In re M.P.
Annotate this CaseFollowing a hearing on a petition to terminate Mother’s parental rights to her daughter, the district court entered a judgment terminating Mother’s parental rights, finding that Mother was unable to protect the child from jeopardy or take responsibility for the child in a time reasonably calculated to meet the child’s needs and that termination was in the child’s best interest. The court subsequently denied Mother’s motion for relief from judgment pursuant to Me. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(6) based on her allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed after setting forth the process a parent and courts must follow when a parent claims ineffective assistance in a motion for relief from judgment, holding that the district court did not deny Mother’s due process rights when it declined to allow her to call additional witnesses at the Rule 60(b)(6) hearing or abuse its discretion in denying Mother’s motion for relief from judgment.
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