Legal Guardians

Hmm... I work in the legal area (I'm not an attorney) and I haven't come across the situation. I don't think anyone would really know unless she said something, but questions would be raised as far as school is concerned. Parent/teacher conferences, field trip notices (unless parents don't sign for those in high school... I can't remember) and other things that would require a parent's signature. Unless the brother is forging her signature. And of course, if the sister gets into trouble, that might also raise some questions.

If the mother dies, I would think that assuming it is a fit home, they would leave the sister in his care temporarily as sort of a foster home considering her age. Not sure about that, though, either.

I don't think the mother establishing it in her will would really help--it would depend on whether or not he's capable, wants to, and if it's a fit home or not.

Maybe you can talk to a lawyer as sort of a "free consultation." Or maybe you'll get lucky and there's a lawyer on here.

Good luck!

This offers some answers:

http://family.findlaw.com/guardianship/faq-on-guardianship-of-minor-children.html

I don't think there's anything illegal about a parent leaving their child with another legal adult, especially siblings. But as the above article says, being a caretaker versus a legal guardian puts a number of limitations on what decisions the caretaker can make.

But I would find a family law attorney and give them a call. Be sure to explain that you're writing a book and have a few questions, so they know they're not talking to a potential client.

tlbodine said:

Is there anything to keep a person from leaving their minor child with an older, adult sibling while they work in another state?

My MC is in his early 20s and is a college student. His younger sister is 16-ish. The two of them live in the house they grew up in, which their mom still owns, but she works in another state. She financially supports them/pays the bills for the house, but only comes home to visit occasionally (like a few times a year). The father is out of the picture entirely.

1.) Is there anything legally stopping her from doing this? Would it be considered child abuse in any way or is it OK since the kids are older and one is a legal adult?

Click to expand...

I asked a few friends who work in child support about this, and they said the same thing - the majority of 'guardian' roles are unofficial - kids who live with grandparents, siblings etc. For the most part the government bodies don't worry about them unless they are in danger or there is something to alert them - for the most part they generally aren't even aware of them though.

2.) Would she have to establish the older child as a legal guardian? What does it take to do that? Can you just designate someone as a legal guardian, or do they have to approved through a more formal manner?

Click to expand...

See above. The issue is really this - for the most part, bar something bad happening and the kid needing an operation or something that requires a legal signature etc, no one is going to know, or, to be honest, care. I'm speaking entirely from the UK and Ireland POV here though, where A LOT of kids of a certain age were brought up thinking their granny was their mammy, if you know what I mean.

Schools here don't check that kind of thing, and no one else seems to either, to be honest.

3.) If their mother dies while out of state and the MC is not his sister's legal guardian, is she at risk of being taken away? If their mother designated in the will that he should inherit the house and the guardianship of the kid, will that be OK or would there be any concerns with that?

Click to expand...

This is different. If there was no 'legal guardianship' put in place then social services will be paying a vistit. However, if the sibling is deemed to be sensible and able to provide, espeically if they can prove a history of providing etc, then the child will usually stay there. Despite what folks thing, social workers are NOT out to take kids away from loving homes, and certainly my experiences with them (including my brother and sister in law being social workers) they will always try to make the situation work, even if it's not ideal, before they would consider taking the kid away.

tlbodine said:

Is there anything to keep a person from leaving their minor child with an older, adult sibling while they work in another state?

My MC is in his early 20s and is a college student. His younger sister is 16-ish. The two of them live in the house they grew up in, which their mom still owns, but she works in another state. She financially supports them/pays the bills for the house, but only comes home to visit occasionally (like a few times a year). The father is out of the picture entirely.

1.) Is there anything legally stopping her from doing this? Would it be considered child abuse in any way or is it OK since the kids are older and one is a legal adult? If anything, it would be neglect, and not abuse. But there's nothing that I'm aware of that would preclude her from doing this. This is assuming US law.

2.) Would she have to establish the older child as a legal guardian? What does it take to do that? Can you just designate someone as a legal guardian, or do they have to approved through a more formal manner? It depends on how she wants to do it. A legal guardian is someone appointed by a judge in the probate court to take care of an individual for various reasons, including the fact that the individual is a minor. Your local court system should be able to send you the forms you need to fill out to start a guardianship proceeding. But as Shalda says, many of these are done without any paperwork. And there's a very viable middle of the road approach where the mother gives her son a durable power of attorney to make decisions in her behalf for the care of her daughter.

If the woman approaches an attorney about this matter, and the son was iffy, the way around that is to make the son and a more responsible adult co-guardians.

3.) If their mother dies while out of state and the MC is not his sister's legal guardian, is she at risk of being taken away? If their mother designated in the will that he should inherit the house and the guardianship of the kid, will that be OK or would there be any concerns with that? If as an attorney I had concerns about the son, I'd use a co-executor who was older. This could be a neighbor, a relative, a member of the clergy, whatever works for the situation.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Problem is an easy solution for an attorney.

You might want to look at http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208905&highlight=guardianship+clark-dawe

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe