South Carolina Code §63-3-810(A)(1) allows the family court to appoint a guardian ad litem in a private custody case when “without a guardian ad litem, the court will likely not be fully informed about the facts of the case and there is a substantial dispute which necessitates a guardian ad litem.” Thus attorneys routinely consent [...]
Archive for the ‘Guardians Ad Litem’ Category
When a child’s mental health professional makes a guardian ad litem unnecessary
Posted Thursday, January 17th, 2013 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
2 Comments »
Tags: Child Custody, Guardian ad litem, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys | 2 Comments »
Impeaching a guardian ad litem who’s gone (too) rogue
Posted Saturday, October 6th, 2012 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
2 Comments »
Twenty years experience shows that there’s some validity to Robert Rosen’s jaundiced view of guardians ad litem in private custody cases, best expressed by the title of one of his articles for South Carolina Lawyer: “Getting Rid of the GAL: How to Save Your Client from Those Expensive, Unnecessary Officious Intermeddlers.” As Rosen’s article notes: [...]
Tags: Child Custody, Guardian ad litem, Litigation Strategy, Robert Rosen
Posted in Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys | 2 Comments »
Caught in a circular firing squad
Posted Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Family Court Procedure, Guardians Ad Litem, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
8 Comments »
I have increasingly come to the conclusion that being a guardian ad litem in South Carolina for private custody cases is an impossible task if one is going to do it well. The system, as currently constituted, weeds out good guardians while leaving the ineffectual and milquetoast in place. The work has become so distasteful [...]
Tags: Child Custody, Family Court Procedure, Guardian ad litem
Posted in Child Custody, Family Court Procedure, Guardians Ad Litem, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys | 8 Comments »
Playing the jerk to encourage dispute resolution
Posted Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
1 Comment »
Sometimes a guardian ad litem can assist resolution of a custody dispute by doing things that initially make the parents unhappy. This won’t render the guardian popular but it will render the guardian effective. This approach helped me resolve a 2 ½ year custody dispute earlier this week. Immediately upon my appointment I did a [...]
Tags: Guardian ad litem, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys | 1 Comment »
An unanticipated use for the guardian ad litem’s periodic billing statements
Posted Friday, October 8th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
1 Comment »
As part of the private guardian ad litem statute, “[t]he guardian ad litem must submit an itemized billing statement of hours, expenses, costs, and fees to the parties and their attorneys pursuant to a schedule as directed by the court.” S.C. § 63-3-850(C). In my experience, South Carolina family judges are requiring guardians to provide [...]
Tags: child cust, Guardian ad litem, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | 1 Comment »
Facebook and the Legal World: Can Law and Culture co-exist?
Posted Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 by Taylor Long
Filed under Attorney-Client Relations, Guardians Ad Litem, Miscellaneous, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Rules of Professional (Lawyer) Conduct
3 Comments »
This weekend I asked for guest blogs. Having recently seen David Fincher’s excellent new movie about the birth of facebook, The Social Network, Taylor Long’s request to do a guest blog on how Facebook “friends” are creating the appearance of conflict in the family court is timely. –GSF Guest blog from Taylor E. Long, associate [...]
Tags: Facebook, Rules of Professional Conduct
Posted in Attorney-Client Relations, Guardians Ad Litem, Miscellaneous, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Rules of Professional (Lawyer) Conduct | 3 Comments »
The difference between a guardian investigating and a guardian recommending
Posted Monday, October 4th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
5 Comments »
A few weeks ago I was appointed guardian in a private case. An attorney for one of the parents, who had never worked with me before as a guardian, called to inquire about past cases in which I had been a guardian with her opposing counsel in this new case. She seemed most concerned with [...]
Tags: Child Custody, Guardian ad litem
Posted in Child Custody, Guardians Ad Litem, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys | 5 Comments »
Will the Recent Changes to the Abuse and Neglect Statute Make These Cases Harder to Settle?
Posted Sunday, July 18th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
1 Comment »
I received an email from a recently licensed attorney noting a previous blog and asking whether I thought she, as the guardian ad litem in an abuse and neglect case, should be making recommendations on the merits. This got me thinking about how the recent changes to the abuse and neglect statute, explained here, will impact [...]
Tags: Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Social Services, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | 1 Comment »