What does a guardian ad litem do, and what should you have ready?

Written by our research team · Published September 13, 2026This is general information, not legal advice.

What does a guardian ad litem do in a custody case?

A guardian ad litem is a person the court appoints to represent the best interest of a child in a case about that child. “Ad litem” is Latin for “for the lawsuit”: the appointment lasts for this case and ends when the case does. In a custody or visitation dispute, the GAL’s job is to find out what is going on in the child’s life and tell the court what arrangement would serve the child, whatever either parent is asking for.

In practice the GAL is an investigator for the court. Depending on the state and the appointment order, that work usually includes some or all of the following:

• Interviewing each parent, separately, at least once.
• Meeting the child, often more than once, and often in each parent’s home.
• Talking to the people around the child: teachers, daycare staff, pediatricians, counsellors, relatives, sometimes neighbours.
• Reviewing records, which is why you may be asked to sign a release for school, medical or mental health records.
• Observing the child with each parent.
• Writing a report for the court with findings and, in most states, a recommendation.
• Attending hearings and, where the rules allow, testifying about the investigation.

Who serves as a GAL varies a great deal. In some states the GAL is always an attorney. In others, trained volunteers serve, sometimes through a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) program. Some states draw a line between a guardian ad litem, who reports on the child’s best interest, and an attorney for the child, who argues for what the child says they want. Your own attorney can tell you which model your court uses and what the appointment order in your case actually says. Read that order. It sets the scope of what the GAL may do and how long they have to do it.

When does the family court appoint a GAL, and who pays?

A court may appoint a guardian ad litem whenever it decides the child’s interests need a separate voice. In custody cases that most often happens when:

• Custody or visitation is contested and the parents’ accounts are far apart.
• One parent has raised allegations of abuse, neglect, substance use, or a mental health concern that bears on parenting.
• The conflict is high enough that the court wants an independent view before a final order.
• One parent files a motion asking for a GAL, or both parents agree to one.

Fees vary. Some GALs are paid by the county or serve as volunteers; many are paid by the parties at an hourly rate, and the court usually orders the cost split between the parents, with the power to reallocate it later. Ask your attorney what the order in your case says about fees, and what the GAL’s rate is, before the investigation starts.

With a GAL appointed, what happens first?

Most GALs open with a letter or an email, an intake questionnaire, and a request for dates. The questionnaire can be long: history of the relationship, the child’s schedule, the child’s health and schooling, your concerns about the other parent, and the arrangement you are asking for. Fill it in completely and on time. A parent who is slow to respond, or who answers with a paragraph where a page was asked for, has already told the GAL something.

Then come the interviews. Expect the GAL to ask about the child’s daily routine, who does school runs and medical appointments, how exchanges go, how you talk about the other parent in front of the child, and what you think should change. Answer the question that was asked. Do not bring a speech.

What does a guardian ad litem look for?

The honest answer is: the best interest of the child, as your state defines it. Every state lists factors, and the lists overlap heavily: each parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs, the stability of each home, the child’s relationship with each parent, each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other, any history of abuse or neglect, and, for an older child, the child’s own wishes. Our best interest of the child checklist walks through the common factors one by one.

Three of those factors come up in nearly every GAL investigation, and they are the ones your own record can speak to.

How each parent follows the court order and the parenting plan

If there is a temporary order or a parenting plan already in place, the GAL will want to know whether it is being followed. Missed exchanges, late returns, cancelled weekends, and schedule changes made without agreement all matter, and so does the reverse: a parent who showed up on time for every exchange for six months has a plain fact on their side. Dates and times, not adjectives, are what carry this.

The best interest of the child, not either parent’s case

A GAL is not there to decide who is the better person or who was wronged in the marriage. Parents who spend their interview time on the other parent’s failings, rather than on the child’s life, tend to come across worse, not better, and GALs say so in their reports. Talk about your child: their routine, their friends, their school, what they are like on a Tuesday evening, what worries you about them and what you do about it.

Visitation, exchanges, and how parenting time actually went

The GAL will ask each parent how parenting time has gone. Two parents rarely tell the same story. What separates a credible account from a complaint is specificity: which weekend, what happened, what was said, what you did next. A parent with a dated record of their own parenting time can answer these questions in minutes and hand over the pages. A parent working from memory cannot.

What happens during a guardian ad litem home visit?

Not every GAL visits the home, but many do, and for parents it is the part that causes the most worry. It should not. The GAL is not inspecting for a magazine. They want to see where the child sleeps, that the home is safe and reasonably clean, that there is food, that the child has space for schoolwork and belongings, and how the child behaves with you when nobody is performing.

What the guardian ad litem looks at in your home

• Sleeping arrangements: the child’s bed and room, or where they sleep if they do not have their own room.
• Basic safety: locks, medication and cleaning products out of reach for young children, working smoke alarms, anything a reasonable parent would check.
• Who else lives there or stays over, and how the child gets on with them.
• The child’s routine in your home: meals, homework, bedtime, screens.
• How you and the child are together. This is the one thing you cannot prepare, and the GAL knows it.

Do not stage the visit. A spotless house, a child in new clothes, and a fridge stocked for the occasion are noticed for what they are, and a child who has been told to behave will usually say so. Tidy as you would for a guest, keep the routine normal, and let the visit be ordinary. Our guide to preparing for a custody evaluation covers the same ground for an evaluator’s visit, and the advice is the same.

