Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

Legal Guardians of minor grandchildren want to move from Illinois to Virginia. Biological parents still alive, but never satisfied DCFS to get their children back, so we petitioned for and were awarded guardianship 7 years ago. We might like to move back to Virginia sometime soon. Do we have to get court approval? What if we just move and don't tell the court?


Asked on 5/19/10, 1:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Steve Raminiak Law Offices of Steve Raminiak, P.C.

It is my understanding that you would need to "transfer" the Guardianship from Illinois to Virginia. Your first step is to get the Illinois' Court's permission to explore this. The Illinois Court may refuse to authorize the move if it would severly limit a parent's opportunity to visit the children. If the Illinois Court gives you such permission, you will likely then have to begin a Guardianship proceeding for the children in Virginia, and have certain Orders entered in both Courts, before the Illinois Guardianship is terminated and the Virginia Guardianship takes over.

I strongly recommend that you do not move to Virginia without the consent of the Illinois Court. At minimum, the Illinois Court could revoke your authority as Guardians. It could get much worse than that.

Feel free to call me if you'd like to discuss this further. I won't charge for the phone call.

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Answered on 5/28/10, 11:18 am


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