A guardian ad litem (GAL) is an appointee who gives a court an independent view of a child's best interests in a family case, and an attorney GAL is a licensed lawyer serving in that role.
How to become a guardian ad litem runs through the courthouse: the court that makes the appointments sets its own training and eligibility rules, and our research did not confirm the specific requirements — this guide maps the path and who to ask.
What a guardian ad litem does in family cases
When separating or divorcing parents put custody and parenting time in front of a judge, the court can appoint a guardian ad litem for the child.
The appointment asks the GAL to look into the child's situation and give the court an independent view of what arrangement would serve the child's best interests — separate from the lawyers each parent hires, who argue their own client's position.
What the appointment involves is defined by the appointing court.
The tasks a court hands a GAL can include meeting with the parents, spending time with the child, talking with people in the child's life, reviewing records relevant to the dispute, and reporting back to the court in writing, through testimony, or both.
Can is the operative word: the scope of the investigation and the form of the report are the appointing judge's to set, and they are not identical from one courthouse to the next.
For an attorney, the draw of the role is the court-facing, investigative side of family practice: you are the neutral the judge is listening to, not an advocate for one parent.
That shapes the temperament the work rewards — patience with parents in conflict, comfort talking with children, and credibility with a judge who weighs what you report.
GAL appointments are one strand of family law practice, not a standalone track with job listings of their own — the family law guide covers the wider practice area, divorce, custody and support work, end to end.
Training and court lists
There is no application this page can walk you through, because the process is local.
The practical route: identify the courts in your area that make GAL appointments in family cases, ask the court administrator's office what they require of appointees, complete whatever training they name, and ask how attorneys get added to the appointment list.
Whether that list is a formal roster or a set of names the judges trust is exactly the kind of detail the courthouse can answer directly.
On training specifically: the sources we read did not document verified training-hour requirements for guardians ad litem, so this page will not quote a number.
Do not treat an hour total you have heard — from a course provider, a bar article or a colleague — as current until the appointing court confirms it.
Requirements change, and they are set one jurisdiction at a time.
If the neutral-role side of this appeals beyond custody cases, the adjacent neutral-role niche is mediation: family mediators face a similar research gap — our sources also did not confirm mediator roster-hour requirements.
Requirements are set court by court
Pay: court-appointed rates
What a GAL appointment pays is a local question — the rate, who approves the bill and who funds it.
Our research did not confirm appointed-rate figures for GAL work, so this page quotes none.
That is deliberate — a pay number we could not verify is more dangerous than no number, because you might plan a practice around it.
The honest way to reason about the money: appointed work is its own income arrangement — not automatically a salary, and not the same as the fee agreement you set with a private client.
If income predictability matters to you, weigh appointed work as one strand of a family law practice alongside client-facing work, and price the whole picture — not the appointment alone — before you chase the roster.
Ask the people who process the bills
Attorney GAL vs volunteer CASA
Alongside attorney GALs you will run into CASA volunteers — community members appointed through CASA volunteer programs in the children's cases where courts use them.
For your career the difference is structural: a CASA volunteer comes to the case through a volunteer program rather than a law practice, while an attorney GAL is appointed as a lawyer, and the training, oversight and authority attached to each role are defined separately.
The two roles are complements, not competing job openings: one is a volunteer position, the other an appointment for a licensed attorney.
How a court divides responsibility between an attorney GAL and a volunteer advocate is defined locally, so ask the court rather than assuming the roles work the same way.
If you want to understand the volunteer pipeline where you practice, the local CASA program — where your area has one — is the place to ask.
Where to find family law attorney jobs
A GAL path starts with family law work.
Our family law attorney job board collects family law attorney openings in one place — browse it to see who is hiring, at what experience level, and in which markets.
Practical sequence from here: take the family law role, ask the attorneys around you how GAL appointments work in your district, introduce yourself to the court administrator's office, and complete whatever training the court asks for.
That is how your name enters the appointment conversation in that building.
This page is career information, not legal advice. GAL appointment rules, training requirements and pay are set locally — confirm current requirements with the court or judicial district that would appoint you.