legal guardian of child

vickiem30

I have a question about legal guardianship and wondered if anyone could help. Me and my husband were asked to be the legal guardian of my secon cousin's child, if anything happened to her and her husband. Sadly, she died suddenly and I'm not sure if the agreement for us to be guardians is still valid, as I believe it was in her name. I will discuss it with her husband when he's feeling stronger, but I'm worried in the meantime that something could happen to him (unlikely, I know) and the child's future would be up in the air.

Does anyone have any knowledge of this,at all?

Fire_Fox

Is the husband the father? You were asked by whom, her or them? What was in her name, the will? If something does happen the council will be keep for a relative to take over as temporary guardian, but precisely how this is organised dictates whether there is any financial support if that is relevant.

TonyMMM

You can't "will" a child to anyone - all you can do is express your wishes - normal child custody processes still apply.

vickiem30

Hi

Thanks for you responses. The husband is the father and there is no will. She told me she had expressed her wishes through her union via a codicil, if that makes sense.

I was asked by both the father and the mother last year and I do spend a lot of time with the child. I'm worried because we don't count as close family, but hopefully, if the worst happens the court will see that we can give the child a good home.

McKneff

Youre right to worry really.

Obviously grandparents are going to want/have some sort of say in the matter.

Hopefully the situation won't arise.

Tropez

I was taken under legal guardianship, not due to my parents dying, but due to my biological mother abandoning me. This was back in the early 80s so the rules may have changed, but back then a document had to be signed, dated and witnessed stating that the parent(s) to grant guardianship to the guardians. In addition, social services perform their checks to ensure that the child is to be brought up in a suitable environment and submit an evaluation to the court. My guardians had to appear before this court arguing their case as to why they felt they were suited to taking me on and provide evidence of financial capabilities to support me and take on parental responsibility.

To my knowledge, you can enter into a will a desire for other individuals to take on the role of legal guardians but the social services and court checks will still be undertaken.

As you say there was no will I suppose it may depend on whether there is a signed and dated document stating the mother's desire (I thought a codicil amended an existing will, so this is confusing). If not, then it is best that you make an official documented agreement with the father as soon as is feasibly possible.

Mojisola

Tropez wrote: »

I
To my knowledge, you can enter into a will a desire for other individuals to take on the role of legal guardians but the social services and court checks will still be undertaken.

As you say there was no will I suppose it may depend on whether there is a signed and dated document stating the mother's desire (I thought a codicil amended an existing will, so this is confusing).

Agree with both of these points. The parents can express a wish but SS would have to okay the potential guardians.

As stated, a codicil amends a will. Without a will, there can't be codicil.

loubel

vickiem30 wrote: »

The husband is the father and there is no will. She told me she had expressed her wishes through her union via a codicil, if that makes sense.

A Codicil is a document that amends a Will. However, guardians do not have to be appointed in a Will (although it is usual). If she made a written, signed and dated appointment then that will be a valid appointment. But whether it will apply on the father's death will depend on how it was worded, so you would need to see it (or talk to the father) to find out.

daska

Legally a Codicil is an amendment to a Will but the word can be used in a non-legal sense as well, in which case it's an appendix or supplementary part.

If she spoke about doing something through her Union could this have been related to Life Insurance? Or could it even be that she once wrote a Will through services provided by her Union and had forgotten that but remembered the Codicil as a stand-alone piece of work? It's something that should be checked.

vickiem30

McKneff wrote: »

Youre right to worry really.

Obviously grandparents are going to want/have some sort of say in the matter.

Hopefully the situation won't arise.

Unfortunately, there are no grandparents; they have already died, so the closest relatives are us. Complicating it, obviously, we are only the husband's relations by marriage. I think I'm going to have a chat with the husband this weekend. I feel bad raising it so soon, but it's in the best interests of the child, especially with what everyone's said about a codicil.

Fire_Fox

Social services are not always formally involved. I have read of cases here on MSE where the relatives agreed to take the child, social services were aware but made out this was a private arrangement within the family so no financial support and no paperwork. Not sure how close a relative you need to be tho.