Very biased GAL. Charges hefty fees, will nickel and dime, and will request additional fee approval from the presiding judge after the case has been going on, resulting in her likely getting those approved. Will violate GAL protocol by showing bias which seems to stem from personal beliefs and values rather than objectively viewing a case and providing the judge with facts to make an informed decision. Full disclosure, I did lose my children based on her report after filing against their abusive and neglectful mother who was also using drugs with the children present. After a year and a half of more abuse and drugs, and a decline in the children’s school performance and mental health, I hired a different lawyer who negotiated a different GAL. That case was over in two months. Kids moved in the middle of their second semester of school to live with their dad, me, who is active duty military (if that gives you any indication of how serious this was). One thing I can thank Groff’s unprofessional and unethical practices for is that I have decided to become a volunteer GAL to help save more children from these situations and these types of GALs and lawyers.

The most corrupt GAL and attorney. We hired Groff as a GAL for my daughter. My ex was trying to claim psychological parent (non biological) and was neglecting and abusing her on visitation with her siblings. I had a binder of proof of abuse, an active counselor who agreed it wasn’t in her best interest to continue visitation, nor did my daughter want to continue visitation!! Groff refused to listen to my child’s needs and she neglected to investigate my evidence. The entire time Groff was the GAL in this case, my husband and I felt she was biased. She wouldn’t communicate with us, there was more than 45 days of non communication from her and we then had to initiate the communication! She then capped her billing, exceeding the fee agreement of $5000 and wanted more! I finally started to review her time billing and found out that after every contact Groff had between myself, my husband, or our child’s counselor she would immediately follow up with a telephone conference with my ex’s attorney (who happens to be a good friend of hers). Facebook is very useful now days to find that information. When we went to court, Groff stated she was there for observational purposes only. It was a Rule to Show Cause Hearing because we broke the previous court order to protect our child from the abuse and neglect! The Judge Michele Patrao Forsythe (who also happens to be a friend of Groff’s) called Groff to her personal chambers and listened to her opinions. The Judge never listened to the opinion of our daughters counselor who was there in court, nor were we allowed on the stand to explain our situation and we were ordered to send our child back to my ex’s house and pay his attorney fees of $5000. 3 visits in she was ABUSED! The counselor called DSS and they did a full investigation and my ex tested positive on his drug screen and was indicated on child neglect. Once that happened he dropped his claims of psychological parent. When I brought my problem with billing to Groff’s attention, she refused to correct it and hung up on me. She is CORRUPT! Cannot be trusted! She does not care about the children, she only cares for MONEY! Harshman vs Glaser, Kimner vs Kimner and many other cases!

My experience with her 7+ years ago is VERY similar to these other 2 bad reviews. Not recommended. I only feel safe sharing now that my daughter is 18. I didn’t want to risk dealing with her unjust bias and over stepping her bounds again. I had to threaten her to do the same actions to the other side or I would bring up her bias in court. Glad she did. Just warning others to file a petition with the court to get a different GAL, if you can. If you can’t (you likely can’t without cause), remember to keep her in check like I had to do. She will also nickel and dime you like these other reviews have said (seems to be her primary focus). We had two other GAL’s that were much better.