Any Excuse to Make a Court Appointment in OC
The transcripts from an Orange County case show that even in probate court: the system is doing anything to make an appointment.
I have been emphasizing how in family court the system tries to identify problems- often problems it creates or makes worse- and then uses those problems as an excuse to appoint someone else to charge hundreds of dollars an hour.
Take a look at this article for more background. This is a national problem but it’s also not exclusive to family court.
In probate- where guardianship and conservatorship are decided- those courts often take on a similar pattern.
The court is always looking for an excuse to appoint someone and a case I will cover much more in-depth soon is a good example.
In this case, with a trial scheduled for about six wees from a hearing set on October 16, 2020, the judge begins to speculate about whether appointing a guardian ad litem (GAL) would be a good idea.
This was a conservatorship case for a special needs adult held in Superior Court in Orange County, California. The judge entertained the idea of appointing a GAL almost immediately.
The boy’s mother’s attorney, the boy’s father, and a lawyer from the Orange County Public Defender’s Office all attended.
I was told that the public defender is immediately appointed for the child in such cases in OC.
Everyone seemed to be warm to the appointment of a GAL. The boy’s mother’s attorney stated in part.
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