Attorney ad litems in family law cases

“There is a way for a child’s voice to be heard without the child coming to court, and sometime that’s through the appointment of what we call an attorney ad litem or a guardian ad litem. One of the problems that those attorneys face is that sometimes the child will say, “”Hey, I want to go live with my dad,”” and the attorney ad litem — or the guardian ad litem, whatever the name will be — will think, you know, “I respect that child’s choice, but that’s really not in that child’s best interest,” and so there’s kind of sometimes a conflict there. I think it’s helpful to have attorney ad litems. Sometimes, the ad litem can tell both parents, you know, “”I really think that this case needs to be settled in this manner.”” The ad litem can also be used to give parents advice about, you know, “”Maybe you need to go to this class,”” or, “”you need to go to that class.”” So I think ad litems sometimes are helpful. Someone usually has to pay for the ad litem, so that’s another added expense, but, you know, sometimes it’s well worth it to have an ad litem in your case.”