Click on one of these topics to jump directly to that section:
Reimbursement Requests
Formatting Court Reports
Conference Rooms & Telephone Services
Court Orders & Hearing Notices
Business Cards
Parking InformationSubmitting Requests for Reimbursement
The Administrative Office of the Courts provides for reimbursement of travel and other expenses you may incur in the performance of your official duties as a Guardian ad Litem. Using form AOC-A-25, you may claim for:
without prior approval....
- travel, phone calls and parking for case-related advocacy activities
- travel for new volunteer and in-service training activities
with prior approval from the district administrator....
- travel outside of the judicial district (Mecklenburg County)
- overnight accomodations and subsistence
Reimbursement will not be allowed for....
- providing services
- cellular phone calls
For an example of a request as it should be completed when submitted to our office, click here. Remember: Your Social Security number must be included. Be sure to refer to the appropriate case file number(s) as you explain the travel or phone calls.
The current mileage allowance is 26˘ per mile (effective 12/1/2001). Please use this amount in calculating your reimbursement under “TRANSPORTATION.” No gas receipts are needed. Individual telephone calls should be noted on a copy of the bill that you submit with the request and tallied under “OTHER EXPENSES.”
IMPORTANT: All reimbursement requests should be submitted to the Guardian ad Litem office by the 5th of the month for expenses incurred in the previous month. Requests received after this date cannot be guaranteed for reimbursement. Monthly requests exceeding $200 will require a review.
Formatting Your Reports to the Court
When a hearing in your case requires a written report to the court, please keep in mind that we need your original report in the office five business days prior to the hearing date. You may:
- mail your report
- fax your report to (704) 347-7833
- e-mail your report as an attachment to galreports@yahoo.com
- deliver your report in person
Submitting your report to your Program Supervisor five days prior to the hearing date allows us to comply with local court rules regarding the distribution of Guardian ad Litem Reports to the Court. These rules are designed to ensure that all parties receive reports in time to carefully consider the information you provide.
Reports are accepted typed, handwritten or as a document file on a 3.5" floppy disk or CD-ROM. If you are submitting your report as a ready-to-copy document, be sure to leave room on the first page for your supervisor to copy your report onto our letterhead. (Exact specifications are listed below.)
Standards for typing and word processing....
- use an easy-to-read font or type style (Times New Roman, Arial, etc.)
- use a 12-point font (10 or 12 cpi for typewriters)
- on the first page— use a 3" top margin and 1" side margins
- on successive pages— use 1" margins all the way around
Standards for submitting as an e-mail attachment or on disk....
Save in one of these formats:
- Microsoft Word, Works or Word Pad
- WordPerfect
- Rich-Text Format (.rtf)
Click here to see a sample court report in the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.
Conference & Telephone Services
Conference rooms are available for meetings with case participants. Check with your program supervisor for room availability.
From time to time you may need to set up a conference call with the people involved in your cases. If you would like to arrange a conference call through our office, please coordinate times for these calls with your program supervisor.
Additionally, you can use one of our speakerphones to bring one or more participants into a meeting you may be having in our office. Your program supervisor is available to set up these meetings also.
Court Orders and Hearing Notices
When your case is heard in court, the date and time of the next hearing will be given at the conclusion of the hearing and entered in the Court Order. A copy of the Court Order is forwarded to our office. We will mail you a copy. Please note the next hearing date and time is also listed on the last page of the order. Together, these will be your primary notification of upcoming hearings. Should an attorney request a change in the date and/or time, or if the court reschedules the hearing for some other reason, you will receive a copy of any documents that come to our office. You will also receive a reminder of the hearing from our office about a week before the date.
Business cards with a space for you to write your name are available from the Guardian ad Litem office. Please contact your program supervisor or the office for a supply.
When you come to Court or the Guardian ad Litem office, use the Charlotte- Mecklenburg Government Center Parking Deck on Davidson Street, between Third and Fourth Streets. Your program supervisor will have validation tokens for you at Court or you can get them from the office.
The staff of the Guardian ad Litem Program is available to assist
you in any way possible as you advocate for abused and neglected
children in Mecklenburg County. Please do not hesitate to call on us.Guardian ad Litem Program
720 East Fourth Street, Suite 202
Charlotte, North Carolina 28202
Phone (704) 347-7843
Fax (704) 347-7833April 23, 2002