Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Guardianship

I have coustody of a 17 year old who will has bipolar disorder with auditory halloinations. When he turns 18 he will be un able to function(unable to make simple problem solving decisions, i.e. will not know where to go to get a job or to get help with insurance or things like that) he has the mind of about a 10 year old. What do I do to make sure that I will be able to make decisions about his care after he turns 18.


Asked on 11/21/02, 2:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Guardianship

As the parent of this impaired child, your responsibility to support and provide required care for him will continue under state law even after he reaches his majority. Along with this continued responsibility will be your concomitant right to make major decisions for your son as long as he is not capable of making them for himself.

However, to compensate for your own eventual

incapacity and/or death, you should have an estate plan developed and ready to be put into

effect with appropriate powers of attorney designed to ensure that your son will continue to

receive the appropriate care that he requires in the event that one or both of these aforementioned

unfortunate occurrences becomes a reality.

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Answered on 11/21/02, 3:57 pm


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