Legal Question in Family Law in California

i have filed a petition for guardianship of minor being my grand daughter due to the fact my son and his ex girlfriend are not making any right choices concerning this child. i have been primary caretaker of this child for 2 yrs, she is 2 1/2 yrs old now

since nov 2008 unitl may 2009 we have managed to have month to month visits by both parents with this child. the mother has a problem sticking with this agreement as it seems her neglect towards this child has been observed by other individuals and her compulsive lies only made me have to proceed with guardianship steps . #1.: dental treatment is necessary as this childs teeth are decayed and a letter from the dentist which i took her indicates she needs treatment

#2. child is behind in her immunizations and from my knowledge she only had one immunization when she was a baby

#3. during this childs monthly visits with mother, it is known that this child has been left in the care of a male individual who is an alcoholic/drug user which on more than 4-5 occassions this person was intoxicated to the point of not being able to focus, to my knowledge this person has an outstanding bench warrant and the mother was told that under no circumstances was she to let this person have any contact with child....the mother denied having contact with this individual and stated she would not let this person have any contact with child............i have affadavits from individuals that prove mother has been lying about leaving child with this person...........so this being said during the process of me filing guardianship papers i let the mother have her monthly visit with child and expecting child back for our monthly visit........the mother refused to let child come back with me...........she then agreed to let child come but she changed herr mind twice.......... she said she was not letting this child come without court orders, i served her with court papers letting her know i was filing guardianship, hoping at that time i did indeed have physical custody of child, but she changed her mind for the 3rd time and so now she refuses to let this child come with us as our usual monthly visits, she has now filed for child support..........so what do i do?i did have one more chance to explain to her that the guardianship would be temporary until both parents agree on visits, and medical needs, that i feel a court order was necessary as she is always changing visits. i pointed out that i am willing to take responsibility on all of the medical needs for this child as i know she is not able to, and she agreed to this and told me i can pick up this child in 4 days and on the fourth day as i was preparing to drive 5 hrs to pick up my grand daughter, she text me a message on my phone and said she was not letting this child come with me, she refused to let me provide her dental treatment.....my son lives with me and during all this he shows no concern as he feels i am causing drama, so he chose to sign the consent form to appoint me as guardian for his child. i appeared at the emergency court hearing for temporary guardianship but it was not in my favor as i did not have my grand daughter in my custody so now what? another thing is that the mother of this child has 3 other children from a previous marriage who were given custody to her x husband and she has a child support case against her......I AM SO VERY CONCERNED ABOUT MY GRAND DAUGHTER AND HER SAFETY AND WELL BEING, BUT HER MOTHER IS MAKING THINGS VERY DIFFICULT AND PUTTING HER NEEDS ABOVE THIS CHILDS NEEDS. BEING THAT THE CHILD IS NOW IN ANOTHER COUNTY WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO NEXT? THE NEXT COURT HEARING IS IN AUGUST AND MY GRAND DAUGHTER HAS BEEN APART FROM ME FOR OVER 2 MONTHS AND WHY WAS IT THAT DURING THE 1ST HEARING FOR TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP THE JUDGE DID NOT FIND IT IN MY FAVOR?


Asked on 7/27/09, 5:33 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Larry L. Doan Law Office of Larry L. Doan

I answered this question for you last time but you did not include the crucial detail in that other question that you have here that the judge DID deny your temporary guardianship. That's why I was puzzled previously and asked why you did not have a temporary guardianship hearing yet. But now you've clarified that you already did.

Why did the judge not find in your favor? Why, simple. Because you didn't have enough evidence of the child's immediate harm. Or, maybe the judge simply believed the child's mother more than he believed you that the child was in immediate harm.

I don't know if you can more for a 2nd temporary guardianship hearing now. Just wait until the regular guardianship hearing comes on in August. At that hearing, the Investigator's recommendations and findings will be crucial.

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Answered on 7/28/09, 7:38 pm


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