Guardians ad litem and child representation in Texas: who they are, what they owe your child, and who pays

If custody is contested in Texas, the court can appoint someone to look into your family and report to the judge. This page is what Texas’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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How this page is sourced

Everything below is traced to Texas’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.

Duty owed
Hybrid
The duty depends on which role is appointed, or the statute blends the two.
Who can serve
Depends on the role
This state has more than one appointee role with different requirements.
Who pays
The parties, by court order
Allocated between you at the court’s discretion.
Official rate
No published rate
No official fee schedule exists that we could find.

What the role is called here

guardian ad litemattorney ad litemamicus attorneyattorney in dual role

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

Tex. Fam. Code § 107.021(a)
In a suit in which the best interests of a child are at issue, other than a suit filed by a governmental entity … the court may appoint one of the following: (1) an amicus attorney; (2) an attorney ad litem; or (3) a guardian ad litem.

Source: Tex. Fam. Code § 107.021(a) · source

What duty they owe your child

hybrid (varies by role): guardian ad litem and amicus attorney follow best interests; attorney ad litem follows the child’s expressed objectives if the child is competent to form the attorney-client relationship

In the statute’s own words
the attorney ad litem appointed for a child shall … represent the child’s expressed objectives of representation and follow the child’s expressed objectives of representation during the course of litigation if the attorney ad litem determines that the child is competent… (§107.004(a)(2)); an amicus attorney shall advocate the best interests of the child after reviewing the facts and circumstances of the case (§107.005(a)); a guardian ad litem … shall … consider the child’s expressed objectives without being bound by those objectives (§107.002(b)(3))

Source: Tex. Fam. Code § 107.021(a) · source

Who can be appointed

A guardian ad litem need not be an attorney — the definition includes non-attorney professionals or a suitable adult — while an amicus attorney or attorney ad litem must be a licensed attorney; an attorney can also serve a combined ‘dual role.’ Tex. Fam. Code § 107.001(1), (2), (5).

Who pays

Tex. Fam. Code § 107.023(a)-(b)
the following persons are entitled to reasonable fees and expenses in an amount set by the court and ordered to be paid by one or more parties to the suit … by reference to the reasonable and customary fees for similar services in the county of jurisdiction.

Source: Tex. Fam. Code § 107.023(a)-(b) · source

If you cannot pay

none found — § 107.023 (fees in private, non-governmental-entity suits) contains no indigency waiver or shifting provision; the county-funds/indigency mechanism in § 107.015(c) applies only to suits filed by a governmental entity (CPS/termination cases), not private custody suits.

There is no published price

We looked for an official Texas 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

Texas 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: Tex. Fam. Code § 107.051(a) · 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 Texas

Texas is unusual in statutorily distinguishing three separate roles with different duties within the same chapter: a guardian ad litem (who need not be a lawyer and advocates best interests), an attorney ad litem (a lawyer who must follow the child’s own expressed wishes once the child is deemed competent to form the attorney-client relationship), and an amicus attorney (a lawyer who advocates best interests, not the child’s wishes) — and it lets a single attorney serve a defined combined ‘dual role.’ Tex. Fam. Code §§ 107.001, 107.002, 107.004, 107.005.

Other states

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Related

Sources last checked29 August 2026
Page published29 August 2026
What this means. This is when the sources on this page were last read against their originals — statutes, court rules, official schedules — taken from the date this page was built from its sources. It is not the date the page was last edited. Adding a link or fixing a typo does not move it; re-reading the statute does. Law changes without notice, so treat anything time-sensitive as needing a fresh check. Where we get something wrong we publish it at thecusp.app/corrections with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.