Next friend

In common law, a next friend (Law French prochein ami) is a person who represents another person who is under disability or otherwise unable to maintain a suit on his or her own behalf and who does not have a legal guardian. In England and Wales they are known as litigation friends. When a relative who is next of kin acts as a next friend for a person, that person is sometimes instead described as the natural guardian of the person. A next friend has full power over the proceedings in the action as if he or she were an ordinary plaintiff, until a guardian or guardian ad litem is appointed in the case; but the next friend is entitled to present evidence only on the same basis as any other witness.