A Guardian Ad Litem Is Different Than a Typical Guardian
Video Transcribed: What is a guardian ad litem in Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa attorney James Wirth and we’re talking about guardians ad litem. So a guardian ad litem is different than a typical guardian.
I mean, a typical guardian would mean that they are appointed to take care of the person and a state of either a child or an adult that is compromised in some way that they need a guardian to care for them. All right, so this is different than that. This person does not get custody of the person, does not act on their behalf.
A guardian ad litem is actually a person, generally an attorney that is appointed by the court in order to advocate for the best interest of a child in a custody case.
So that is a person that has some authorities, acts as an officer of the court, and works on the court’s behalf to investigate, take in information, give reports, and then testify and act as an attorney for the best interest of the child in a court proceeding related to custody.
There’s a lot of rules on how that’s done, but it’s important that the person is objective. So they’re not supposed to automatically from the beginning, be on the side of the mom or dad or some other party.
They’re supposed to start off the objective, do the research, make a report and some recommendations, and then testify in court and can also cross-examine other witnesses in those proceedings.
So if you’ve got a question about how that applies to your custody case or whether it makes sense to request the appointment of a guardian ad litem, you’re going to want to talk to an Oklahoma attorney about your specific circumstances. To speak with an attorney at my office, you can get that by scheduling at makelaweasy.com.
