Can my 15 year old son represent himself in court? Ontario. None. He was on probation for a month before committing

Hello, thank you for the question.

In reality the court won't allow the child to self represent except in extraordinary circumstances \, and the child shouldn't have to because there are options.

There should be duty counsel at court, and depending on the charges there should be some Legal Aid coverage available.

Get through the first court date and see if Legal Aid will help. And if it's a simple breach, perhaps it can be handled by Duty Counsel on the spot if the offer isn't to add any more length to the terms.

Does that make sense?

I can't tell you that, but it's worth trying. These days, I think that Legal Aid is being...uh...generous with their certificates because they are trying to fill out their budget.

You'll have to see what sort of sentence the crown is seeking upon a plea. That will have a lot to do with it.

Anything else?

If I've answered you may I please have a service rating? Ratings are how I get credit from the site for helping its customers. Five stars is best, ***** ***** top of your webpage, or if you're on the app the site will send you an email. I'd appreciate it very much. If you can't find where to rate, I can ask the site to enter a rating for you if you tell me to.

He doesn't have to plead guilty on the first day. He should get his copy of the disclosure, and a note from the Crown about sentencing, and an adjournment. Duty counsel should be available to assist. He won't have to say a thing. A parent should be there, the judges are more lenient on the youth who attend with a parent.

How's that?

I'm happy to help.

Can you please click on the row of stars at the top of the webpage?

Or if you're on your phone, the site will have sent an email with a link.

If you can't find any of that, please let me know to ask the site to enter a rating for you?

thank you, ***** ***** luck to you both.

Ulysses