pegmatite9999
Member
Nonsense!To be fair, with reference to the example posed, it should be noted that the father of Christa Worthington's child (Ava) was a married man with whom she was having an affair and, to quote the Crime Library:
When Tony was informed about the pregnancy, he was deeply concerned that it would spell doom for his marriage. An article by Franci Richardson in the Boston Herald quoted Tony, who said, "I wasn't looking to end my marriage but I am human. It was her choice to have the baby." Consequently, he ended his relationship with Christa.
He eventually agreed to acknowledge the child and pay child support, but it's not like he had much of a choice there.
The father was first in line. For whatever reason, the judge ruled to uphold Christa's wishes. Perhaps he considered the fact that the father initially appeared to want no more of a relationship with Ava than was legally required, and the father's motive to "fight" for his daughter was suspect in light of the pending $10 million lawsuit, on Ava's behalf, against the murderer's employer.
"After Worthington's death, the Jacketts assumed they would raise Ava.
"Where else would she go? Who would love her more than biological family, her father," asks Susan Jackett. "We had already fallen madly in love with her. It was easy to think that we would raise her."
The Jacketts say they thought, for the most part, that Worthington was happy that they were involved with Ava. But others aren't so sure.
"There is no way she wanted Tony to have custody," says Worthington's friend, Kaylan.
In fact, two months before her death, Worthington wrote a will naming longtime friends Amyra and Cliff Chase, not the Jacketts, as Ava's guardians. Ava is now living with the couple in an upscale Boston suburb. But the fight for full custody has become a Jackett family crusade."
Jacketts wanted to and assumed they would raise the child when they learned of her mother's death. However that is not what happened. If not for the will, the child, by law would/should have gone to her natural father, whose rights had not been terminated, whose whereabouts were known, and who was more than willing to care for his daughter.
II. Agreement of the Non-Custodial Parent
The standby guardian statute is silent on the necessity to secure the agreement of the non-custodial parent. By comparison, an accompanying statute in the same section of the code, referring to emergency guardianship that lasts for 60 days, is very explicit on that point. It says "A parent shall not appoint an emergency proxy of a minor, if the minor has another living parent whose parental rights have not been terminated, whose whereabouts are known, and who is willing and able to make and carry out day to day child care decisions concerning the minor, unless the nonappointing parent consents to the appointment by signing the written instrument of appointment" [Probate 201-2G] Clearly, a standby guardianship which can endure for a longer period of time and may evolve into a permanent arrangement would require the consent of the non-custodial parent. [See Adoption of Carlos, 576 NE 2d 701 (1991)] The usual exceptions would no doubt apply: proven unfitness, prior termination of parental rights, and perhaps inability to locate after diligent search. Elsewhere in the guardianship statute there is reference to the potential for the court to find a parent unfit [Probate 201-5] so it is possible that unfitness could be determined in the standby guardianship hearing.
In this case, the written will of the mother prevailed over the parental rights of the father.
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