On Thursday, April 25th, we received an email from the G.A.L.’s office. It was a form. A form called Affidavit of Expenses of Counsel or Guardian Ad Litem for Minor Child or Children.
To start, the G.A.L.’s last day was Sunday, March 31, 2024. This form is to be submitted to the courts no more than 30 days after entry of a final judgement in a family relations matter.
What is interesting is there are 8,760 hours in a year. From March 2023 – March 2024, the G.A.L. role was to do an investigation and determine what was best for my stepson. However, if you look at the form, out of the 8,760 hours in a year, the G.A.L. documented only 58.6 hours. Yes, you read that correctly. 58.6 hours. That is not even 3 days’ worth of working on a case. She also charged $300 an hour so the total amount came to $17,728.59. Granted with a G.A.L. it is split between both parents; however, it would still be $8,864.295 per parent.
With everything I have written in this blog, which still isn’t everything that went on since I did not provide images, videos, or recordings, would you say that 58.6 hours is enough time to claim a full investigation was done? I would say no and that this G.A.L. did not do her job. As I have shared, she never even interviewed the people she was supposed to. If it wasn’t for myself and my husband constantly reaching out to ask for a time for me to sit down with all the evidence we had, I would never have been asked either.
Why does no one ever want to hear both sides of the story anymore?
What the G.A.L. has done is in violation of the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Though there are a lot of rules listed on their website, one off the top of my head that she violated was Rule 3.4: Fairness to Opposing Party & Counsel. She never gave us a chance. She never took all the evidence into consideration and the longer the G.A.L. let my stepson stay at his mother’s house, the worse he became mentally with who everyone else was.
Do be careful with the type of people you hire for a case because at the end of the day, they will do what’s best for them and their reputation, and not actually help you out to receive the justice and peace you need to move on.
You have to find your own peace to move forward and for me…it’s sharing our story to help others realize they are not alone in this.
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