need to dissolve legal guardianship

[suzannem]

I live in IL. My mother took legal guardianship of my child back in Feb. of 1993. I have no criminal record, and have not had rights taken from me to the child. I was just young, and wanted better medical insurance for my child than I could offer at that time. My mother has since completely taken over my child's life. I have married since, have two other children, and one on the way. I wish to have this guardianship dissolved, since my mother has always stood in the way of any relationship my child and her step dad and siblings might have. Currently, my husband and I are separated, for financial reasons, primarily. I live with my mother and daughter, who she has guardianship of, and my other two kids live with their dad and his parents. He is currently going to school for computers, and will be done in Dec. of 2002. We plan on getting back together as soon as possible, and building a good life for our children. However, my mother stands in the way at every turn. Also, my mother refuses to work, and is no longer supporting my child financially. In fact, even though I'm receiving disablility and SSI payments, hopefully just temporarily, I am currently supporting my daughter, as well as my mother, and have cancelled checks to prove it. What is the easiest way to get this guardianship dissolved? My mother has overstepped her boundaries far too many times.

 

[ktarra617]

the short and long of it is guardianship is not custody, when you move you out take your daughter with you.

As long as she doesn't have anything from the court saying that she was granted CUSTODY of your daughter then she doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.

Take your kid with you although I wouldn't tell her what you were going to do until you did it though. Less stress for you and the children if you just wait to drop the bomb the day you move out.

btw if she talks to any lawyer they will laugh her out of the office. Grandparents rights have all but been done away with and as long as your rights were not taken away she does not have standing to bring a case.

Good luck to you!

 

[Whyte Noise]

I dunno.....

You say your mother has "legal guardianship". I take this to mean that you went through the court system to get this established, and that there is a court order appointing your mother as legal guardian? If there is, then just up and leaving with the child wouldn't be a wise thing. You'd be in violation of the order. True, guardianship may not be "custody", but as the "legal" guardian of your daughter, she does have a legal leg to stand on if you went through the court system to have her appointed. If you did, did you put a time limit on the guardianship? Any statements like, "Until such time as the mother is financially able to care for the child", etc? I agree that Grandparent's Rights are pretty much non-existant anymore, but I dont think this is about grandparents rights, I think it's about guardianship. And if she was appointed by a court, I'd have to believe that you have have to go BACK to court to get that guardianship dissolved.

 

[ktarra617]

I think we need IAAL to answer this one. I have always been told whether or not they were appointed legal guardianship or not that does not mean that the grandmother has custody and is not entitled to superior possession over the mother. Guardianship simply allow grandma to enroll in school and get medical treatment for the child. It does not mean mom's rights were taken away at all. It was simply done to allow grandma to put child on health insurance. She didn't give her child to her mom to raise.

I will however defer to IAALs answer if he will enlighten us.

Our poster should probably talk to a lawyer since we are not lawyers and she is in a different state.

 

[Whyte Noise]

ktarra.....

Please, keep in mind that these are just MY opinions. I'm not trying to flame anyone or start a board war, I'm just stating things as I personally see them, OK? Just 'cause my opinions are different than yours doesnt mean one is right and the other is wrong. So please, don't take my posts as a personal affront....???

She gave guardianship to her mother in 1993. It's now 2002. She has since married, had 2 other children, and one other on the way. IMHO, she DID give her daughter to her mother to raise. Grandma has been raising that child for 9 years now. Going by what the poster said, the child has lived with grandma all this time.

I didn't mean to imply that grandma has superior rights to the child. A parents rights are STILL a parents rights. Noone can take those away but a court. What I meant was that if she has "legal" guardianship, then she had to get that term "legal" from somewhere. I am under the impression that a court appoints a legal guardian. And if a court did appoint grandma, than to me, it would stand to reason that a court would have to UNappoint grandma. If not, then the mother, and the grandmother could BOTH claim some legal rights to the child. And that could get messy. No, a guardians rights should NOT outweigh a parents rights. The parent still has "custody" I think, but there are "legal" implications if the courts appointed the guardian in the first place. That's all that I mean. I just didn't want the poster to up and leave with the child, and then be in trouble for that because the legal guardianship was still in effect. If there were legal documents filed in regards to the guardianship, then I think that legal documents would have to be filed to have it disolved.

I too will defer to IAAL on this one. But, I just wanted ya to understand what I was saying.

 

[ktarra617]

i was not taking them as a personal attack I promise. really I didn't. I was just pointing out what I had always been told in relation to Guardianship and Custody but given that we probably don't know the whole situation and the particular laws of her state I figured it would be best to defer to a lawyer.

I didn't take them as an attack. I like a good spirited debate every now and then but i don't engage in attacks so I think we are both in the clear.

do you agree?

 

[ktarra617]

just bumping this up.