Guardian Ad Litem for Children

Guardian ad Litem in Georgia

A Guardian ad-litem is an family law attorney selected to represent a minor child in family court matters. When custody issues cannot be resolved it is often necessary to enlist the services of a guardian ad-litem.

A guardian ad-litem can talk with your child, their teachers, friends, grandparents, doctors, psychologists, and others to assist in making recommendations to the court regarding custody. Courts place a priority of the recommendations of a trained guardian ad-litem because they can spend a greater amount of time learning about the child and their needs. Further, the guardian ad-litem’s recommendations are party neutral and only concerned with the best interest of the child which is the standard for the court. The court is not required to accept the recommendations of the guardian ad-litem.

A guardian ad litem’s fees are generally split between the parties; however, this is not always the case. Additionally, if you want to hire guardian ad litem in your case and your spouse will not agree, a petition will be filed with the court seeking an order of approval to hire the GAL attorney.