The rest of what we have written about Montana. Every figure is quoted from Montana’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Guardians ad litem and child representation in Montana: who they are, what they owe your child, and who pays
If custody is contested in Montana, the court can appoint someone to look into your family and report to the judge. This page is what Montana’s own statutes and court rules say about who that person is, what duty they owe, and — the part almost nobody asks in time — who pays for them.
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Everything below is traced to Montana’s own statute or court rule, quoted where the wording matters. Where we could not verify something from a primary source, the page says so in plain terms rather than filling the space. This is information, not legal advice. Corrections go up at thecusp.app/corrections.
What the role is called here
Names matter more than they look. A guardian ad litem generally argues for what they judge is best for your child and is not your child’s lawyer. An attorney for the child argues for what your child actually wants. Those are opposite duties. The four roles, explained in full.
How an appointment happens
The court may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of a minor dependent child with respect to the child’s support, parenting, and parental contact. The guardian ad litem may be an attorney.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-205 · source
What duty they owe your child
hybrid
to appear and participate in all proceedings to the degree necessary to adequately represent the child and make recommendations to the court concerning the child’s support, parenting, and parental contact
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-205 · source
Who can be appointed
The statute says the guardian ad litem ‘may be an attorney,’ which is permissive, not mandatory; it only bars a county attorney, deputy county attorney, or the department of public health and human services staff from serving.
Who pays
The court shall enter an order for costs and fees in favor of the child’s guardian ad litem. The order must be made against either or both parents, except that if the responsible party is indigent, the costs must be waived.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-205(4) · source
Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-205(4) provides that GAL costs and fees are waived outright if the responsible parent is indigent: ‘except that if the responsible party is indigent, the costs must be waived.’
We looked for an official Montana fee schedule for privately appointed guardians ad litem and custody evaluators, and did not find one. That is true of almost every state — only Minnesota and Massachusetts publish figures, and both are subsidised program rates rather than market ones.
The numbers circulating online come from law-firm marketing pages. We will not repeat those as though they were sourced. Call your county family court clerk and ask what appointees there actually charge. It is local, current, and free.
Custody evaluations
Montana governs court-ordered custody evaluations and investigations separately from the appointment of a guardian ad litem. An evaluator is a witness, not an advocate — and their recommendation is a recommendation, not a ruling a judge is bound by.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-215 · source
Before an evaluation begins, it is worth asking which psychological instruments will be used. The peer-reviewed literature is openly critical of several still in circulation — one has interrater reliability reported as ranging from 50% to 100%. The evidence, in full.
The thing worth knowing about Montana
Montana lets the same person serve two roles at once: under Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-215, ‘The investigator may be the child’s guardian ad litem,’ meaning the GAL appointed under § 40-4-205 to represent the child’s interests can also be the court-ordered investigator who prepares the parenting/custody evaluation report — combining advocate and neutral-fact-finder functions in one appointee, with no attorney requirement for either function.
Other states
Related
- Guardians ad litem, child’s attorneys and custody evaluators — the four roles, the science, and what to ask
- Montana child custody — how custody is decided here
- Getting your finances in order — including who pays the lawyers
- Co-parenting — after the order is made