Blakely Farms Trust v. Blakely

The trial court has inherent power to appoint a guardian ad litem for a litigant in a civil matter upon a finding that the litigant is incompetent. RCW 4.08.060; Tai Vinh Vo v. Le Ngoc Pham, 81 Wn. App. 781, 784, 916 P.2d 462 (1996). Ralph H. Blakely Jr. was named as a third party defendant in a lawsuit challenging the validity of his family’s trust agreement. At the time, he was party to a marital dissolution action and faced charges for the first degree kidnapping of his wife and child. Upon the motion of his marital dissolution counsel, the trial court appointed a guardian ad litem (GAL)…