Snohomish County's GAL Registry: A Look at What Public Transparency Actually Looks Like

County Spotlight · By Editorial Desk · September 5, 2026 · 6 min read

Snohomish County publishes its GAL registries, forms, applications, and code of conduct — see what full public transparency looks like and where it still falls short.

Most Washington counties make families hunt for basic information about who might be appointed to investigate their custody case. Snohomish County is the counterexample — and it is worth studying, because it shows that transparency is not a technical problem. It is a choice.

Snohomish County meets five of the six public-information markers this directory tracks. Only one gap remains: hourly rates are not centrally disclosed. Here is what the county publishes, and what other counties could copy tomorrow.

Overview: several registries, one court, all public

Snohomish County Superior Court maintains Guardian ad Litem registries across multiple case types: Title 26 matters (dissolutions, modifications, paternity, relocation, and third-party custody), Title 11 matters (alleged incapacitated persons), and minor settlements. It also maintains a separate Minor Guardianship GAL/Court Visitor registry under RCW 11.130.

One important distinction for readers: foster-care child representation in Snohomish County runs through the county's CASA Program, not through these registries. The registries described here cover the superior court's civil appointment process.

How GALs are appointed and paid

Snohomish operates a private-pay structure with a limited public-pay backstop. In qualifying cases, the court may appoint and pay for a GAL under Title 26 or Title 11, but county-paid work is capped at 12 hours. Outside those limited circumstances, the parties pay the GAL's own established private-pay rate.

That structure is set out in the court's local rule on payment: SCO 9.18 Guardian ad Litem Payment.

Qualifications and oversight

The county publishes the rules that govern who may serve and how they must behave:

  • SCO 9.05 GAL Qualifications — the local qualification standard.
  • GAL Registry Code of Conduct — the conduct expectations for registry members.
  • Administrative Order 36-10 — governing domestic relations appointments.

For readers who want the underlying law, the statewide Guardian ad Litem Rules (GALR) and the Revised Code of Washington supply the state-level framework that local rules implement.

The forms parties actually need

Snohomish does not make families guess at paperwork. Three public-facing forms are posted on the county site:

  • Preliminary GAL Personal Information Form (Parent)
  • Preliminary GAL Personal Information Form (Other Adult)
  • Supplemental GAL Order

Becoming a registered GAL in Snohomish County

The registry applications themselves are also public, which means anyone — a prospective GAL, a journalist, or a parent — can read exactly what the court asks of applicants:

  • Title 26 GAL Application
  • RCW 11.130 GAL / Court Visitor Registry Application

The current registries — all public

This is the part that separates Snohomish from most of the state. The county publishes its actual, current registries, organized by title and pay type. All eight are linked below:

  • Adult Guardianship/Conservatorship Court Visitor Registry — County Pay
  • Adult Guardianship/Conservatorship Court Visitor Registry — Private Pay
  • Minor Guardianship GAL Registry
  • Minor Guardianship/Conservatorship Court Visitor Registry
  • Settlement GAL Registry — Private Pay
  • Title 26 GAL Registry — County Pay
  • Title 26 GAL Registry — Private Pay
  • Title 4 GAL Registry — County Pay

A family facing an appointment can see, today, who is on the list relevant to their case. In most Washington counties, that is not possible.

What is still missing

To be even-handed: Snohomish is not a perfect score. Hourly rates are not centrally disclosed — they are negotiated per GAL under the private-pay structure — so families still need to call around to compare cost before deciding how to proceed. That single gap is what keeps Snohomish at five of six transparency markers rather than six of six.

Central rate disclosure would cost the county almost nothing and would close the last information gap for families trying to budget for a custody case.

The takeaway

Snohomish County proves that a court can publish its registries, its applications, its forms, its qualifications, and its conduct rules — without litigation risk, without administrative collapse, and without controversy. The other 38 counties do not lack the technology. They lack the policy.

You can review Snohomish County's full record in this directory on the Snohomish County page, and compare it against your own county's registry on the county index.