Legal Question in Family Law in Louisiana
I have a friend that has a 3 yr old son and truly doesnt want to take care of him. She has severe depression issues and cant truly take care of him nor does she really want to. My friend Lauren keeps her son about 90% of the time and the natural mother hardly ever calls or sees the child. She doesnt know who the father is and both of the grandparents are deceased so there is no other family. The natural mother mentioned to Lauren that she was thinking of relinquishing her rights of her son to her. Lauren is more than willing to take the child but wants some paperwork in place to do so. I looked up Provisional Custody by Mandate and that would work however, it seems that is only for 1 year and has to be extended every year. Is there any other paperwork that can be done by a Notary that would give the custody for a more extended period of time until Lauren could go to court to get full custody? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you
2 Answers from Attorneys
A private adoption would be the permanent route and is better handled by an attorney. If this is temporary, the provisional custody agreement is the easiest to put in place and change and is the only one proper for a notary.
In between the concepts of adoption & provisional custody; the mom & Lauren could agree to mutually file a petition for change of custody in court. Therefore Lauren gets custody, but if something happens to her, mom would still have some standing to regain custody of the child (although she might have to prove her fitness). Mom, if she has the means, can even pay child support.
A lawyer would be necessary.
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