What documents should you have ready for the GAL?

GALs differ in what they ask for, and the appointment order may list it. Most of what any GAL wants is already in your possession. Gather it before the first interview so that you can hand it over when asked rather than promising to find it.

Your own dated record of parenting time and exchanges

A plain, dated account of exchanges, missed or late parenting time, calls with your child, medical appointments and school events, written on the day and in your own words. Kept as a running log rather than a reconstruction, it answers most of the GAL’s questions about how the schedule has actually worked. Do not edit it before handing it over, and do not add to it after the fact. A record is worth exactly as much as its dates are trustworthy. See how to document for a custody case for what belongs in it.

School, medical and activity records

Report cards, attendance records, notes from teachers, the pediatrician’s visit history, therapy or counselling contacts, and a list of the child’s activities with who takes them. If the GAL asks you to sign a release so they can pull records directly, sign it. Refusing reads as having something to hide.

Copies of the custody order and any prior filings

The current order or parenting plan, any temporary orders, and the pleadings that led to the GAL’s appointment. Your attorney will have these. The GAL usually has them too, but a parent who arrives with a copy and knows what it says is a parent who has been paying attention.

You may also want a short list of people the GAL could speak to: the child’s teacher, a coach, a relative who sees the child weekly. Give names and contact details, and let the GAL decide whom to call. Do not ask those people to call the GAL for you.

How do you cooperate with the GAL without overdoing it?

Cooperate fully. Return calls, meet deadlines, be where you said you would be. The GAL’s report will almost always note how each parent engaged with the investigation, and a parent who was hard to reach has handed the other side a point.

At the same time, do not turn the GAL into a correspondent. Daily emails, a stream of screenshots, and a binder of the other parent’s failings do not make you look organised; they make you look like the conflict. If something significant happens during the investigation, a missed exchange, a hospital visit, a police call, tell your attorney and let them decide whether and how to raise it with the GAL. One short, factual update is worth more than ten indignant ones.

Be honest, including about your own mistakes. GALs interview both parents and a good many other people. A parent who admits to the argument at the exchange in March is believed on the rest; a parent who denies it and is contradicted by the child’s teacher is not.

Never coach your child. Do not tell them what to say, do not ask them afterwards what they said, and do not quiz them about the other parent’s home. Children tell GALs when they have been prepared, and GALs write it down.

What goes into the GAL’s written report, and how much weight does the judge give it?

At the end of the investigation the GAL writes a report. It typically summarises the interviews, the home visits, the records reviewed and the child’s own statements, applies the best interest factors, and, in most states, recommends a custody and parenting time arrangement. In some jurisdictions the GAL is barred from recommending unless the judge asks; in others the recommendation is the point of the report.

How much weight it carries depends on the judge, but the answer is usually a lot. The GAL is the only person in the case who has spoken to everyone and has no stake in the outcome, and judges know it. Reports are not rubber-stamped, though. The GAL is a witness like any other, and either parent, through their attorney, can cross-examine the GAL about the investigation, point out what was missed, and put on their own evidence.

What should you not tell a guardian ad litem?

The question comes up constantly, and the answer is less about secrets than about tone.

• Do not lie, and do not shade. GALs check. A single contradiction between what you said and what the school records show colours everything else you said.
• Do not diagnose the other parent. “Narcissist”, “alienator” and “unstable” are conclusions, and the GAL is the one drawing conclusions. Describe what happened and when, and let the label come from them if it comes at all.
• Do not tell the GAL what your child wants. Your child will tell them.
• Do not ask the GAL what they are going to recommend, and do not ask them for legal advice. They will not give either, and asking marks you.
• Do not say anything about the other parent that you would not want read aloud in court with them present. Assume the report will quote you.
• Do not bring up the other parent’s new partner, income or past unless it bears directly on the child’s safety or care.

What can you do if you disagree with the guardian ad litem’s recommendation?

First, read the report carefully with your attorney. Separate what the GAL got wrong on the facts from what you simply disagree with. Factual errors, a missed interview, a record never reviewed, a date that does not match your record, are the strongest ground for a challenge, and they are exactly what a dated record of your own lets you find.

Then your attorney has options: a written response to the report, a deposition or cross-examination of the GAL at the hearing, your own witnesses, and in some states a motion to remove a GAL who has acted outside the order or shown bias. Removal is rare and courts resist it, so the practical route is almost always to meet the report with better evidence rather than to attack the person who wrote it.

Whatever you do, do not go around the GAL. Contacting the judge directly, refusing further cooperation, or telling your child what the report says are the three things most likely to turn a recommendation you dislike into an order you like less.

Frequently asked questions

References

This article explains general, well established concepts and is not legal advice. Documented is not a law firm. Who may serve as a guardian ad litem, what the appointment covers and who pays are matters of state law and local court rules, and they vary a great deal. Confirm specifics with an attorney licensed in your state or your court’s self-help center.

• Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute: Guardian ad litem
• Legal Aid of West Virginia: What does a Guardian Ad Litem do in a Family Court Case?
• South Carolina Legal Services: Guardian ad Litem
• Ohio State Bar Association: A Guardian ad Litem Protects Best Interest of the Child
• Pine Tree Legal Assistance: What is a Guardian ad Litem?
• Minnesota Guardian ad Litem Board: What is a GAL?

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Documented is a private, tamper-evident record of how you show up for your kids. This article is general information, not legal advice, and Documented is not a law firm.