Nevada Revised Statutes 435.126 – Involuntary admission: Right to counsel; appointment of counsel; compensation of appointed counsel
1. The person alleged to be a person with an intellectual disability or a person with a developmental disability, or any relative or friend acting on the person’s behalf, is entitled to retain counsel to represent him or her in any proceeding before the district court relating to his or her involuntary admission to an intellectual and developmental disability center.
Terms Used In Nevada Revised Statutes 435.126
- county: includes Carson City. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.033
- Developmental disability: means autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy or any other neurological condition diagnosed by a qualified professional that:
(a) Is manifested before the person affected attains the age of 22 years;
(b) Is likely to continue indefinitely;
(c) Results in substantial functional limitations, as measured by a qualified professional, in three or more of the following areas of major life activity:
(1) Taking care of oneself;
(2) Understanding and use of language;
(3) Learning;
(4) Mobility;
(5) Self-direction; and
(6) Capacity for independent living; and
(d) Results in the person affected requiring a combination of individually planned and coordinated services, support or other assistance that is lifelong or has an extended duration. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Intellectual and developmental disability center: means an organized program for providing appropriate services and treatment to persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with developmental disabilities. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
- Intellectual disability: means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
- Person: includes a child and any other consumer with an intellectual disability and a child or any other consumer with a developmental disability who has attained the age of 18 years. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
- Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
2. If counsel has not been retained, the court, before proceeding, shall advise the person and the person’s guardian, or closest living relative if such a relative can be located, of the person’s right to have counsel.
3. If the person fails or refuses to secure counsel, the court shall appoint counsel to represent the person. If the person is indigent, the counsel appointed may be the public defender.
4. Any counsel appointed by the court is entitled to fair and reasonable compensation for his or her services. The compensation must be charged against the property of the person for whom the counsel was appointed. If the person is indigent, the compensation must be charged against the county in which the person alleged to be a person with an intellectual disability or a person with a developmental disability last resided.