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What Is a Guardian Ad Litem and What They Do?
Preparing for Court

What Is a Guardian Ad Litem and What Do They Do?

Learn what a Florida guardian ad litem does, who can serve, what powers they have, and how their report affects your child's custody case.

Best for the Children Editorial·9 min read·July 3, 2025·Updated October 16, 2026

You read through a court order in your custody case and stop at an unfamiliar phrase: the judge has appointed a "guardian ad litem." A guardian ad litem (GAL) is a person the court appoints to look into your family's situation and tell the judge what is best for your child. In Florida, the law says the GAL acts as the child's "next friend, investigator or evaluator, not as attorney or advocate." This article explains when courts appoint one, who can serve, what powers they have, and how their report fits into a custody decision.

What the law says a guardian ad litem is

In Florida divorce and parenting-plan cases, the GAL's role is set out in Florida Statutes §61.403, titled "Guardians ad litem; powers and authority." The statute does not give a dictionary-style definition. It describes the role instead. The GAL acts as "next friend of the child, investigator or evaluator, not as attorney or advocate," and "shall act in the child's best interest."

That distinction matters. A GAL is not there to argue for what your child says they want, or for what either parent wants. The GAL's job is to work out what serves the child and report it.

Some GALs are attorneys, but serving as a GAL is different from being the child's lawyer. Florida law lets the court appoint separate legal counsel for the child, to act as the child's attorney or advocate. The statute says the GAL and the child's counsel "shall not be the same person." A child can therefore have both a GAL and a lawyer, and the two roles stay separate.

Once appointed, the GAL is not a bystander. Under §61.401, the GAL becomes a party to the case from the date of appointment until the court discharges them.

When a court appoints one

In most custody cases, appointing a GAL is up to the judge. Under §61.401, the court may appoint a GAL in a dissolution or parenting-plan case if it finds that doing so is in the child's best interest.

In one situation the appointment is required. If the case involves an allegation of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect, and the court finds the allegation well-founded, the court "shall appoint" a GAL. The terms abuse, abandonment, and neglect are defined in Florida's child-welfare chapter (§39.01). A mere accusation does not trigger the requirement. The court has to find the allegation well-founded.

Who can serve as a guardian ad litem

Florida does not let just anyone take the role. Under §61.402, a GAL must be one of the following:

  • certified by the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office under §39.821;
  • certified by a not-for-profit legal aid organization; or
  • an attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar.

The rule is stricter in serious cases. When the court has found well-founded allegations of abuse, abandonment, or neglect, only a GAL certified by the Statewide GAL Office or a Florida Bar attorney may be appointed. A GAL certified through a legal aid organization may not.

Legal-aid certification has its own requirements. The applicant must pass a security background investigation under §39.821 and complete training under a uniform statewide program developed by The Florida Bar. The applicant or the organization pays for both. Lying on the application is also a crime: willfully concealing a material fact in a GAL application is a first-degree misdemeanor.

What a guardian ad litem can actually do

Because the GAL is an investigator, most of the powers in §61.403 are about gathering information. A GAL may:

  • Investigate the allegations in the pleadings, meaning the claims the parents have made in their court filings.
  • Interview people. After notice to the parties, and subject to any conditions the court sets, the GAL may interview the child, witnesses, and anyone else with information about the child's welfare.
  • Get records. Through counsel, the GAL may ask the court for an order to inspect and copy records from hospitals, doctors, and similar sources. The order requires notice to all parties and a hearing.
  • Request examinations. The GAL may ask the court to order examinations of the child, the parents, or other interested parties.
  • Take part in the case. The GAL may attend and participate in depositions, hearings, and other proceedings, and may compel witnesses to attend.
  • File court papers. Through counsel, the GAL may file pleadings, motions, or petitions.

The last point corrects a common misunderstanding. A GAL can bring matters before the court, but a nonattorney GAL must do it through counsel. The statute states that nonattorney GALs do not gain the right to practice law.

The list of powers does not include conducting mediation. A GAL is an investigator and a party, not a mediator.

The GAL is also kept informed. The GAL must receive copies of all pleadings and reasonable notice before any action that affects the child.

The report and its deadlines

All of this work leads to a written report. Under §61.403, the GAL's report must be filed and served at least 20 days before the hearing, unless the court waives the deadline. Both sides therefore get time to read the report before they are in front of the judge.

Parents sometimes settle their differences before trial, and the law gives the GAL a say in that too. If the parents reach a stipulation or agreement that affects the child's interest, the GAL must submit recommendations on it within 10 days after it is served on the GAL.

Confidentiality and protection from lawsuits

To do the job, a GAL may see medical records, interview notes, and other private material. Florida law limits what the GAL can do with it. Section 61.404 requires the GAL to keep confidential all information and documents received from any source. The GAL may disclose them only in a report to the court that is served on both parties and their counsel, or as the court directs.

As a result, one parent cannot get the GAL to share material privately. What goes to the court goes to both sides.

The law also protects the GAL. Under §61.405, a GAL acting in a judicial proceeding is presumed to act in good faith and is immune from civil or criminal liability. The point of this rule is to let GALs report what they find without fear of being sued by an unhappy parent.

How the recommendation fits into Florida custody law today

A GAL recommends; the judge decides. That decision now takes place within rules Florida changed in 2023.

House Bill 1301 was signed on June 27, 2023, and took effect July 1, 2023. It created a rebuttable presumption in §61.13 that equal time-sharing is in a child's best interests. A parent who wants a different arrangement must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that equal time-sharing is not in the child's best interests. The same law removed the requirement to show an "unanticipated change in circumstances" before modifying a parenting plan. It also requires the court to make specific written findings when it sets or modifies a time-sharing schedule.

In practice, a GAL's investigation can become part of the evidence a parent uses to argue for or against equal time. That is an observation about how the pieces fit, not a rule in the statute. The decision and the written findings remain the court's.

One open question involves older parenting plans. A Florida Bar Journal article argues that the equal time-sharing presumption does not apply retroactively to parenting plans that existed before the amendment. That is the authors' legal argument, not a settled rule.

Guardians ad litem beyond divorce court

The term "guardian ad litem" also appears in child-welfare cases, where the state is involved because of alleged abuse or neglect. Federal law requires GALs there. Under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), a state must provide a GAL in every abuse or neglect case that results in a judicial proceeding, as a condition of receiving certain federal grants. The GAL may be an attorney or a court-appointed special advocate (CASA), and must be trained before appointment.

Florida's Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office handles that work on a large scale. It reported serving more than 36,000 children with more than 11,000 volunteers in 2022, and its 2021 annual report said it represented over 90% of children in Florida's child welfare system. Those figures describe the dependency system, not private custody disputes. They do show how central the role is to how Florida courts look after children.

What this means for you

If a GAL is appointed in your case, here is what to expect under Florida law:

  • The GAL works for your child's best interest, not for you or the other parent.
  • The GAL can interview your child and others, ask the court for records and examinations, and file motions through counsel.
  • The GAL is a party to the case, with a right to notice and copies of filings.
  • You should receive the written report at least 20 days before the hearing, unless the court waives that deadline.
  • What you tell the GAL is confidential except for what goes into the report or what the court directs. The report itself goes to both sides.
  • The judge, not the GAL, makes the final custody decision, applying Florida's best-interest standard and the equal time-sharing presumption.
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