The Legal Definition for a 'guardian ad litem' is a guardian appointed by the court to represent the interests of infants, the unborn, or incompetent persons in legal actions. Incompetent is 'not having the necessary skills to do something successfully'.
Ad Litem means for the purposes of a Court action and therefore distinguishes from a guardian as the Guardian Ad Litem has no control over the person or property of the person they are appointed to represent in Court.
Therefore any person who lacks the skills necessary to properly adduce a case before a Court or to speak before the Court is entitled to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem of their choosing who will as far as the Court is concerned be them in any proceeding. Appointing a Guardian on the grounds of mental health [2006]JCR116. To be a Guardian Ad Litem is not without its own risk (see 1999 JLR111).
However if you find yourself in Court and wish to be properly represented and do not wish to have a lawyer speak for you, but do not believe that you are capable of acting on your own behalf, you are free to seek the appointment of a Guardian Ad Litem to speak on your behalf,
The Courts will generally allow a "McKenzie Friend" to provide a litigant with assistance in proceedings before the court (see Wikipedia page for further details).
ReplyDeletePerhaps the key difference between a McKenzie Friend, a Guardian Ad Litem (assuming your references above to be correct) and an Advocate of the Royal Court is that, generally, an Advocate will be insured to provide the service of representing the client whereas other assistants are not insured. I am not sure what the practical benefit of this except that the non-availability of insurance for McKenzie Friends and Guardian Ad Litems may be such as to discourage them from providing assistance.
An Advocate works ultimately for the Court and not their client, they are bound by the Rules of the Law Society of Jersey whereas a non-lawyer is not. The difference between a McKenzie friend and a Guardian Ad Litem is the one sits next to you and assists (quietly) whilst one speaks for you and if you appoint a Guardian Ad Litem you are not allowed to speak (much as if you appoint an Advocate to speak for you).
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