Appointing a Guardian (California Probate Code 1510-1517)
For a guardianship to be established, two elements must be met. First, the court would have to find that granting custody to a parent would be detrimental to the child. Thus, when a parent has a history of domestic violence or drug abuse, the court would likely consider it detrimental for the child to live with that parent. The second element for appointing a guardian is that granting custody to you, as the legal guardian, requires you to serve the best interest of the child.
The following circumstances or combination of circumstances would warrant the appointment of you as the child’s legal guardian if both parents of the child:
• Have a serious physical or mental illness
• Are serving in the military and are going overseas
• Suffering from substance abuse and must go into a rehabilitation program
• Have been convicted of a crime and will be serving time in jail
• Are dead or missing
• Have a history of abuse or neglect
• Cannot take care of their child for some other reason
It is important to remember that both of the above elements must be satisfied to appoint you as a legal guardian. Thus, for example, if only one parent suffers from one of the circumstances listed above, a guardianship might not be granted if the other parent is able to care for the child and it is in the best interest of the child to be in the custody of that parent.
Orange County Guardianship Attorney
Appointing a guardian is an important issue when parents are unable to care for their child. If a guardianship is in the best interest of the child, it is important to have an experienced Orange County guardianship attorney to guide you through the difficult legal process. The skilled family law lawyers at Wallin & Klarich have dealt with guardianships for over 30 years. With offices located in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Victorville, West Covina, Sherman Oaks, Torrance and Ventura , there is a Wallin & Klarich attorney available wherever you happen to live. Please call us today at (888) 749-7428. We will get through this together.