § 19-3-202 — Advisement of rights