Ex Parte Cauthen

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Carolina denied the petition of appointed counsel, Max B. Cauthen — who also served as the appellant's guardian ad litem — to be relieved in both capacities from an indigent father's appeal of an order terminating his parental rights to three children, where counsel asserted the appeal lacked merit and he could not afford its costs. The Court announced a binding procedure for such appeals: counsel must move to proceed without costs (indigence deemed absent a challenge within ten days), DSS must pay for the transcript and all reasonable costs of perfecting the appeal, and if counsel concludes the appeal is meritless he must docket the transcript with an affidavit to that effect as an offer of the court, whereupon the Court itself reviews the entire transcript and affirms absent meritorious issues or orders briefing on any that exist. The Court deemed the appellant indigent and directed that the new procedure be followed in this appeal.