Legal Questions? / Legal Answers!


Guardianship What You Should Know,.. For Them

"Do you have guardianship of your grandchildren? I mean legal guardianship. One done by a Judge? I have Guardianship of two of my grand children and have learned one very valuable piece of information. As I attended school activities for them I was surprised how many of us Grand Mothers and Grand Fathers were bringing up our children's kids. Some were doing so, as you would expect, without a legal piece of paper. I've since learned the importance of having the Guardianship done through the court process. Both of my Grand children will benefit from it."


I obtained legal guardianship of my grand daughter when she was just 5 years old. This allowed me to help her go through the school systems, talk to Doctors and Dentists, help her get her license and employment, and helped her get into collage. I never realized the importance of getting legal guardianship of any child you are bringing up until she applied for collage. Because she was a legal guardian of mine, my income did NOT have to be used in her application for collage. She also did not work while in High school. I was more concerned about her good grades than her making money. This allowed her to apply for the Pell Grant when she applied at SMCC. Without an income, she was able to get the full grant amount allowed to a full time student. That amount, fully paid for her first year tuition and books. As long as she didn't work while going to collage, she could apply again for the next year and get the same amount. She will end up getting her Associate Degree paid for, without having to apply for a student loan or incurring future debt!

If your bringing up your grandkids without a legal guardianship order, if you will be bringing them up all through school....I would consider filing for it. Giving them that one "loop hole" most other kids do not enjoy when they apply for a grant for collage, may help release some of their collage stress.

If you do decide to do the court process, both of the parents will need to be notified of the court date. If you have already had the child(ren) for awhile and neither parent has an issue with this, you might be eligible for "de facto guardianship," which may help you win your guardianship petition, even if a parent is not in agreement with the guardianship.

Print out the following document (link below) twice. One for Mom and one for Dad. Take both to a notary and have them sign it. Once that is done, apply to the court and file both documents with your guardianship application.

Guardian of Minor Children, Conditional
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BTW....you don't need to be going for a collage degree to receive the Pell Grant. This can also be used to get them into a Trade School, to help them to learn a profession.


All The Scholarships To Apply For In One Place. - Scholly


If you would like to comment feel free to e-mail me at
smtracy8@gmail.com

My Final Thought...

"I would ask you to please remember, my knowledge is from helping others and doing the work involved to help them with their cases. I am NOT a Lawyer. So keep in mind that I am not sure of every State Law as it pertains to Guardianship. That being said, I would think having the above documents with you when you file, no matter what State you reside in, would not hinder your attempt to obtain Guardianship. Good Luck."