Temporary Guardianship
Temporary Guardianship of a minor child is available in Florida to grant extended relatives the rights and responsibilities of custody when a child is staying with relatives in Florida. If you are taking care of a child for a relative, you know how difficult trips to the doctor, school enrollment, and other activities that require parental consent can be. There are a couple of different ways to go about getting guardianship, but both require you to be an extended relative of the child.
Concurrent Custody
For situations where a child comes to stay with you for an extended period of time, you will need something to show that you have permission to make decisions for the child. Concurrent custody allows you to share custody with the parents of the child, and will not interfere with the parents right to custody. If everyone is on board with the idea, mom and dad can sign releases that inform the court they consent to the concurrent custody arrangement. This is especially useful for families that are sending their child down to Florida from another state.
A petition still needs to be filed in the courts to get guardianship. The court wants to make sure that the proposed arrangements are in the best interest of the child, and that the person serving as the guardian is fit to do so.
In the event that you can’t get waivers from mom and dad, the court can still grant the guardianship, as long as you send out all the proper notices. This seems to happen frequently with young parents that send their child to live with grandma and grandpa. So long as mom and dad are properly noticed, and don’t file an objection with the court, guardianship can be granted as long as all the other factors fall into place.
Temporary Guardianship
If an objection is filed by mom or dad, or if the parents cannot be located for service, you may have to either convert your petition for concurrent custody to a petition for temporary guardianship, or you may have to file this type of petition to begin with. The difference is that this petition is adversarial instead of cooperative. It can be used where you can demonstrate that mom and dad are guilty of abuse, abandonment, or neglect of their child.
Temporary Guardianship is a powerful tool to protect children, and is frequently used by grandparents to establish custody of their grandchildren. You should be aware, though, that the court imposes a high standard of proof if the case is contested. You need to show the abuse, abandonment, or neglect by what the court calls “clear and convincing evidence.” While not exactly the same, this is close to how the state has to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Presenting clear and compelling evidence to the court is critical in this type of proceeding, and time can often be limited by the circumstances. I’m here to help you through this tough issues, and to answer your questions. Call me today.
