Monique Pardo Pope has repeatedly referenced her work as a guardian ad litem while campaigning for the Miami Beach Commission, citing it as proof of her steady temperament and inclination toward public service.
Pardo Pope’s practice includes family law, though Miami-Dade County Clerk records show about 92% of her cases center on collecting debts for banks.
Of three cases in which she was appointed as a guardian ad litem, she was discharged from one this year after she asked the court to jail a child’s mother over a series of disparaging emails the woman sent about her to political organizations, the Florida Bar and elected officials.
Pardo Pope, whose legal name is Monique K. Pope, was appointed guardian ad litem in September 2023 of a girl at the center of a paternity dispute that by then had dragged on for more than five years. A final hearing in the case is scheduled for February 2026, by which time she’ll have been removed from it for the better part of a year.
On April 15, the mother in the case, Belle Useche, sent an emotional 13-page email to several parties, including Miami-Dade GOP Chair Kevin Cooper, detailing what she described as a pattern of neglectful, dishonest and biased conduct by Pardo Pope, a fellow Republican.
Useche said Pardo Pope failed to interview witnesses, went months without contact, lied about her own child being sick to obtain a report extension and conducted only one home visit in the time she served as the girl’s court guardian.
She also accused Pardo Pope of favoring the father, interviewing far more of his references (7) than hers (2), and dismissing concerns about the father and her ex-husband sharing the same lawyer.
The allegations in Useche’s email represent her account of the case; the court record filed with the email does not show a judicial finding on those claims. Guardian ad litem appointments often involve contentious family disputes, and disagreements between GALs and parents are not uncommon.
Useche wrote that she had previously contacted the Florida Bar, Florida Guardian ad Litem Office and her “Florida house representative,” which state voter records show is Republican Rep. David Borrero of Hialeah. A transcript of a Nov. 10 court exchange shows Pardo Pope saying that Useche also reached out to a “sitting congressman” and the State Attorney’s Office.
Eight days after the email, on April 23, Pardo Pope filed a motion asking the court to have the Sheriff’s Office “immediately incarcerate” Useche until she could communicate with her respectfully in accordance with the order appointing her as guardian ad litem. She also sought to have Useche pay the costs associated with the motion and any additional damages the court deemed proper.
Pardo Pope described the email — which contained no threats — as “not only highly concerning but extremely lengthy” and slanderous. She said she was “extremely fearful” of Useche, who “has knowledge of where (my) biological children attend school and of (my) residential address.”
“(I) was left with no option but to file a police report,” the motion said. Pardo Pope later said she went to Police Departments in Doral and Miami Beach, but neither would take a report because “it was not an incident that had occurred in the moment that they could be called to.”
Monique Pardo Pope requested that a court have the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office “immediately incarcerate” the mother in a case for which she served as the child’s guardian ad litem. Image via Miami-Dade Clerk.
During the Nov. 10 court exchange, Pardo Pope told Useche that she knew “for a fact” that Useche owned and carried firearms.
The day after Pardo Pope’s motion, Judge Christina DiRaimondo discharged Pardo Pope from the case. Pardo Pope later said she withdrew because she “became fearful” of Useche. The Judge prohibited Useche from contacting Pardo Pope or contacting others about her.
Florida Politics contacted Pardo Pope for comment but received no response.
In an interview snippet from the Mercy’s Corner Podcast posted to Instagram last month, Pardo Pope said she has long been “heavily involved” in community service and philanthropy. After returning to Miami-Dade County from New York, she said she signed up to be a pro bono guardian ad litem in the children’s court through Dade Legal Aid.
“One of the Judges approached me and said, ‘You have an incredible temperament for this type of work. You should consider making this sort of what your focus is on,’” she said.
“And so (the) pandemic hit, (I) had my second baby and my husband and I decided, you know what? You love family law. You love what you do. You love your guardian work. Why don’t you make a practice out of it, and so that’s where we are. … I have my practice. I do family law. Guardian ad litem is a large chunk of my practice. I do some civil litigation, some debt collection as well. But I fight the good fight.”
The renewed scrutiny of Pardo Pope’s guardian ad litem work comes amid other controversies that have emerged during the campaign.
In one post, she referred to her father, who died in 2012 by lethal injection, as her “hero.” In another, she called him her “guiding light in the sky.” The controversy over her social media posts about her father drew significant attention when Corben reported on them.
She is competing against Democrat Monica Matteo-Salinas, a City Hall legislative aide,for the Group 1 seat of the Miami Beach Commission.
The two earned the most votes in last month’s General Election, but neither won a large enough share — more than 50% — to win outright.
Matteo-Salinas received 23.2% of the vote, while Pardo Pope got 20.1%.
