by Linda Zirion

Created on: December 09, 2008   Last Updated: April 05, 2012

Family Code Section 3151 defines the role of minors' counsel as a gatherer of facts that bear on the best interests of the child and present those facts to the court. Section 3151 confers upon Minors' counsel the authority to interview the child, to review court files and to review all records pertaining to the child and essentially to conduct any further investigation deemed to be appropriate so as to enable counsel to ascertain all of the facts relevant to the pending custody proceedings.

Minors' counsel is a court appointed attorney that represents a child or children to help determine the best interest of that child/children. The attorney is appointed by a Judge and does not represent the parents in any way. The attorney is responsible to represent the child's "best interests." This is frequently the role of the child's attorney in child custody protection (abuse, neglect and dependency) cases.

The court decides who pays for the minors' counsel. The fee may be paid by one or both of the parents. The court may also order the County to pay the fees if the parents qualify as indigent under the court's financial guidelines.

The court notifies the attorney's office that they have been appointed to represent the child/children. At this point the attorney's office will mail each party a letter and ask each parent to complete an information packet and sign release forms allowing the attorneys to speak with doctors, school officials, etc. In cases where the parties are ordered to pay minors' counsel fees, they will usually be asked that the retainer be paid before any work on the case begins. After the information packets are complete and the retainer fee is paid, the attorney's office will contact the primary custodial parent and make an appointment for the minor to meet with the attorney. At this appointment, only the child will speak with the attorney. Most minors' counsel asks that any concerns a party has; be sent to them in writing. They generally do not speak with the parents. After interviewing the child, the attorney will investigate any relevant problems before the court hearing. At the court hearing, the attorney will discuss the findings with the parties and their attorneys as well as the Judge. If a written statement of issues and contentions was required, this will be filed with the court before the hearing date.

Minors' counsel may make recommendations as to what the custody orders should be. A good bench officer will not "rubber-stamp" recommendations of Minors' counsel, rather, a good bench officer will only adopt recommendations that Minor's counsel has fully supported by a detailed statement of facts gathered from having thoroughly investigated all critical witnesses.

Learn more about this author, Linda Zirion.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.