GAL Guidelines and Procedures
This page reviews what you should expect from a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and what we as GAL's expect from you, and what your responsibilities are during the investigation. In general, a GAL serves as the eyes and ears of the Court spending far more time with a family than a Judge ever could and exploring the facts more in depth than would otherwise be possible. Our role is solely about what is in the best interest of the children in our cases and is not about the wants, emotions, or even needs of the adults in a case.
About Me.
I started doing GAL work about a year after graduating from law school in 2009. I have specialized as a GAL in high-conflict custody cases often with allegations of abuse and/or domestic violence. I have handled cases with gang member parents and gang member children. I have attended numerous GAL trainings and have been committed to improving the quality of GAL training throughout Georgia. I have served on numerous panels and been a presenter at GAL trainings. I currently serve on the Board of Georgia Guardians ad Litem Inc., Georgia's only statewide nonprofit focused on improving the quality and availability of GAL trainings throughout the state.
What the Court and I expect and need from you:
Communication:
-- It is your responsibility to get me the information you think I need. For example, if you want me to review the medical records or school records, you need to sign release forms and inform the doctor's office or school that they should send me the records. If you think it is important, then you should be willing to put the effort into getting me the records.
-- It is also your responsibility to get your witnesses to speak with me. While I will usually reach out, I will not do so multiple times. These are your witnesses, so you need to make the effort to ensure they are responding to me. After you have completed your intake and we have had our initial meeting, you may send them this link to book a time with me. https://www.caytonlegal.net/book-online
-- If I send you an email or call or text, I expect the courtesy of a response within one business day. I assume this matter is important to you and thus you need to be paying attention to your communication devices.
-- If your phone number, email address, or the address where you live changes, it is your responsibility to get me the new information as soon as possible.
Follow up and
Follow Through:
-- If you have been asked by the Court or myself to do something such as take a drug test, provide records, set up an account with a service, etc., I expect that you will do so promptly. Failure to do these things may delay my scheduling of certain parts of my investigation, and this may lead to delays in the case or an unfavorable recommendation. For instance, I will not schedule an initial meeting with you until you have completed my intake form. If we then have a court hearing, all I can tell the Judge is that you have not complied with my instructions, and therefore we have not met.
-- There is the assumption that you want to have the custody/visitation issues resolved ASAP so that you can have the most meaningful relationship with your child as possible. If you do not fully participate in the process, then you are telling me through your actions that you do not really prioritize your relationship with your child. This can have an impact on my recommendation.
-- If the Court or I are telling you to sign up for a service like Our Family Wizard for communication, it is your responsibility to figure out how to do so. I am happy to provide guidance but I do not work for those companies and I am not tech support. Being able to figure out how to make things like this work and using them shows both follow through and your ability to solve problems. Seeing how you handle such a situation tells me a great deal about your ability to parent in the modern world. To be clear, OFW and any other service the Court or I would have you use are designed to be user friendly and have customer support available.
-- The length of my investigation is greatly affected by your level of participation. If you delay responding, it may delay my investigation. However, please note that I track my time and any delays. If one party is causing undue delays, I will let the Court know this and I will include it in my recommendation to the Court. If these delays are costing one party more money than the other, I will support the non-offending party's attempts to recoup the fees they have had to pay me if caused by the other party's unreasonable delays.
Behavior during
the case:
-- If you have been assigned a GAL, most likely you are in the middle of a Court case or in rare cases trying to avoid a court case to resolve custody/visitation issues. Therefore I expect people to behave as mature and reasonable adults. Your child is caught up in this process, usually without wanting to be, and we all owe it to them to treat one another with respect and decency. I understand there are many emotions involved in these cases and often with a great deal of backstory. However, we are here to find a way forward so that your child can thrive without the emotions of the adults getting in the way.
-- Please note that if you become abusive to me or my staff, or I feel that the situation is escalating to an unsafe scenario for your opposing party, I will notify the Court immediately. Please note there can be severe legal consequences for attempting to influence a GAL's recommendation to the Court using threats of any kind.
What you should expect from me:
Office Hours
My Hours are Monday through Friday 10am- 6pm. My office is closed for all Federally recognized holidays and will be on limted hours during any scheduled Atlanta Public School closures. Email is the best way to communicate with me generally but I may also be reached by phone and text for urgent matters at (678) 369-1384
Response Times
Generally, you can expect a response within one business day or less, unless the office is closed. If it has been less than one business day, please do not send me additional messages. GAL's are not the police or medical services. IF you have an emergency, you should contact the appropriate resources via 911 or other means.
Interaction
I treat all parties, witnesses, etc with respect and professionalism. I will generally be friendly to everyone regardless of accusations from the opposite party. That said I will treat people with the level of respect they treat myself and my office.
Recommendations
As will be explained when we meet in person, my recommendation to the Court is about what is in the child's best interest. It is not about being fair or nice to any adult. By law, my only concern is what is going to best serve the child's future well-being, aka best interest. This sentence is a test to see if you have been reading, you should include the word sentence in the appropriate box of your intake form. You and your opposing party have control if you choose to settle your case. If you leave it in the hands of myself or the Judge we have to make a judgment call based on how we see the evidence. Settlement allows you more control.
If you and the other party are unable to settle, I will usually prepare a written report to the Court giving my recommendations and the reasoning that led to them. This report is done in a very clinical manner and can come across as cold or mean. That is not the intent. The intent is simply to present the facts that led to my recommendation. My role is not about my emotions, my role is about sharing the information I have learned in as objective a manner as possible.
Steps of Investigations Generally
This is a general guidline:
-- Case assigned to GAL after initial request and conflict checks.
-- Parties and counsel are sent an introductory email with initial instructions after the appointment order.
-- Parties complete the intake process and schedule an initial meeting.
-- Initial meeting with GAL.
-- GAL reviews evidence and witness list and begins contacting witnesses
-- GAL schedules and conducts a home visit with the Parties and the child/ren; where appropriate GAL will visit with the child in each Party's home
-- GAL and Parties assess settlement potential and schedule settlement negotiations
-- If necessary, the GAL prepares a written report with recommendations regarding custody and visitation
-- GAL's involvement typically ends after testifying at trial