Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana
Temoprary Guardianship Gone Sour
My Ex-wife and I were both having financial difficulties. We talked to my mother and she agreed to take '' temporary '' guardianship of our 2 yr old daughter. We signed papers saying that we give my mother '' only '' temporary guardianship. When it went through the court, the court looked at it as if our daughter was put in harms way, but by no means was she ever. My mothers lawyer said she had to have our daughter 4 out of 7 days a week but visitation was never set in the courts papers. At first everything was fine,we would pick our daughter up on Friday and take her back on Sunday, then my mother started cutting down our days w/ our daughter. Now she will say that we can come and get her and then, within 20 minutes and before we leave to go get her, my mother calls back and says that she asked our daughter and that our daughter says she does't want to come. Our daughter has everything she could possibly want at my mother's: a room of her own, a full-size queen bed, a tv of her own, tons of toys, and no other children to share things with. With me or my ex-wife she would have to share things since we have a 5 yr old son also. My question is - What rights do we have and what can we do in order to have our visitation with out daughter.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Temoprary Guardianship Gone Sour
You petition the judge in the guardianship case to specify your visitation rights. A guardianship is by its nature temporary even when that word is not used. It can be terminated by the parents petitioning the court for the child back and if the grandparent wants to keep the child, he or she must prove that the parents are unfit at the present time (not that they might have had some financial problems in the past). Most people don't understand guardianships. They only last for a child until the child is 18 or until the parents are in a better position to take the child back. So they are always temporary (even when the word "permanent" is used). The forum to challenge the terms of what the guardian does is in the court that established the guardianship. Most judges believe that while a grandparent is a great mechanism to take care of a child during an emergency, parents are the best people to place a child - even if the judge proceeds slowly in first restoring regular visitation.
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