Have you ever heard of this?

[Heidi_Starling]

Our GAL is now working with us to settle custody outside court, she's become our mediator. No lawyers are present during the meeting, the first one our lawyers were available by phone and anything agreed to is subject to our attorney's approval.

I was just cautioned about this by a friend as it is a conflict of interest for her to be both our GAL and mediator, she is not as a GAL an impartial or neutral person to mediate with, and there could be pressure to agree to what she wants in fear of what she'll say in court.

My attorney advised me to ask GAL for this meeting/mediating when it was offered and it has my attorney's approval. Just wondering what thoughts were on this from a legal standpoint as opposed to a friend's opinion strongly against it.

Thank you for your help.

 

[army judge]

You have an attorney.

Please, too many cooks spoil the broth.

Too, many lawyers lose the case!

For your own benefit, listen only to the attorney you've retained, as long as you continue to have confidence in him/her.

Otherwise, hire another attorney.

 

[Heidi_Starling]

Thank you, I do agree with what you say. These boards wouldn't even be necessary if our attorneys would actually return our phone calls and not make us wait 1-2 weeks to talk to them. I think there should be a reduction to their rates for every day they don't return a call...$175/hr if returned within the first 2 days, $150 if 3-4 days, etc.

I now have another development in this situation. GAL/mediator emailed us and is now attempting to blackmail us into settling. According to her email if we do not come to an agreement by Friday she will order a custody investigator, postpone our hearing until May, and be asking for more fees!!!!

I am pretty well versed in the state laws because of this case and she does not have the authority to order an expert, only the court can. And the papers with the hearing notice say that it cannot be changed unless agreed upon by the parties, she can't change our hearing on us by herself as far as I know.

Yes, I am emailing my attorney in the morning by 7am, if you have any comments or advice to include in that email or address in the phone call which maybe this will get a timely call back on. Yes, I am going to be looking into having her removed and filing a complaint with the court and bar association.

Thank you