Your Rights and Responsibilities As A Guardian
In its broadest interpretation, the term “guardian” is used to refer to parents, whether biological or adoptive or other legal custodians of children. However, there are actually several different types of guardianship, some of which can be awarded while the parental rights remain in tact.
A Guardian Ad Litem for example, refers to a person (typically an attorney) who is charged with representing the child’s best interest during a legal proceeding. The attorney is separate from any counsel representing the other parties so that there is no conflict of interest. The Guardian Ad Litem’s authority ends when the legal proceedings are over.
A Guardian of the Estate is a person designated by the court to oversee the child’s financial matters. This person may be the parent or primary guardian or it may be an unbiased third party such as an accountant or attorney. The Guardian of the Estate is responsible for making sure that the child’s money and/or property is properly managed. This is commonly found in the case of child celebrities where the child makes considerably more than the parents and/or the parents’ management of the assets have come into question.
The Guardian of the Estate’s authority lasts until the court deems it is no longer necessary.
A Guardian of the Person would be responsbile for handling everything outside of the child’s property and finances. This person would be responsible for making decisions about medical care, education and other factors and events that would effect the child’s life. In the example of a child celebrity as used above, the Guardian of the Person might be the parents while an accountant might be given the title of Guardian of the Estate.
Plenary Guardianship is perhaps the closest legal definition for the rights and responsibilities that are naturally assumed with parenthood. A Plenary Guardian oversees both the “person” as well as the “estate” meaning that they make just about all the decisions on the child’s behalf. The only limitation to this type of guardianship would be a condition that was stipulated by the court.
An Emergency Guardian is just what it sounds like – a person who is awarded guardianship in an emergency situation. This might be a foster parent, an attorney, a relative or other adult who is given the responsibility of caring and supervising the child until a long-term guardian can be appointed. This type of guardian is typically called in when the child’s immediate welfare is at stake, such as when parental abuse is suspected.
An Interim Guardian is a temporary guardian designated by the courts until a permanent or replacement guardian can be found. A good example of an interim guardian would be a foster parent.
A Limited Guardian is one who is given authority over a specific aspect of the child’s life but nothing else. An example of this type of guardianship would be where the parents oppose certain medical proceedings and/or testing but the court decides the procedures would be in the child’s best interest. In this case, they might designate a physician to be a Limited Guardian with respect to the child’s medical care. The parents still maintain all other forms of guardianship but in this instance, the Limited Guardian would have the final say on matters relating to medical treatment.
These different types of guardianship can be mixed and matched to suit the specific needs of the child in question. In addition, two people can share one or more types of guardianship for a child. In this instance, the parties would be known as “co-guardians“.
15 Comments
A 13 year old has two divorced parents with joint custody. Can the mother legally assign guardianship to her brother and sister-in-law because she is metally ill and cannot handle the day to day responsibilities but still wants to remain an active parent?? Just a side note: her father is a jobless, alcoholic/perscription drug addict who, at 48. still lives with his mother and brothers.
so if we have legal guardianship of a child and want to pursue adoption how would that work
We live in CA and I have a very related question. We have had custody of C since his birth over two years ago, and have been his legal guardians since he was 2 weeks old. His mother consents to adoption and I think we could easily get the absentee father’s rights terminated via CA Probate Code 1516.5. The county is paying us monthly for his support which would end if we adopt him, but we can’t afford the $5,000 plus in adoption fees so wouldn’t it save the county money in the long run just to waive the fees and not have to continue paying us over $400 a month the next 16 years. So my question is where can legal guardians get legal and or financial assistance with pursuing adoption? It’s dumb if we can’t adopt just cause we can’t afford to pay the county $5,000 to let them to stop paying us $446 a month for the next 16 years.
my parents(my kid’s grandparents) just filed an emergency gaurdianship of my 3 girls. i found out on an accident on-line. her reason for this is she found something to hold over me after years of looking for something to have my kids in her custody. What r my rights and what r theirs? I appreciate any advice, I’m desperate to be with my kids. I havn’t seen my girls in almost a month. Thank you for your time
Lisa Wytcherley
lisa you know why they did it. not to hold anything over you. because they had no other choice.
I was just granted primary guardianship of my two kids and I was woundering what it ment….? Can she come and take the kids whenever she wants or dose it all have to go through me first??
Can my sister in law who is 18 get guardianship of her younger brothers 13 and 16. Their mother kicked both boys out. They are living with their sister who is living with her boyfriend. My father in law passed 2 years ago and the mother receives social security benefits for both boys. She told her daughter that she will not release any of the checks to her or the boys. They all live in Pennsylvania. She wants her brothers to live with her legally.
I live in Mississippi and I have a two year old son. His father is alive and have a court order to pay child support we are not married. I was wondering could I fix it so that my mother get legal guardianship of my son if I become unable to see to him or if I die before he become legal of age.
If you’ve had two children physically for two years, they’ve lived with you, in the state you lived (Seattle Wa.) you’ve been solely responsible for the children’s clothes, food, shelter, health and schooling, with no help from either father of the children, with the mother of the children being deceased. How do you obtain guardianship? Before the children came to me, no one had established guardianship of the children. And no one still has legal guardianship or custody of the children. The relationship to the children would be great aunt and the grandmother was who brought them to me, asking for help.
My situation is similar but in my case, dead beat parents. Neither one of them wants to raise their children. The father is too cheap to lift a finger and mother is young and stupid. So my family, the girls grandparents, aunts and uncle have been raising them for the last 4 yrs. What can we do to get premenant custody of them?
If I have guardianship, does that mean I also have custody? I live in Arizona.
what type of gaurdianship would i be using to have my older daughter have gaudianship to her sister. she is enrolling in a school district and as parents we do not reside in the district, therefore she is ineligibily to participate in the sports program for 180 days.
I have a 15 year old brother and my father is a widower. I’m 23 and want to have enough legal right to enroll him in school and make important decisions without needing my father to be there. I’m not trying to get full custody but I want to be able to help my dad when he can’t be around. any ideas?
Are there any laws that state my parents can have limited guardianship of my two children for school purposes only and attend school from their address, but still reside with me?
I live in Alabama and I wanted to know a little about getting guardianship of a two year old with out going to court. I keep her all ready! I need guardianship to send her to school and if anything happens to her while in my hands.Could I have a paper wrote up in front of a notary and would that be legal to do what I am asking?