Divorce Support Forums: GAL is worthless

Some of the stuff you mention sounds like an exaggeration (but I know it's not because I've seen this happen before with you). Whatever it is that you do, the system does not seem to respond to your particular approach till you show up with tons of proof. I have a feeling like this has part to do with what we've talked about before... that your ex has a convincing manner on the surface... like narcissists & borderlines who manage to get everyone on thier side with convincing lies that take hours to untangle.

So how to fix this one? I'd approach it with the things that are clear. Go to your lawyer with the OBVIOUS... that you gave the woman signed documents that she seems to have lost, that she's been appointed for a month and hasn't bothered to even interview your daughter yet, that she's demanding you spend more money on a new eval for your ex and she wants to over-rule the court on getting an eval for YOU (over-ruling the court on who is to pay for the eval)... and that just like everyone else who has touched this case, you're having to start from scratch in proving to her that your ex is a nutjob who lies a lot. Explain that you have no problem proving the ex wrong, but when she approaches you with such distrust, does things that are contrary to standard orders just because (apparently) the ex suggested it... LOSES signed documents that you've already provided to her and doesn't bother to start with the intereviews in a situation that was urgent at the outset until more than a month after teh onset of the situation... that you need to make a complaint. You need a COMPETENT person who does not lose stuff, who has the time to make the appointments necesary to pursue the case, who does not take all your payments for this and show that it's all been for nothing and then hadn't done a thing of value yet, including interviewing members of either parent's household or EVEN the KID...

Be careful about pushing the more pedantic things of yoru complaints... like that the school district for some reason doesn't want the interviews to take place at the school... which is a little odd and sounds like the kind of rule they'd be going around all the time, informally... but push on the parts of your sitaution that are obvious, like that she's not bothered to interview household members, wants a new evaluation of teh ex at your cost, wants you to pay for an eval of yourself even though the judge had ordered your ex to pay for that... and even lost all the paperwork you gave her. Focus on THAT stuff and your lawyer might have enough cause to get this GAL booted from teh case with a refund of the $$ that's been paid to her so far... for incompetence... and then you'll have to start with a new one.