Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: guardian ad litems

Do you mean conservator?

Re: guardian ad litems

Stephanie -

I don't think GALs can enter into attorney fee agreements, unless the court specifically gave them that power. Your question initially threw me off because GALs are usually attorneys. So why would an attorney appointed to counsel someone with diminished capacity hire another attorney. Usually the GAL sumbits a fee request to the appointing court for approval before it gets paid. You might want to look up CCP section 373.5. It states that reasonable fees SHALL be determined by the court and paid as it may order. I suppose if the GAL failed to get his/her fees approved in advance, you might have a good defense in the small claims action. In other words, I am not sure that a GAL can sign an agreement for fees on behalf of the principal and by so doing, circumvent CCP 373.5.

Hope that answers your question.