T
tigger21
Guest
What is the name of your state? CA
A little background to help clarify the issue.
My friend (Jill) had a baby (Jane) with a man we'll call Jack 12 years ago. They were never married. Jack has occasionally paid child support (once in the past 9 years). Although he has joint custody, he only calls once or twice per year. And comes to visit or pick Jane up for the weekend about once per year.
Jack has remarried and has 4 children and a step child with his new wife.
Jill has also remarried.
On Christmas Eve of this year, Jack picked Jane up to spend Christmas with his new family. On Christmas Day, Jill gets a call that Jane and her half siblings are at Child Protective Services. The police have arrested Jane's father and his new wife for Grand Theft (although they deny they are gulity).
We haven't had a lot of contact with Jack over the years and hadn't realized how much he has changed for the worst. Basically he and his wife both have drug addictions and steal to support their habits. It has been 2 months and they are currently out of jail (I think on bail), but have not gotten custody of their children back from CPS.
The issue is...
Jill is worried that if anything were to happen to her (car accident etc.), custody of Jane will go to Jack. She would basically be sending her child from a nice middle class home to a crack house. Jane has stated that if her mother were ever to die, she would not want to live with her Dad or Step-Dad, she wants to live with me (her Mom's best friend).
My husband and I are fully prepared to welcome Jane into our home if anything ever happened to her Mom.
Our question is, what legal papers need to be signed to make sure this happens? Can Jill put it in her will? Do we need to take Jack back to court? He is moves a lot and only occasionally has a phone number. We'll have to wait until he decides to contact Jane again before we can ask him to sign anything.
A little background to help clarify the issue.
My friend (Jill) had a baby (Jane) with a man we'll call Jack 12 years ago. They were never married. Jack has occasionally paid child support (once in the past 9 years). Although he has joint custody, he only calls once or twice per year. And comes to visit or pick Jane up for the weekend about once per year.
Jack has remarried and has 4 children and a step child with his new wife.
Jill has also remarried.
On Christmas Eve of this year, Jack picked Jane up to spend Christmas with his new family. On Christmas Day, Jill gets a call that Jane and her half siblings are at Child Protective Services. The police have arrested Jane's father and his new wife for Grand Theft (although they deny they are gulity).
We haven't had a lot of contact with Jack over the years and hadn't realized how much he has changed for the worst. Basically he and his wife both have drug addictions and steal to support their habits. It has been 2 months and they are currently out of jail (I think on bail), but have not gotten custody of their children back from CPS.
The issue is...
Jill is worried that if anything were to happen to her (car accident etc.), custody of Jane will go to Jack. She would basically be sending her child from a nice middle class home to a crack house. Jane has stated that if her mother were ever to die, she would not want to live with her Dad or Step-Dad, she wants to live with me (her Mom's best friend).
My husband and I are fully prepared to welcome Jane into our home if anything ever happened to her Mom.
Our question is, what legal papers need to be signed to make sure this happens? Can Jill put it in her will? Do we need to take Jack back to court? He is moves a lot and only occasionally has a phone number. We'll have to wait until he decides to contact Jane again before we can ask him to sign anything.