§ 403 — Appointment of guardian ad litem 1

§ 403. Appointment of guardian ad litem\n 1. By nomination. (a) An infant over the age 14 years or his parent or\nguardian may petition the court on or before the return day of process\nfor the appointment of a named attorney as his guardian ad litem. There\nshall be filed with the petition the affidavit of the attorney showing\n (i) that he is qualified to protect the rights of the infant and has\nno interest adverse to him and\n (ii) the circumstances which led to his nomination.\n (b) There shall also be filed with the petition the affidavit of the\nparent with whom the infant resides, or if not residing with a parent,\nby the person having his legal custody or an adult person with whom he\nresides, showing that the affiant\n (i) consents to the appointment of the nominated attorney,\n (ii) has no interest adverse to that of the infant and if he has an\nadverse interest, whether he has influenced the infant in the nomination\nand\n (iii) such additional facts as may be required by the court.\n (c) The court may appoint the nominated attorney guardian ad litem\nunless because of adversity or conflict of interest or for other cause a\ndifferent appointment is required.\n 2. By the court. A person under disability who does not appear by his\nguardian, committee or conservator pursuant to 402 shall except as\notherwise expressly provided appear by a guardian ad litem appointed by\nthe court on nomination or on its own initiative whenever such person is\na necessary party or for other reason the court deems it necessary to\nappoint a guardian ad litem to protect the interests of such party.\n 3. An appearance for a person under disability by a guardian ad litem\nis not required and the court may dispense with the same whenever\n (a) in an uncontested probate proceeding such person will receive a\nshare equal to or greater than the share to which he would be entitled\nif decedent had died intestate,\n (b) in an accounting proceeding such person receives a specific\nbequest or a specific devise or a general legacy of a stated sum of\nmoney and the accounting party shows to the satisfaction of the court\nthat such person has received his legacy or devise or will receive same\nin full under the decree to be made in the proceeding,\n (c) in any proceeding the public administrator receives process or\nnotice in behalf of the person under disability.\n (d) in a probate proceeding the decedent is survived by a spouse who\nreceives the entire estate under the propounded instrument and the\npetition alleges that probate assets do not exceed $50,000. In such\ncase, letters testamentary should limit the executor to the collection\nof assets which, in the aggregate, do not exceed $50,000.\n