The answer is no. The Guardian Ad Litem report can be, and many times is a deciding factor for the court in terms of how the court would want to determine their decisions given the Guardian Ad Litem is generally an expert in custody and parenting time cases and as a neutral person, they do not need to have a reason to work for one parent or the other. However, the court does have the ability and has in cases where I have completely ignored the Guardian Ad Litem report or the Guardian Ad Litem’s recommendations for a variety of reasons.

However, in many cases, it would take something significant for the judge to completely ignore the Guardian Ad Litem’s report. The court might only accept some of the Guardian Ad Litem’s information and again if you have a trial and testimony there can be reasons why parts of the Guardian Ad Litem’s report would be outweighed by other factors in a trial.  It is a significant tool for the judge and gives the court a lot of good information but is not always followed depending on the circumstances.