What Is a Next Friend in Legal Terms

Often, a close friend is a relative or family member. A modern trend in the United States is for courts to appoint a litigation guardian to represent a minor or disabled person involved in legal proceedings. In situations involving minors, the court appoints a guardian for criminal hearings, adoption proceedings or cases of abuse and neglect before the family court. In the case of adults with disabilities, this person may be part of an advocacy group that assists a designated lawyer. The next friend`s name appears on a complaint or other legal document – sometimes followed by the designation “a/n/f” or “as next friend” – but the next friend is not a party to the lawsuit. Rather, the next friend is simply acting on behalf of another party by filing a lawsuit or during legal proceedings. Learn more about FindLaw`s newsletters, including our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. This website is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google`s privacy policy and terms of service apply. The next friend can also be used for someone who has been declared unfit or unable to work. Often, these can be adults with age-related dementia or Alzheimer`s disease. In a recent case, a potential $50 million class action lawsuit against the NCAA was filed on behalf of the lead plaintiff by his sister as a close friend.

That plaintiff — former University of Texas football player Julius Whittier — suffers from early-onset Alzheimer`s disease, which the lawsuit says was caused by repeated head injuries he sustained during his time as a college football player. A person acting on behalf of another person who does not have the legal capacity to act on his or her own behalf. n. a person (often a relative) who voluntarily assists a minor or a person who is legally incapable, including by taking legal action. However, this informal practice has been replaced in almost all States by requests for the appointment of a guardian ad litem at the time of the commencement of the action. See: tutor ad litem. A person usually acts as the closest friend of a person who is unable to file or manage their own lawsuit. A common example of the use of a closest friend is in cases involving minor children, who are generally not allowed to prosecute themselves. In these cases, the next friend is often a parent, although it may also be another person whose interests do not conflict with those of the child. Next friend, as a legal term, comes from the common law.

This is a person acting on behalf of a child or a person with a disability in a civil case. A future friend is not a party to the litigation, but must be included in the caption of court pleadings, as the law does not consider that children and persons with disabilities have the legal capacity to sue on their own behalf. A person acting as a closest friend has no control over the proceeds of the lawsuit and does not have the authority to take custody of the child. When you`re involved in lawsuits, it`s always good to have a friend or two. But when a legal document refers to a person`s “next friend,” it doesn`t talk about that person`s social circle. Rather, the “next friend” is a person who appears or is appointed by a court to act on behalf of an incapable person, such as a child or a person who has become unable to work due to illness or injury. Prior to the Married Women`s Property Act of 1882 in English and Irish law (and similar laws at the same time in American law), it was common for a married woman to sue a closest friend. Nevertheless, this act, which allows a married woman to sue in any way as a woman sole, has made a future friend superfluous in the case of married women. State laws now set out the qualifications and duties of a person acting as a closest friend, but those laws more often refer to that person as a court-appointed guardian ad litem or special advocate. Regardless of the designation, that person`s responsibility is now limited to representing a minor or an incapacitated person in litigation or legal proceedings. At common law, a closest friend represented a plaintiff, while a guardian represented a defendant.

This distinction has been abolished in modern law. In cases involving minors, the guardian of the proceedings must be a lawyer. Constitutional law requires that a minor accused of committing a crime have a lawyer. The guardian has the same legal obligations to the child as to an adult client in the areas of loyalty, confidentiality and zealous representation. However, with regard to the sanctions contemplated by the court, the guardian must also take into account what is “in the best interests of the child”. In the case of mental disability, a curator, guardian or committee represents the person in court. However, if they do not have such a representative, or if the committee has an interest against the applicant, they can sue another friend. In some states, the next friend may be called a guardian ad litem (some states have additional requirements for those acting as guardians ad litem), but the next friend is not a legal guardian. At the end of the legal dispute in which he or she appears as the next friend, the duty of the next friend ends.

The next friend does not get additional custody of the person for whom they are acting as their next friend, and the role does not confer any rights or control over that person`s property. Another case occurred after the monkey selfie case, when the animal rights organization People for Ethical Treatment of Animals sued photographer David Slater and claimed to be the closest friend of a Sulawesi crested macaque. In common law, a law prochein ami is a person who represents another minor or who is unable to bring an action on his or her own behalf because of disability or other reasons, and who does not have a legal guardian. They are also known as process friends. When a relative who is the next of kin acts as a close friend of a person, that person is sometimes called the person`s “natural guardian” instead. Another friend has full control of the proceedings in the claim, as if they were an ordinary complainant, until a guardian or guardian is appointed in the case; But the next friend has the right to present evidence only on the same basis as any other witness. What does the “next friend” do and when is it used? At common law, if a person is unable to defend his or her own interests or make an application, the court appoints a person to represent his or her legal interests. In judicial terminology, this person was referred to as the closest friend, which is derived from the French term prochein ami. People who needed another friend included minors, the mentally ill or mentally retarded, frail or senile people, and others whose disabilities prevented them from managing their affairs. This disability is often caused by a minority, a mental disability or a lack of access to counselling.

Therefore, any application to the court on behalf of a minor, a mentally disabled person or a detained person without access to a lawyer who does not have a legal guardian or a person authorized to act on his or her behalf with a power of attorney must be made through a close friend (prochein ami, prochein amy or proximus amicus). A minor often defends a claim not by a closest friend, but by a guardian, who is often appointed by the court competent to hear the case or by a court competent in matters of succession. Guardians ad litem are often used in family and juvenile courts, where the best interests of the child require an independent and neutral person to protect the rights of the child. The growing number of such representatives has led States to develop training and certification programmes for individuals who wish to serve as closest friends or guardians ad litem. Although lawyers can also represent minors, Next Friends provides valuable assistance to the courts. A future friend is not a party to a lawsuit, but a court official. When the dispute is over, the next friend`s assignment ends. The next friend does not have the right to control the property of the person he represents or to take custody of that person. These rights may be transferred to a person appointed by a court as guardian of a minor or a prohibited person. Historically, in the case of a minor, the father was prima facie the right person to act as the closest friend; In the absence of the father, the testamentary guardian was, at the very least, the closest friend; But any person who is not disabled can act as the closest friend as long as he has no interest in the action detrimental to that of the minor. A married woman has historically not been able to act as a next girlfriend (female covert), but this practice is no longer common, at least in the United States, where one or both parents of a minor may act as the next boyfriend.

(Exceptions are cases of divorce or other custody cases; in such cases, courts often appoint a guardian or lawyer (independent of the parents) to represent the interests of the child, which may not coincide with the interests of one of the parents.) Under U.S. law, Next Friends has sometimes been allowed to hear habeas corpus charges challenging the detention of prisoners unable to appear in court on their own behalf.

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