Court Opinion

ID: 9797355
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:19:01.513531+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:54:32.180123
License: Public Domain

VOIGT, Justice,
specially concurring, with which GOLDEN, Justice, joins.
[T 12] I concur with the result of the majority opinion because the parties stipulated to the role played by the guardian ad litem in this case, the appellant was not prejudiced by that role, and the guardian ad litem was careful not to also act as an attorney for the child. I write separately only because I believe this Court has taken a wrong turn along the way as we have continued to restrict the ability of guardians ad litem who happen to be attorneys to perform their duties.
[113] One does not need to be an attorney to be a guardian ad litem. At the same time, due to their training, experience in the judicial system, and familiarity with the issues involved in a typical custody dispute, attorneys often make excellent guardians ad litem. I do not understand why a person who has been appointed to act as a child's guardian ad litem, and who has not been appointed to act as that child's attorney, may not be called as a fact witness. The status of being an attorney does not render a person, as a general matter, incompetent to testify.
[114] As I read Pace v. Pace, 2001 WY 43, 22 P.3d 861 (Wyo.2001); Clark v. Alexander, 953 P.2d 145 (Wyo.1998); and Moore v. Moore, 809 P.2d 261 (Wyo.1991), it appears to me that the primary issue was how to deal with the dual role of someone appointed to be both attorney and guardian ad litem. The problem in Pace, for instance, was that the "GAL, who was a licensed attorney, impermissibly acted as both trial counsel and a witness." Pace, 2001 WY 48, ¶ 24, 22 P.3d at 869. It goes without saying that the same person should not be both witness and attorney in the same case. But we have now created a system wherein guardians ad litem who are not attorneys may testify, while guardians ad litem who happen to be attorneys may not testify, even if they do not appear as attorneys in the case. That makes no sense.
*884[T15]) Wyoming's small communities do not have an abundance of people willing to act as guardians ad litem in custody disputes. This Court should do all it can to make it easy for attorneys to fill that role. We have already stated what needs to be done to accomplish that goal: "A guardian ad litem, counsel, and the court should work together at the beginning of a case to develop and articulate clearly the seope and nature of the guardian ad litem's responsibilities." Pace 2001 WY 43, ¶ 26, 22 P.3d at 870. In truth, that could be accomplished with a form order of appointment, in which it is clearly spelled out that the person appointed is acting only in the capacity of a guardian ad litem and not as an attorney.
[116] In Clark, 953 P.2d at 151-52, we made the following statement:
In providing guidance to the role of an attorney appointed to represent a child while at the same time acting as guardian ad litem, we do not intend to usurp the role of the district court in appointing individuals to act solely as an attorney or as guardian ad litem. It is imperative, however, that the appointee request clarification from the appointing court if questions regarding the duties arise.
[T17]) That is exactly what happened in this case. The guardian ad litem was appointed to represent the best interests of the child. That is the traditional function of the guardian ad litem. She was not appointed to act as the child's attorney, and she was careful not to perform that function. I see nothing in this situation that violated the dictates of Clark or Pace.