Guardianship
I have been wondering, and researching to no avail, about becoming my stepson's guardian. As much as he drives me nuts, I love him. I am the one who takes him to the doctor, the dentist, etc. My husband would rather I take him than his ex, b/c she is a retarded psychopath and makes a huge deal about everything and cannot relay what the doctor says back to my husband. Also, my stepson has a myriad of health issues that present only when he is at her house, including respirator and rash issues- I have a hunch it is due to drug use in her home.
I want to be sure that if my husband were to drop dead, I would at least have a foundation to stand on to fight for visitation with my stepson.
I don't know if I can become his guardian when he has both parents alive.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Long and expensive process if
Long and expensive process if she won't sign off and if she won't its doomed to failure. Hell grandparents can't even successfully get guardianship when a parent fights it. Even if she were totally out of control, drug user for instance, the court would simply tell Dad to take care of the kid.
The reason there is little to no information on the subject is probably because its never been tried and for good reason.
What could happen in the situation that you described is that Dad should try and get sole custody with supervised visitation away from the home for the mother. Testing the kid for second hand drugs would be a start.
It takes all parties to sign
It takes all parties to sign off on it. My DW and I were awarded guardianship of my SIL (DW's youngest sib) when she was 17. My ILs agreed to it when SIL moved to our state and in to our home after she graduated from HS shortly after turning 17. Not a difficult or overly expensive thing to do if all of the players are in agreement and cooperative.
For us the aggravation came in dissolution of the guardianship when SIL turned 18 and moved back to her home state. While she lived with us she was our dependent, on my insurance, etc.... For some reason a guardianship does not necessarily dissolve when the subject of the guardianship turns 18. At least in Texas that was the case.
It was inconvenient to get the guardianship dissolved but other than the aggravation it was not too big of a deal.
Guardianship? No... but you
Guardianship? No... but you can become Dh's Medical Power of Attorney. This will allow you, in most states, to take the children legally to doctors appointments and such when DH cant. Also most doc offices have a form that he can fill out yearly that allows for this.
Sks live here, bM in another state- I take care of all medical for the kids.
Yes, we have those forms on
Yes, we have those forms on file with all the offices. Thanks for the input, everyone